Editing American Pie (song) (section)

==Background==
{{multiple images
|total_width=300
|image1=Buddy Holly cropped (cropped).JPG
|caption1=[[Buddy Holly]]
|image2=Ritchie Valens 1959 press photo.jpg
|caption2=[[Ritchie Valens]]
|image3=The Big Bopper (cropped).jpg
|caption3=[[The Big Bopper]]
|footer=Early rock and roll musicians killed in the [[The Day the Music Died|February&nbsp;3, 1959, plane crash]] alluded to in the song
}}
Don McLean drew inspiration for the song from his childhood experience delivering newspapers during the time of [[The Day the Music Died|the plane crash]] that killed early [[rock and roll]] musicians [[Buddy Holly]], [[Ritchie Valens]], and [[The Big Bopper]]:

{{Blockquote|text=I first found out about the plane crash because I was a 13-year-old newspaper delivery boy in New Rochelle, New York, and I was carrying the bundle of the local ''Standard-Star'' papers that were bound in twine, and when I cut it open with a knife, there it was on the front page.|author=Don McLean<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Cott |first=Jonathan |date=February 5, 2009 |title=The Last Days of Buddy Holly |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/the-last-days-of-buddy-holly-93571/ |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |issue=1071 |access-date=2023-05-02 |archive-date=April 7, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407071050/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/the-last-days-of-buddy-holly-93571/ |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

McLean reportedly wrote "American Pie" in [[Saratoga Springs, New York]], at Caffè Lena, but a 2011 ''New York Times'' article quotes McLean as disputing this claim.<ref name="nytimes.com">{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/30/nyregion/don-mclean-sets-record-straight-on-american-pie-origins.html|title='American Pie' Still Homemade, but With a New Twist|date=November 30, 2011|work=The New York Times|access-date=March 30, 2017|archive-date=March 31, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170331205000/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/30/nyregion/don-mclean-sets-record-straight-on-american-pie-origins.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Some employees at Caffè Lena claim that he started writing the song there, and then continued to write the song in both [[Cold Spring, New York]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.christies.com/about/press-center/releases/pressrelease.aspx?pressreleaseid=7743|title=Release: Don Mclean's Original Manuscript For "American Pie" To Be Sold At Christie's New York, 7 April 2015|website=Christie's|date=February 13, 2015|access-date=February 14, 2015|archive-date=February 14, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150214163437/http://www.christies.com/about/press-center/releases/pressrelease.aspx?pressreleaseid=7743|url-status=live}}</ref> and [[Philadelphia]], Pennsylvania.<ref name= "refute" /> McLean claims that the song was only written in Cold Spring and Philadelphia.<ref name="nytimes.com"/> Tin & Lint, a bar on Caroline Street in Saratoga Springs, claims the song was written there, and a plaque marks the table. While a 2022 documentary on the history of the song claims [[Saint Joseph's University]] as where the song was first performed,<ref>{{Citation |title=The Day The Music Died: American Pie – Watch Movie Trailer |work=Paramount Plus |url=https://www.paramountplus.com/movies/trailer/video/h85zhVsuh_P3O8kWVXJRg5_LHDGVKSsh/ |access-date=July 29, 2022 |archive-date=October 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221005061143/https://www.paramountplus.com/movies/trailer/video/h85zhVsuh_P3O8kWVXJRg5_LHDGVKSsh/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=McDonald|first=Shannon|url= http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local//the-feed-feature/30460-don-mclean-american-pie-was-written-in-philly-and-first-performed-at-saint-josephs |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20151222083351/http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local//the-feed-feature/30460-don-mclean-american-pie-was-written-in-philly-and-first-performed-at-saint-josephs |url-status=dead|archive-date=December 22, 2015|title=Don McLean: 'American Pie' was written in Philly and first performed at Saint Joseph's University|website = Newsworks |date=November 28, 2011 |access-date=December 19, 2015}}</ref> McLean insists that the song made its debut in Philadelphia at [[Temple University]]<ref name="nytimes.com"/> when he opened for [[Laura Nyro]] on March 14, 1971.<ref name=refute>{{cite news|date=August 12, 2012|title=Memory Bank's a Little Off, But Sentiment Still Holds | work = Philly |url = https://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/20120812_Memory_banks_a_little_off__but_the_sentiment_holds.html | access-date=August 14, 2012}}</ref>

The song was produced by Ed Freeman and recorded with a few session musicians. Freeman did not want McLean to play rhythm guitar on the song but eventually relented. McLean and the session musicians rehearsed for two weeks but failed to get the song right. At the last minute, the pianist [[Paul Griffin (musician)|Paul Griffin]] was added, which is when the tune came together.<ref name="ap2022" /> McLean used a 1969 or 1970 [[Martin D-28]] guitar to provide the basic chords throughout "American Pie".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.guitarworld.com/acoustic-nation/acoustic-nation-don-mclean-revisits-his-tasty-classic-american-pie-0|title=Don McLean Revisits His Tasty Classic, "American Pie"|last=Coen|first=Jim|work=[[Guitar World]]|date=April 23, 2015|access-date=September 3, 2021|archive-date=September 3, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210903104119/https://www.guitarworld.com/acoustic-nation/acoustic-nation-don-mclean-revisits-his-tasty-classic-american-pie-0|url-status=live}}</ref>

The song debuted on the album ''[[American Pie (Don McLean album)|American Pie]]'' in October 1971 and was released as a single in November. The song's eight-and-a-half-minute length meant that it could not fit entirely on one side of the [[Single (record)|45 RPM record]], so United Artists had the first {{Duration|m=4|s=11}} taking up the A-side of the record and the final {{Duration|m=4|s=31}} the B-side. Radio stations initially played the A-side of the song only, but soon switched to the full album version to satisfy their audiences.{{Sfn|Schuck|Schuck|2012|p=15}}

Upon the single release, ''[[Cash Box]]'' called it "folk-rock's most ambitious and successful epic endeavor since '[[Alice's Restaurant]].'"<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Cash Box|date=November 20, 1971|accessdate=April 10, 2023|title=Cashbox Single Picks|page=22|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/70s/1971/Cash-Box-1971-11-20.pdf|archive-date=April 28, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230428121930/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/70s/1971/Cash-Box-1971-11-20.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> ''[[Record World]]'' called it a "monumental accomplishment of lyric writing".<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Picks of the Week|magazine=Record World|date=November 20, 1971|page=1|accessdate=April 10, 2023|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Record-World/70s/71/RW-1971-11-20.pdf|archive-date=January 31, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230131040039/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Record-World/70s/71/RW-1971-11-20.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Interpretations===
{{Quote box|quote=The sense of disillusion and loss that the song transmits isn't just about deaths in the world of music, but also about a generation that could no longer believe in the utopian dreams of the 1950s...  According to McLean, the song represents a shift from the naïve and innocent '50s to the darker decade of the '60s |author=Alva Yaffe, Musicholics |source=<ref name= "musicholics" />|align=right|salign=right|width=50%}}

{{Quote box|quote=Don called his song a complicated parable, open to different interpretations. "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."|author=Super seventies |source=<ref>{{Cite web|url= https://www.superseventies.com/1972_1singles.html|title= "American Pie" – Don McLean|website= Super seventies|access-date= June 18, 2021|archive-date= June 22, 2021|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210622210237/https://superseventies.com/1972_1singles.html|url-status= live}}</ref>|align= right|salign=right|width=50%}}

The song has nostalgic themes,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3y4d-kAcP80C&pg=PA102|title=Continuities in Popular Culture: The Present in the Past & the Past in the Present and Future|first1=Ray Broadus|last1=Browne|first2=Ronald J.|last2=Ambrosetti|date=May 11, 1993|publisher=Popular Press|isbn=978-0-87972-593-8|access-date=May 11, 2019|via=Google Books|archive-date=November 29, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221129222345/https://books.google.com/books?id=3y4d-kAcP80C&pg=PA102|url-status=live}}</ref> stretching from the late 1950s until late 1969 or 1970. Except to acknowledge that he first learned about [[Buddy Holly]]'s death on February 3, 1959 – McLean was age 13 – when he was folding newspapers for his paper route on the morning of February 4, 1959 (hence the line "February made me shiver/with every paper I'd deliver"), McLean has generally avoided responding to direct questions about the song's lyrics; he has said: "They're beyond analysis. They're poetry."<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.don-mclean.com/?p=68|page=68|title=American Pie|website= Don-McLean.com|access-date=February 10, 2009|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090212174758/http://don-mclean.com/?p=68|archive-date=February 12, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> He also stated in an editorial published in 2009, on the 50th anniversary of the [[The Day the Music Died|crash]] that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson (all of whom are alluded to in the final verse in a comparison with the Christian [[Holy Trinity]]), that writing the first verse of the song exorcised his long-running grief over Holly's death and that he considers the song to be "a big song... that summed up the world known as America".<ref>{{cite news|last=McLean|first=Don|title=Commentary: Buddy Holly, rock music genius|url=http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/02/01/mclean.buddy.holly/|access-date=November 28, 2011|work=CNN|date=February 1, 2009|archive-date=March 6, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210306194143/http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/02/01/mclean.buddy.holly/|url-status=live}}</ref> McLean dedicated the ''American Pie'' album to Holly.

Some commentators have identified the song as outlining the darkening of cultural mood, as over time the cultural vanguard passed from [[Pete Seeger]] and [[Joan Baez]] (the "King and Queen" of folk music), then from [[Elvis Presley]] (known as "the King" of Rock and Roll), to [[Bob Dylan]] ("the Jester" – who wore a jacket similar to that worn by [[cultural icon]] [[James Dean]], was known as "the voice of his generation" ("a voice that came from you and me"),<ref>Maslin, Janet in Miller, Jim (ed.) (1981), ''The Rolling Stone History of Rock & Roll'', p. 220</ref> and whose [[Bob Dylan#Motorcycle accident and reclusion|motorcycle accident]] ("in a cast") left him in reclusion for many years, recording in studios rather than touring ("on the sidelines")), to [[The Beatles]] ([[John Lennon]], punned with [[Vladimir Lenin]], and "the Quartet" – although McLean has stated the Quartet is a reference to other people<ref name="Axelrod">{{Cite web|date=March 29, 2017|title=Don McLean explains why he won't reveal the meaning of "American Pie"|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/don-mclean-explains-why-he-wont-reveal-the-meaning-of-american-pie/|website=CBS News|access-date=March 30, 2017|quote="But the quartet practicing in the park, that's not the Beatles?" Axelrod asked. "No," McLean replied.|archive-date=March 30, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170330024905/http://www.cbsnews.com/news/don-mclean-explains-why-he-wont-reveal-the-meaning-of-american-pie/|url-status=live}}</ref>), to [[The Byrds]] (who wrote one of the first [[psychedelic rock]] songs, "[[Eight Miles High]]", and then "fell fast" – the song was banned, band member [[Gene Clark]] entered [[drug rehabilitation|rehabilitation]], known colloquially as a "fallout shelter", and shortly after, the group declined as it lost members, changed genres, and alienated fans), to [[The Rolling Stones]] (who released ''[[Their Satanic Majesties Request]]'' and the singles "[[Jumpin' Jack Flash]]" and "[[Sympathy for the Devil]]" ("Jack Flash", "Satan", "The Devil"), and used [[Hells Angels]] – "Angels born in Hell" – as [[Altamont Free Concert|Altamont]] event security, with [[Killing of Meredith Hunter|fatal consequences]], bringing the 1960s to a violent end<ref>{{Cite web|url= https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-altamont-festival-brings-the-1960s-to-a-violent-end|title= Murder at the Altamont Festival brings the 1960s to a violent end|website= History.com|date= November 13, 2009|access-date= June 20, 2021|archive-date= June 29, 2021|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210629003230/https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-altamont-festival-brings-the-1960s-to-a-violent-end|url-status= live}}</ref>), and to [[Janis Joplin]] (the "girl who sang the blues" but just "turned away" – she died of a [[heroin overdose]] the following year).

It has also been speculated that the song contains numerous references to post-[[World War II]] American political events, such as the [[assassination of John F. Kennedy]] (known casually as "Jack"), First Lady [[Jacqueline Kennedy]] ("his widowed bride"),<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/04/08/gloomy-don-mclean-reveals-meaning-of-american-pie-and-sells-lyrics-for-1-2-million/ |title=Gloomy Don McLean reveals meaning of 'American Pie' |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=May 4, 2023 |archive-date=March 9, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180309034527/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/04/08/gloomy-don-mclean-reveals-meaning-of-american-pie-and-sells-lyrics-for-1-2-million/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and subsequent killing of [[Lee Harvey Oswald|his assassin]] (whose courtroom trial obviously ended as a result ["adjourned"]),<ref name="whrc">{{Cite web|url= http://www.whrc-wi.org/americanpie.htm|title= "American Pie" Lyrics – What Do They Mean?|website= WHRC WI|access-date= June 18, 2021|archive-date= July 17, 2021|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210717023541/http://www.whrc-wi.org/americanpie.htm|url-status= live}}</ref> the [[Cuban Missile Crisis]] ("Jack be nimble, Jack be quick"),<ref name= "tonybarrell">{{Cite web|url=https://www.tonybarrell.com/the-american-pie-enigma/|title=The American pie enigma|first=Tony|last=Barrell|date=March 26, 2015|access-date=July 10, 2021|archive-date=July 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210710112437/https://www.tonybarrell.com/the-american-pie-enigma/|url-status=live}}</ref> the [[Murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner|murders of civil rights workers]] [[James Chaney]], [[Andrew Goodman (activist)|Andrew Goodman]], and [[Michael Schwerner]],<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.rareexception.com/Garden/Pie.php| title= Understanding the lyrics of American Pie: The analysis and interpretation of Don McLean's song lyrics |access-date=July 20, 2013|last=O'Brien|first=P.|date=March 3, 1999|work=The Octopus's Garden|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130407124608/http://www.rareexception.com/Garden/Pie.php|archive-date=April 7, 2013}}</ref> and elements of culture such as [[sock hop]]s ("kicking off shoes" to dance, preventing damage to the varnished floor), [[cruising (driving)|cruising]] with a [[pickup truck]],<ref name="whrc" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.edlis.org/twice/threads/american_pie.html|title=American Pie|work=Edlis|access-date=March 30, 2017|archive-date=April 14, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170414174229/http://www.edlis.org/twice/threads/american_pie.html|url-status=live}}</ref> the rise of the political protest song ("a voice that came from you and me"), [[Counterculture of the 1960s|drugs and the counterculture]], the [[Manson Family]] and the [[Tate–LaBianca murders]] in the "summer swelter" of 1969 (the Beatles' song "[[Helter Skelter (song)|Helter Skelter]]") and much more.<ref name="Axelrod"/>

Apparent allusions to  notable 50s songs include [[Don Cornell]]'s ''[[The Bible Tells Me So]]'' ("If the Bible tells you so?"), [[Marty Robbins]]' ''[[A White Sport Coat]]'', the lonely teenager ("With a pink carnation") mirroring Robbins' narrator who is rejected in favor of another man for the prom, and [[The Monotones]]' ''[[The Book of Love (The Monotones song)|The Book of Love]]''  ("Did you write the book of love").<ref>{{cite book|last1=Shuck|first1=Raymond|title=Do You Believe in Rock and Roll?: Essays on Don McLean's "American Pie" |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ri4TR522ONQC|year=2012|isbn=978-0-786-47105-8|pages=55, 56 & 57|publisher=[[McFarland & Company]]}}</ref>

Many additional and alternative interpretations have also been proposed.

For example, Bob Dylan's first performance in Great Britain was also at a pub called "The King and Queen", and he also appeared more literally "on the sidelines in a (the) cast" – as one of many stars [[List of images on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band|at the back far right of the cover art]] of the Beatles' album ''[[Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band]]'' ("the Sergeants played a marching tune").<ref name="tonybarrell" />

The song title itself is a reference to [[apple pie]], an unofficial [[Apple pie#In American culture|symbol of the United States]] and one of its signature [[comfort foods]],<ref name=Pinch>{{cite web |last1=D'Aiutolo |first1=Olivia |title=A Pinch of History: Amelia Simmons's Apple Pie |url=https://hsp.org/blogs/fondly-pennsylvania/a-pinch-of-history-amelia-simmonss-apple-pie |website=Fondly, Pennsylvania |publisher=Historical Society of Pennsylvania |access-date=June 11, 2018 |date=August 17, 2015 |archive-date=November 12, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112033656/https://hsp.org/blogs/fondly-pennsylvania/a-pinch-of-history-amelia-simmonss-apple-pie |url-status=live }}</ref> as seen in the popular expression "As American as apple pie".<ref name="dictionary">{{cite journal| url=http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/as-american-as-apple-pie| title=Definition of "as American as apple pie"| journal=Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus| author=Cambridge University Press| year=2011| access-date=June 20, 2021| archive-date=August 11, 2015| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150811010020/http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/as-american-as-apple-pie| url-status=live}}</ref> By the twentieth century, this had become a symbol of American prosperity and national pride.<ref name="dictionary" />

The original [[United Artists Records]] inner sleeve featured a [[free verse]] poem written by McLean about [[William Boyd (actor)|William Boyd]], also known as [[Hopalong Cassidy]], along with a picture of Boyd in full Hopalong regalia. Its inclusion in the album was interpreted to represent a sense of loss of a simplistic type of American culture as symbolized by Hopalong Cassidy and by extension [[black and white television]] as a whole.<ref>{{cite web|last=Fann|first=James M.|title=Understanding AMERICAN PIE|date=December 10, 2006|access-date=April 3, 2013|url=http://understandingamericanpie.com/hoppy.htm|archive-date=October 16, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121016143326/http://understandingamericanpie.com/hoppy.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[Mike Mills]] of [[R.E.M.]] reflected: "'American Pie' just made perfect sense to me as a song and that's what impressed me the most. I could say to people this is how to write songs. When you've written at least three songs that can be considered classic that is a very high batting average and if one of those songs happens to be something that a great many people think is one of the greatest songs ever written you've not only hit the top of the mountain but you've stayed high on the mountain for a long time."<ref name="skydoc">{{cite AV media|title=Don McLean: An American Troubadour|medium=Television production|publisher=Sky Arts 1|location=UK|year=2013}}</ref>

===McLean's responses===
{{Quote box|quote=For McLean, the song is a blueprint of his mind at the time and a homage to his musical influences, but also a roadmap for future students of history:

"If it starts young people thinking about Buddy Holly, about rock 'n' roll and that music, and then it teaches them maybe about what else happened in the country, maybe look at a little history, maybe ask why John Kennedy was shot and who did it, maybe ask why all our leaders were shot in the 1960s and who did it, maybe start to look at war and the stupidity of it — if that can happen, then the song really is serving a wonderful purpose and a positive purpose." |source=Mark Kennedy, "Don McLean looks back at his masterpiece, 'American Pie'" (2022)&nbsp;<ref name= ap2022/>|align=right|salign=right|width=50%}}

When asked what "American Pie" meant, McLean jokingly replied, "It means I don't ever have to work again if I don't want to."<ref name=DonMcLeanstory>{{cite web|url= http://www.don-mclean.com/articles/play.asp?p=15|title=The Don McLean Story: 1970–1976|website=Don-McLean.com|author=Howard, Dr. Alan|access-date =June 3, 2007|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070711220735/http://www.don-mclean.com/articles/play.asp?p=15|archive-date=July 11, 2007}}</ref> Later, he stated, "You will find many interpretations of my lyrics but none of them by me...  Sorry to leave you all on your own like this but long ago I realized that songwriters should make their statements and move on, maintaining a dignified silence."<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_398b.html|title=What is Don McLean's song "American Pie" all about?|website=[[The Straight Dope]]|date=May 14, 1993|access-date =June 3, 2007|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070528162305/http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_398b.html|archive-date=May 28, 2007}}</ref> He also commented on the popularity of his music, "I didn't write songs that were just catchy, but with a point of view, or songs about the environment."

In February 2015, however, McLean announced he would reveal the meaning of the lyrics to the song when the original manuscript went for auction in New York City, in April 2015.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-31451271|title=Don McLean to reveal meaning of American Pie lyrics|work=BBC News|date=February 13, 2015|access-date=February 13, 2015|archive-date=February 13, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150213113510/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-31451271|url-status=live}}</ref> The lyrics and notes were auctioned on April 7, 2015, and sold for $1.2&nbsp;million.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-32208584|title=American Pie lyrics sell for $1.2m|work=BBC News|date=April 7, 2015|access-date=June 21, 2018|archive-date=August 20, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180820184703/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-32208584|url-status=live}}</ref> In the sale catalogue notes, McLean revealed the meaning in the song's lyrics: "Basically in 'American Pie' things are heading in the wrong direction.  It [life] is becoming less idyllic. I don't know whether you consider that wrong or right but it is a morality song in a sense."<ref name="telegraph4915">{{cite news|title=American Pie: 6 crazy conspiracy theories|url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/11518980/American-Pie-6-crazy-conspiracy-theories.html |archive-url= https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/11518980/American-Pie-6-crazy-conspiracy-theories.html |archive-date=January 12, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|first=Rupert|last=Hawksley|date=April 7, 2015|work=The Daily Telegraph}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The catalogue confirmed that the song climaxes with a description of the [[killing of Meredith Hunter]] at the [[Altamont Free Concert]], ten years after the plane crash that killed Holly, Valens, and Richardson, and did acknowledge that some of the more well-known symbols in the song were inspired by figures such as [[Elvis Presley]] ("the king") and [[Bob Dylan]] ("the jester").<ref name="telegraph4915" />

In 2017, Bob Dylan was asked about how he was referenced in the song. "A jester? Sure, the jester writes songs like '[[Masters of War]]', '[[A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall]]', '[[It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)|It's Alright, Ma]]' – some jester. I have to think he's talking about somebody else. Ask him."<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/bob-dylans-surprise-new-interview-9-things-we-learned-w473397|title=Bob Dylan's Surprise New Interview: 9 Things We Learned|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|date=March 23, 2017|access-date=March 26, 2017|archive-date=March 25, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170325174348/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/bob-dylans-surprise-new-interview-9-things-we-learned-w473397|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2022, the documentary ''The Day the Music Died: The Story of Don McLean's American Pie'', produced by Spencer Proffer, was released on the [[Paramount+]] video on-demand service. Proffer said that he told McLean: "It's time for you to reveal what 50 years of journalists have wanted to know." McLean stated that he "needed a big song about America", and the first verse and melody ("A long, long time ago...") seemed to just come to mind.<ref name=ap2022>{{cite news |url= https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-music-iowa-07402e6a24c1773ddcec57b1a1f0575f |title= Don McLean looks back at his masterpiece, 'American Pie' |first= Mark |last= Kennedy |date= July 20, 2022 |work= AP |access-date= July 24, 2022 |archive-date= July 24, 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220724205237/https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-music-iowa-07402e6a24c1773ddcec57b1a1f0575f |url-status= live }}</ref>

McLean also answered some of the long-standing questions on the song's lyrics, although not all. He revealed that Presley was not the king referenced in the song, Joplin was not the "girl who sang the blues", and Dylan was not the jester, although he is open to other interpretations.<ref name=timetoreveal/> He explained that the "marching band" refers to the [[military–industrial complex]], "sweet perfume" refers to tear gas, and Los Angeles is the "coast" that the Trinity head to ("caught the last train for the coast"), commenting "even God has been corrupted". He also said that the line "This'll be the day that I die" originated from the [[John Wayne]] film ''[[The Searchers]]'' (which inspired Buddy Holly's song "[[That'll Be the Day]]"), and the chorus's line "Bye-bye, Miss American Pie" was inspired by a song by [[Pete Seeger]], "Bye Bye, My Roseanna". McLean had originally intended to use "Miss American apple pie", but "apple" was dropped.<ref name=ap2022 />

On the whole, McLean stated that the lyrics were meant to be [[Impressionism (literature)|impressionist]], and that many of the lyrics, only a portion of which were included in the finished recording, were completely fictional with no basis in real-life events.<ref name=timetoreveal>{{Cite web |last=Farber |first=Jim |date=July 19, 2022 |title='I said, Don, it's time for you to reveal': 50 years later, the truth behind American Pie |url= https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/jul/19/don-mclean-american-pie-documentary-the-day-the-music-died |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220719061844/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/jul/19/don-mclean-american-pie-documentary-the-day-the-music-died |archive-date=July 19, 2022 |access-date=July 19, 2022 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref>