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Sunday Classics: ‘American Pie’ by Don McLean

Don McLean turned 75 on Saturday and his immortal song 50 this year

Don McLean’s American Pie is an all-time favourite of music lovers that stirred up a lot of drama in the ’70s. Written in 1971, the iconic number turned 50 this year.

American Pie topped music charts all over the world, ranking #1 in the United States, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. 

Folk, rock ‘n’ roll and pop, all fuse together to create eight minutes of bliss. “The slow intro is the pop part, but then the piano kicks in and the tempo speeds into the chorus — that’s the rock’n’roll bit. The folk component is in the verse-chorus-verse composition,” McLean had explained in an interview.

McLean states that the song is a biographical song. Its lyrical mastery is the result of McLean’s deep-rooted pain, grief and loneliness triggered by the death of his idol, Buddy Holly. The original handwritten lyrics sold for a whopping $1.2m in 2015.

A film titled The Day the Music Died and a children’s book titled American Pie are being released in 2021 to honour the milestone. How are you celebrating this tantalising tune turning 50?

^{_{— Lygeia Gomes}}