
Hi Friends!
BACK IN THE DAY © stevenn beck
I first heard the song "American Pie" by Don McLean back in June 1971. Immediately loved it. So much music I'd heard on the radio had been two to three minutes long - so "American Pie" seemed to - almost - go on forever. And that was fine with me 'cause I never wanted it to end. WNEW-FM ("progressive" rock back in the day) would play it several times a day. AM radio (i.e. WABC-AM and WMCA) wouldn't touch it. Way too long.
Slowly but surely the song - and the album it came from - began to achieve mass popularity through word-of-mouth. My friends and I would get together and - over beers - have friendly arguments regarding the lyrics…what did "the day the music died" mean? Who dies in the second verse? Who was the "Jester"? What did the damn song mean anyway? And on and on. Sometimes the discussions lasted longer than the games of "Risk" we used to play. And often they went on until the "last call". Eventually of course the song became so popular AM radio couldn't ignore "American Pie" any longer. It became a monster hit record (on AM radio often divided between Parts "A" and "B" - you know, for the commercial break - and - as AM radio in those days was prone to do - it was played literally to death until we were all sick of it. Don McLean had a few minor hits but nothing like "American Pie" and quickly went from a network television phenomenon (playing all the talk shows like Merv Griffin, Johnny Carson as well as the rock shows like "Midnight Special") to - not long afterward - playing acoustical versions of his songs at small taverns throughout the country.
But he did have that one magical song….and two years later, it was considered one of the treasured "oldies" on the "legendary" Royal Jukebox. Just one hell of a sing-a-long bar song! "bye bye Miss American Pie…." :-) Damn…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMlzfpwJZuc#t=17
Bye for now- be safe!
Stevenn
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