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JayDee View Drop Down
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Points: 10063 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: Somebody Explain American Pie(Don Mclean)
    Posted: December 27 2007 at 22:42
What's your interpretation of the song? What does the song really want to tell the listeners? Who's Ms. American Pie? Who's the Jester? Why did he stole somebody's thorny crown? Why was Satan laughing with delight?
 
Eyes on your paper, cheating will not be tolerated.Wink

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Points: 20030 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 28 2007 at 05:52
I always though "The day the music died" referred to the death of Buddy Holly.
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Points: 97 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 28 2007 at 06:32
Originally posted by chopper chopper wrote:

I always though "The day the music died" referred to the death of Buddy Holly.
 
Not just Buddy Holly - the plane was full of classic rock n roll musicians including La Bamba too.
 
I have a text document on my computer at home that goes through the song line by line explaining the references, I'll paste it in when I get back.
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Points: 31169 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 28 2007 at 07:24
From wikipedia:

The Day the Music Died refers to February 3, 1959, a date on which a small-plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, United States, killed three popular American rock and roll musicians: Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, as well as the pilot, Roger Peterson. The phrase was coined by Don McLean in his 1971 tribute song about the crash, "American Pie".
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Points: 20030 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 28 2007 at 09:53
So Miss American Pie is Marilyn Monroe?
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Points: 10063 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 28 2007 at 10:02
Ah so the trio (Holly et al.) were the father son and holy ghost that was mentioned in the song. Who was "the king " then? Elvis?

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Points: 452 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 28 2007 at 21:15
In the song "The King" is Elvis. I heard "The Jester" refers to Bob Dylan. Why, I don't know. The line that the jester stole the king's crown refers to how people's music taste shifted from rock and roll to folk.
 
The Sergeants refer to The Beatles. I'm not sure what the refusing to yield thing is about. At the end of the song, he asks a woman who sang the blues for some happy news. The woman is Janis Joplin. 
 
Everything about the song is speculative since Don McLean won't reveal what the song is about or what the symbolism is. (keep the mystery and interest in the music, keep the royalties going. Smart move.) There are several contradictory interpretations kicking around the internet.


Edited by darren - December 28 2007 at 21:24
"they locked up a man who wanted to rule the world.
the fools
they locked up the wrong man."
- Leonard Cohen
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Points: 2822 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 28 2007 at 21:42
My guess is that "Bye bye, Miss American Pie" refers to America's "lost innocence".
 
And, as has already been mentioned:
The King = Elvis
The Jester = Dylan
The Sergeants = The Beatles
The Devil = Mick Jagger
the girl who sang the blues = Janis Joplin
 
"Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard." -- H.L. Mencken
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Points: 37575 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 28 2007 at 22:00
the players = The Beach Boys
the birds = The Byrds
Jack B Nimble = John F Kennedy (or Mick Jagger)
What?
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