American Pie - Meaning

[pyrastome]

Yeah it was about buddy holly ritchie valens and big bomba

[Dthunderchicken]

@pyrastome

That's "Big Bopper" AKA J.P Richardson. Also the song is about much more than just them. It's about the time from the fifties to the seventies.

[limey157]

Part of the song is about JFK, so I'm not really sure why so many people are crying about it. It's not exactly a secret either

[michellerose83]

I really enjoyed this video thanks for sharing :)

[xEdddie]

What Does music have to do with the death of JFK???

[TimeToDwell]

wtf is this?? you are so lost buddy.

[321Green1Fork123]

lol wtf whyd u think it was about JFK thats such bad logic

[Potsie791]

Some people need to research music history and listen to the lyrics before drawing such idiotic assumptions. There is not enough space to analyze the whole song here. The basic premise is this: "the day the music died" i.e. the plane crash that killed Holly, Valens, and Richardson, is day that McLean is making a reference to the day that he is tracing everything back to as the exact point in time when everything in rock n' roll music, politics, and life changed in the 1960's.

[bat353]

ya i always thought it was jk assassination to

[Potsie791]

@bat353 This song had nothing whatsoever to do with JFK.

[312007TheMotley]

buddy holly was not the only one who dies in that dreadfull crash you know. there was the big bopper and ricthie valenes

[bat353]

@312007TheMotley i think richie vallens was the most faous of those ppl not that the otherswerent they all should be remembered

[desputb]

do you think by "jester" he meant Joseph R Mcarthy ?

[guitarguyfrommars]

when it says " when the king was looking down the jester stole his thorny crown" i now that means that the jester, bob dylan, stole the kings, elvis, fame

[Thantophobia1]

@guitarguyfrommars I always thought that was the crown of thorns they ground into Jesus' head. And Jesus was the king. I don't know, I never really thought too much into it.

[piepiehi123]

The song name "American Pie" was the plane that the 3 singers crashed in.

[Potsie791]

@piepiehi123 No, it wasn't , the plane never had a name. Miss American Pie was simply a referencing to all american type girls, which McLean saw as the innocent type of Rock N' Roll music, the type the played at sock hops, of which the sound and it's popularity was never revived the way it existed during the 1950's.

[ninjafretshadow]

don't forget the hells angals stopping hippies to death.ending the eternal summer of love .jerry said he was heart broken seeing this had taken place

[thenutintheushanka18]

WHAPPERS RULE!!!

[veryonetookthegood]

Just wanted to provide some constructive criticism. That one slide at the beginning was a little long. Additionally, the way you displayed the lyrics was just kind of... distracting. I would not have stopped the music completely while showing the information, but rater replaced the lyrics with the information. In regards to the opening wording, American Pie is not meant to have a meaning that varies; McLean used carefully chosen references that people could relate to, with a variable feeling.

[TheFunkanator]

Jack be nimble, Jack be quick,Jack-flash sat on a candlestick cause.....fire is the devils only friend. This i believe is in reference to the cuban missile crises bay of pigs fiasco. The candlestick being an I.C.B.M.

[firemarshall007]

@TheFunkanator No, the whole song is about the fifties, and music leading into the sixties. That lines about the Rolling Stones. Their song Jumping Jack flash.

[ndurpain07]

your missing quite a bit man... You should also refer to what Don says about Mick. Don not only makes the claim to the death of music, but offers his reasoning.

Jack be nimble, Jack be quick,Jack-flash sat on a candlestick cause.....fire is the devils only friend.

Don notices the loss of soul and conscious thought in mass produced recordings. The ART being commercialized, diluted, and reproduced. The same thing happened to hip hop conscious artist went underground.

[NumbingDisaster]

well i can say this was a well educated guess this was all i would guess at first(which i did) but i reply this song over and over again while knowing the history and i have to say u might be very close to the true meaning but i want to know wat u think of the other verses though

[whatblack2284]

"death is not a start or an end but just a changing of hands" Adam Thony

[whatblack2284]

it saddens me that you broke up the song but i think your meanings behind it were all right. as it wasn't just one action in history that prompted this song but 10 years worth that yes was all started to him buy the the feb. 3rd 1959 deaths of his idle and classic rock stars

[Nightmare365wj]

best songs are the ones that are vague enough to touch each individual at a deep personal level.

[whatblack2284]

its not that its right now. its that it has been for a long time and everything is just coming to a front

[spencoo1]

i have the full version however youtube deletes it as soon as we post it for copywrite infringement

[childrenofeden21]

the video could only be a certain length, hence my shortened version :)

[scofield13]

why haven't you made the whole song expalnation?i mean,i've found the whole of it before,but just wonder about you?

[childrenofeden21]

it was a school assignment in which i w as talking, fyi. you dnot have to be abihh (:

[rogueriverbob]

two words,....."boar ring",.....