MORE AMERICAN PIE PLEASE

Pie American

To Orwell Today,
re: BYE, BYE AMERICAN PIE

Very interesting analysis of American Pie. I think you're on to something. Your analysis makes sense, however, I wanted to ask you where you got the lyrics, the version you are referencing in your analysis. In every version I have of this song, the song fades out before the following verses (see below). I am very interested in why the song fades out before these verses. I never even knew these verses were in the song until I read your analysis.

Other websites' analysis compared this song to rock and roll, saying the jester is Dylan and the king is Elvis, and that February references Buddy Holly and Richie and Big Bop plane crash (they crashed in February), and say that that's what "the day the music died" is referencing. But with the added verses below that analysis doesn't make sense.

It almost seems it was designed to have two meanings at the same time... Which makes me curious why they faded out the ending... Look at the verses below, in all versions I have they don't ever happen, it fades out before that verse starts... let me know what you think...

MISSING VERSES (included on Target retail cds like "Greatest Hits of the 70s"):

Helter Skelter in a summer swelter, the birds flew off with a fallout shelter, eight miles high and falling fast, it landed foul out 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, 'cause 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 singing...

bye-bye, Miss American Pie...

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 candlestick 'cause fire is the Devil's 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 flames climbed high into the night to light the sacrificial rite I saw Satan laughing with delight, the day the music died. He was singing...

bye-bye, Miss American Pie...

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 singing...

Bye, bye, Miss American Pie, drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry. Them good old boys were drinking whiskey and rye singin' this will be the day that I die." [end of song]

-Digital Trader

Greetings Digital,

Glad to hear my analysis of the song makes sense to you and you recognize that the lyrics have more than one meaning. See also BYE, BYE AMERICAN APPLE PIE for additional clarification.

The lyrics I reference were taken from DON MCLEAN'S WEBSITE.

I don't know why those versions you have are incomplete, other than that maybe they chopped the end off for brevity (afterall, it is an extremely long song).

You can hear the orignal, in its entirety, on You Tube at: DON MCLEAN: BYE BYE MISS AMERICAN PIE

Below , for easy reference, I've listed the status-quo interpretations readers have sent over the years - all of which focus on the obvious rock-and-roll references while ignoring entirely the nuclear, satanic, communist take-over references I point out in my analysis.

All the best,
Jackie Jura

PS - Speaking about "news on the doorstop".... look what jumped off the page at me this morning (after posting our email last night).... this is "the day" Don McLean was born, ie October 2nd, 64 years ago:

Pie McLean Birth

"In 1945, singer-songwriter Don McLean was born in New Rochelle, New York. His second album contained American Pie, an eight-and-a-half-minute tribute to rock 'n' roll inspired by the death of Buddy Holly. It became the number-one record of 1972. American Pie is practically the only one of McLeaan's hits that people remember, and he spent several years refusing to perform the song. McLean made a comeback in 1981 with several hit singles, including a remake of of Roy Orbison's Crying."

PPS - Did you notice - on the bottom of the excerpt from Don McLean's website that I excerpt on my BYE, BYE AMERICAN PIE page - that McLean - even though he never had another hit record - is ranked up there with the elites and performed the song at the Lincoln Memorial on New Year's Eve, 1999 (There's symbolism there for people who recognize it) in front of the President of the USA (ie Bill Clinton at the time):

Don McLean official website: "...Some people are amazed when they read how successful, "American Pie Man", Don McLean has been. Far from fading away (like some of his 1970s singer-songwriter contemporaries), Don has remained very much in the upper echelons of popular music...Don McLean wound up the 20th century by performing "American Pie" for President Clinton at the Lincoln Memorial Gala In Washington D.C."

AMERICAN PIE: AN INTERPRETATION

AMERICAN PIE SONG FACTS

THE ANNOTATED AMERICAN PIE

ORIGINAL ANALYSIS OF CLASSIC AMERICAN PIE

Jackie Jura
~ an independent researcher monitoring local, national and international events ~

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