Don McLean's 'American Pie' Still Palatable After 30 Years

01/15/2002 7:00 AM, Yahoo! Music
Jerry Armor

(1/15/02, 7 a.m. ET) -- Thirty years ago today (January 15, 1972), singer-songwriter Don McLean's "American Pie" hit Number One on the pop chart and held the top spot for the following four weeks. In the song, McLean set to music his feelings about the death of Buddy Holly, among other issues. "American Pie" coined the phrase "the day the music died" 30 years ago, and the song remains a staple on classic rock and oldies radio stations. In 2000, a younger audience was introduced to the tune when Madonna covered it for the soundtrack to her movie The Next Best Thing.

"American Pie," which is still often referred to as "that song about Buddy Holly," is about much more than the death of the music icon, as McLean explained. "The fact that Buddy Holly seems to be the primary thing that people talk about when they talk about 'American Pie' is kind of sad but fine with me, but it is about much more than that. It's only the beginning is about Buddy Holly, and the rest of it goes on and talks about America and politics and the country, and just trying to catch some sort of a special feeling that I had about my country especially in 1970 and '71, when it was very turbulent," he said.

-- Sue Falco, New York and Gary Graff, Detroit

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