People ask me if I left the lyrics open to ambiguity. Of course I did. I wanted to make a whole series of complex statements. The lyrics had to do with the state of society at the time.
From Don McLean
In a sense, 'American Pie' was a very despairing song but it can also be seen as very hopeful.
American Pie speaks to the loss that we feel. That's why that song has found the niche that it has.
In the autumn of 1970 I had a job singing in the school system, playing my guitar in classrooms.
I'm glad that my music has helped other people as it's helped me. It makes me glad that I did what I did with my life.
I don't relate to what's left of the music business. There doesn't seem to be any point to it anymore. The business that I grew up in and loved, we made records a different way - there were record companies, there were stores where you could buy albums.
If something comes up I might write about it, but without an outlet the whole thing winds down.
I am what I do, and that's partly why I don't want to give up singing. But when I can't sing well, I will.
I developed this fantasy world. I found that that was much more fun and more interesting and exciting than real life was to me. Then, once I got the guitar going when I was a teenager, I set sail for the direction I've been in my whole life.
When I go on the road now, which is less than before, but still more than I'd like to, I think of myself primarily as a singer. Not a songwriter, not a celebrity, just a man who likes to sing.
6 perspectives
3 perspectives
1 perspectives