Lyr Add: American Pie (Don McLean)

Subject: American Pie
From: GUEST,Fidel
Date: 03 Aug 06 - 03:38 PM

Bye, bye Miss American Pie drove my Chevy to the levy but the levy was dry an them good ol' boys were drinkin whiskey and rye singin this will be the day that I die, this will be the day that I die.

Did you write the book of love and do you have faith in God above, if the bible tells you so, and do you believe in rock n' roll, can music save your mortal soul and can you teach me how to dance real slow? Well I know that you're in love with him cuz I saw you dancin in the gym you both kicked off your shoes and I dig those rhythm and blues. I was a lonely teenage bronkin buck with a pink carnation and a pick up truck but I knew I was out of luck, the day, the music, died. I started singin...

Now for ten years we've been on our own and moss grows fat on a rollin stone but that's not how it used to be, when the jester sang for the king and queen in a coat he borrowed from James Dean and a voice that came from you and me, oh and while the king was looking down, the jester stole his thorny crown the courtroom was adjourned, no verdict was returned, and while Lenin read a book on Marx, the quartet practiced in the park and we sang dirges in the dark, the day, the music, died. We were singin...

Helter Skelter in a summer swelter the birds flew off with a fallout shelter, eight miles high and fallin fast, its the land that falled on the grass the players tried for a forward pass with the jester on the sidelines in a cast, now the half-time air was sweet perfume while the sergeants played a marching tune we all got up to dance oh but we never got the chance oh as the players tried to take the field the marching band refused to yield do you recall what was revealed, the day, the music, died. We started singin...

Oh and there we were all in one place, a generation lost in space with no time left to start again, so come on, Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack Flash sat on a candle stick because fire is the devils only friend, oh and as I watched him on the stage, my hands were clinched in fists of rage, no angel born in hell could break that satan's spell and as the planes climbed high into the night to light the sacrificial right I saw satan laughing with delight, the day, the music, died. He was singin...

I met a girl who sang the blues and I asked her for some happy news but she just smiled and turned away, I went down to the sacred store where I'd heard the music years before but the man there said the music wouldn't play and in the streets the children screamed, the lovers cried, and the poets dreamed but not a word was spoken, the church bells all were broken and the three men I admire most, the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost, they caught the last train for the coast, the day, the music, died, and they were singin...

Subject: RE: American Pie
From: black walnut
Date: 03 Aug 06 - 03:50 PM

um....

Subject: RE: American Pie
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 03 Aug 06 - 03:52 PM

Would you like to re-phrase that? with line-breaks, paragraphs, etc? Thanx for all the words anyway!

Subject: RE: American Pie
From: black walnut
Date: 03 Aug 06 - 04:59 PM

Now I have an earworm!
~b.w.

Subject: RE: American Pie
From: Micca
Date: 03 Aug 06 - 05:07 PM

I always thought it started
" Long,long time ago
I can still remember
how that music used to make me smile
and I knew if I had the chance
I could make those people dance
and maybe they'd be happy for a while
but January made me shiver
with every paper I'd deliver
bad news on the doorstep
I couldn't take one more step
I can't remember if I cried
when I read about his widowed Bride
but something touched me deep inside
the Day the Music Died
Bye, bye Miss American Pie
drove my Chevy to the levy
but the levy was dry
them good ol' boys
were drinkin' whiskey and rye
singin this will be the day that I die,
this will be the day that I die"

Subject: RE: American Pie
From: Michael in Swansea
Date: 03 Aug 06 - 05:46 PM

Right on Micca. Aren't the words in the DT anyway?

Subject: RE: American Pie
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 03 Aug 06 - 06:07 PM

Not only are the words there in the DT, but also the program notes explaining it all.
An' fer heaven's sakes, the word is levee! (a levy is a tax, fee or tithe)

Fidel, have you recovered from the operation? Reading your post, it doesn't look like it.

Subject: RE: American Pie
From: GUEST,Jim
Date: 03 Aug 06 - 09:08 PM

I once re-posted the "program notes" from the DT on a music forum where we were discussing the meaning of American Pie, and got an email from someone claiming to have authored the DT entry, and taking me to task for infringing on his copyright. I pointed him to the DT (this was in the pre-Mudcat days) and told him to make his case there. I've often wondered what became of it, but note that the article is still there.

Anyone know of the purported authorship of the article in question?

Subject: RE: American Pie
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 03 Aug 06 - 09:35 PM

Who is RSK?- who seems to have submitted the Notes to the DT.

Subject: RE: American Pie
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 04 Aug 06 - 02:47 AM

I believe RSK is Rich Kulawiec. I have on my computer a copy of a message Kulawiec posted to the Usenet newsgroup rec.music.folk (and crossposted to some other newsgroups) in April, 1993, with the subject, The Annotated "American Pie". I haven't done a close comparison, but the "program notes" in the DT seem to be pretty much the same as that Usenet post. I suppose the Usenet post is available on Google Groups for anyone who wants to take a closer look.

One difference I spotted is that the Usenet post has some introductory material on how the annotations came about, and a long list of credits and a revision history at the end.

Subject: RE: American Pie
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 04 Aug 06 - 09:49 AM

slight aside....
as I mentioned in my usually little-read BS post "Postcard from Kalymnos 2006", I was surprised how many Europeans (Dutch, German, Austrian, Greek) knew the English words to this- usually better than I did!

RtS

Subject: RE: American Pie
From: GUEST,crazy little woman
Date: 04 Aug 06 - 11:11 AM

"An' fer heaven's sakes, the word is levee! (a levy is a tax, fee or tithe)"

I don't think it matters, Q. Whoever produced this profitable doggerel had no idea what a levee is, because being dry is the normal state for a levee.

However, the words "drove my Chevy to the levy" could mean that he drove it to the Department of Motor Vehicles to pay the smog tax.

But wait - isn't levee also a French word for a party of some sort? Maybe he drove his Chevy to the levee and discovered to his chagrin that they weren't serving booze.

That's the thing about great poetry - it's rife with meaning.

Subject: RE: American Pie
From: An Buachaill Caol Dubh
Date: 04 Aug 06 - 11:23 AM

"That's the thing about great poetry - it's rife with meaning".

I don't understand the relevance of this [absolutely true] statement to the Song Lyrics quoted.


Is it true that when someone once asked D.M. what "American Pie" meant, he answered, "It means I don't have to work anymore"?

Subject: RE: American Pie
From: BuckMulligan
Date: 04 Aug 06 - 11:24 AM

"February made me shiver" as in February 3, 1959 (the day the music died)

Subject: RE: American Pie
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 04 Aug 06 - 03:56 PM

Don McLean, who worked with Seeger in trying to get the Hudson River cleaned up and campaigned for other rivers certainly knew what a levee was. He was searching for a rhyme. And 'dry' somehow fits the feeling when the music died.
I remember riding in an old car (make not remembered but it had a rumble seat) to the levee in college days, when I visited friends in LA, but I also would have sung about a Chevy to get the rhyme. Lots happened on the levees- too long ago and long before Holly in my case.

Subject: RE: American Pie
From: GUEST,Nigel Parsons (sans cookie)
Date: 05 Aug 06 - 06:57 AM

Micca,

I think the missing intro can be put down to this being a transcription of the Madonna lyrics, although even those used part of the intro Here

CHEERS
Nigel

Subject: RE: American Pie
From: GUEST,Fidel
Date: 05 Aug 06 - 03:01 PM

Now that I have recovered I am eschewing Communisim. I am forming a new government based on the values enshrined in this song.

Viva Rock N Roll!

Viva Cuba!

Subject: RE: American Pie
From: BuckMulligan
Date: 05 Aug 06 - 03:13 PM

Nigel - yet another reason to eschew MaD's cover. But it does raise an interesting "folk process" notion. Will American Pie evolve, after Don McLean (and you & I and Madonna) are long dead, into something entirely different and otherwise meaningful based on what happens between now & then, in music or out? Presuming of course that it survives at all (and somehow I think it might). Or would it have to be a song that lends itself to more frequent performance in informal venues by less-than-hotshot performers (i.e. true "folk" singers)? And yes, this is a "what is folk" offshoot.

Subject: RE: American Pie
From: GUEST,Fidel
Date: 05 Aug 06 - 05:18 PM

This thread was supposed to parody American Lie. It was not supposed to be a music thread.

Viva Rock N Roll!

Viva Cuba!

Subject: RE: American Pie
From: BuckMulligan
Date: 05 Aug 06 - 09:09 PM

the best laid plans
o' mice and men
gang aft agley

(Burns)

Subject: Lyr Add: AMERICAN LIE (parody of AMERICAN PIE)
From: GUEST,yours truly,
Date: 06 Aug 06 - 06:40 PM

Here ya go!

Cut/n/pasted from:    www.satiricalpolitical.com

Is this a parody of the song? ... or the politics?

'AMERICAN LIE' (The Long-Awaited Sequel to 'American Pie')

By Don Davis

A long, long time ago …
I can still remember
How my country, used to make me smile
And I knew if, I had my chance
That I would bring back, Cyrus Vance
And maybe, we'd be peaceful, for a while

But November 2000 made me shiver
Paper chads in Palm Beach not delivered
Bad news on the Court steps
I couldn't take one more step

I can't remember if I cried
When I read the Court took Dubya's side
But something touched me deep inside
The day democracy died

So Hi-Hi, Miss American Lie
Drove my Chevy to the levee
But the levee's not dry
And FEMA boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
Singin', "this'll be the day the poor die"
"This'll be the day the poor die"

Did you write the book of hate?
Against gays do you discriminate?
If the Bible tells you so?
And do you believe in upholding Roe?
Can stem cells save your mortal soul?
And can you teach me how to talk real slow?

Well, I know that you're in love with Bush
'Cause I saw you take him up the tush
You can't afford new shoes
But you still won't vote for Bluu-uues

I was a lonely Dem, down to my last buck
Working red state precincts in a third-hand truck
But I knew that I was out of luck
The day democracy died

I started singin'
"Hi-Hi, Miss American Lie"
Drove my Chevy to the levee
But the levee's not dry
And FEMA boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
And singin', "this'll be the day the poor die"
"This'll be the day the poor die"

Now for six years we've been on our own
GOP graft grows like a rollin' stone
But that's not how it used to be
When the jester acted like a king or queen
In a way that totally pissed John Dean
And a police state, that's comin', for you and me

Oh, and while the jester's looking down
King Cheney stole his thorny crown
Civil liberties, were adjourned
No verdict was returned
And while Condi shut out Richard Clarke
The Neo-Cons war-gamed in the park
And Congress sat out in the dark
The day democracy died

We were singing,
"Hi-Hi, Miss American Lie"
Drove my chevy to the levee
But the levee's not dry
Them FEMA boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
And singin', "this'll be the day the poor die"
"This'll be the day the poor die"

Helter skelter in a summer swelter
Cindy Sheehan in a Crawford shelter
Two miles from the ranch, holding a faaaaaa -sssssst
Her protest ended on the grass
With FOX News tryin', to kick her ass
With the jester, in a motorcade, flying past

Now the aircraft carrier, fore-shadowed doom
While the jester flew in on his broom
Bush tried a victory dance
Oh, but he never got the chance!
'Cause our soldiers tried to leave the field
The insurgents and militias refused to yield
Do you recall what was revealed
The day democracy died?

We started singing
"Hi-Hi, Miss American Lie"
Drove my chevy to the levee
But the levee's not dry
Them FEMA boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
And singin', "this'll be the day the poor die"
"This'll be the day the poor die"

Oh, and there they were just, losing face
An Administration in total disgrace
With no time left to start again
So come on, Rummy's troops be nimble, his troops be quick!
Rummy sittin' there, just holding his prick
Cause stupidity, is the devil's only friend

As I watched the jester on the stage
His back "bunched up" like my fists of rage
No Kerry born in France
Could spoil that satan's chance
And as Iraq flamed high, throughout the night
Killing both Sunnis, and Shiites
I saw Karl Rove laughing with delight
The day democracy died

He was singing,
"Hi-Hi, Miss American Lie"
Drove my chevy to the levee
But the levee's not dry
Those FEMA boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
And singin', "this'll be the day the poor die"
"This'll be the day the poor die"

I met a girl named Karen Hughes
Who tried to feed us bullshit news
But I just frowned and turned away
I went down to the Congressional Floor
Where I'd seen real oversight, years before
But a Specter, said checks and balances, went away

And in the streets: the ACLU screamed
Bloggers cried, and the liberals dreamed
But protest votes were token
Diebold machines were "fixed," not broken
And the three men I despise the most:
Bush, Cheney, Rove, in hell they'll roast
They all caught shit from Daily Kos
The day democracy died

And they were singing, "Hi-Hi, Miss American Lie"
Drove my chevy to the levee
But the levee's not dry
And FEMA boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
Singin', "this'll be the day the poor die"
"This'll be the day the poor die"

They were singing
"Hi-Hi, Miss American Lie"
Drove my chevy to the levee
But the levee's not dry
And FEMA boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
Singin', "this'll be the day the poor die"

Subject: RE: American Pie
From: GUEST,yours truly,
Date: 06 Aug 06 - 07:16 PM

Seems like the standard fare of leftist blogs. Just more of the same old same old. In rereading the original song lyrics, I was taken by the slavish preoccupation with a point of view that now is so obviously a misinterpritation of factual events, masquerading as a quirky history lesson. The same holds true of the sequal, excepting of course the crudidity. One follows the other like a parody of a parody, and herein lies it's value, if you can call it that.

Sorry for the cut/n/paste, but this could be educational. It was not meant to be a political statement of any kind, but rather, a study into the transition from one song into another ala the folk tradition.

Subject: RE: American Pie
From: Sorcha
Date: 06 Aug 06 - 07:21 PM

Well, I think it's rather priceless.

Subject: RE: American Pie
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 07 Aug 06 - 12:19 AM

I thought that the line was Whiskey in Rye, as in Rye New York. As a liquor, Rye is Whiskey, which is repetetive. "In Rye" is a neat play on words. I could be wrong.

Subject: RE: American Pie
From: Effsee
Date: 07 Aug 06 - 10:39 AM

I've always heard it as "Whisky and Dry" as in Dry Ginger.
Maybe that's the ex-barman in me!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: American Pie (Don McLean)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 Aug 12 - 11:53 PM

Can you believe it's been 40 years? This month's AARP Magazine has a brief article and online slide show celebrating the 40th anniversary of the song, "American Pie."

Here's the AARP commentary:

A long, long time ago ...
"'American Pie' is a dream," Don McLean said recently. "In a dream, you know, a loaf of bread will become a beautiful girl, and it makes sense." In other words, even the guy who wrote the most dissected, analyzed and argued-over song of the past 40 years doesn't have a clue what some of its rich cultural and political imagery means. And that makes us feel a whole lot better about taking a shot at getting under the crust of "American Pie."

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: American Pie (Don McLean)
From: Mrrzy
Date: 25 Aug 20 - 03:00 PM

Probably nothing new here for you knowledgeable folks but, like that old Doonesbury strip said, I didn't know half this stuff.

Blicky.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: American Pie (Don McLean)
From: Mrrzy
Date: 28 Aug 20 - 12:58 PM

Well, *I* thought it was interesting.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: American Pie (Don McLean)
From: GUEST,Redneckred
Date: 31 Aug 20 - 02:19 AM

Sorry, "yours truly", I just don't get it. Leaving aside the "sequel" (which has no real connection with the original song), what is the "point of view that now is so obviously a misinterpritation of factual events (sic)"? I always thought the song was an impressionist account of a young man's growing up in a time when popular music was undergoing radical (and not in a political sense) changes.

What are you talking about?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: American Pie (Don McLean)
From: GerryM
Date: 31 Aug 20 - 03:09 AM

Guest Redneckred, you do realize that the post to which you are responding was made over 14 years ago, right?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: American Pie (Don McLean)
From: GUEST,Redneckred
Date: 02 Sep 20 - 12:47 AM

Time's fun when you're catching flies.

Oh dear, time to check the meds again.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: American Pie (Don McLean)
From: GerryM
Date: 02 Sep 20 - 03:03 AM

Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.