Final Results: American Pie Lyrics

Newsgroups: rec.games.trivia
Subject: Final Results: American Pie Lyrics
From: mfterman@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Mutant for Hire)
Date: 24 Jun 91 14:49:35 GMT
Organization: Mutant for Hire, Inc.
Lines: 266

Okay, I've gotten a lot of mail, sorted through the responses, and come up with this summary. Not all the comments agreed with each other, so I tend to go by majority vote in the case of disagreements, or with the possibility I like the most in the case of a tie. Spelling mistakes and glitches in the lyrics transcription from the earlier posting have been corrected. I think. Attributing various comments to various people is difficult due to the number of said sources and the fact that there were agreements on various parts. So I left them all off, but thanks to y'all who sent them in.

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*** a long long time ago
*** I can still remember how that music
*** used to make me smile

It has been 21 years between the time this song came out and the event in 1959 that the song is referring to.

*** and I knew if I had my chance
*** I could make those people dance
*** and maybe they'd be happy for a while

Don Maclean has aspirations to be a singer.

*** but February made me shiver
*** with every paper I deliver
*** bad news on the doorstep
*** I couldn't take one more step

A plane crash killed Buddy Holly, J.P "The Bopper" Richardson and Ritchie Valens in February 1959. Naturally there was a bit of press coverage of all this.

*** I can't remember if I cried
*** when I read about his widowed bride

Holly's recent bride was pregnant at the time of the crash. She miscarried shortly after.

*** something touched me deep inside
*** the day the music died
*** so
*** Chorus:

*** bye, bye Miss American Pie

Don McLean dated a Miss America candidate during the pageant.

*** drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
*** them good 'ol boys were drinking whiskey and rye
*** singing "this will be the day that I die,
*** this will be the day that I die"

Buddy Holly wrote: "That'll be the Day" with the lines "That'll be the day/When I die."

*** did you write the book of love

"Book of Love" by the Monotones, 1959.

*** and do you have faith in God above
*** if the bible tells you so
*** and do you believe in rock and roll

"Do you believe in magic........it's like trying to tell a stranger 'bout rock and roll." Lovin' Spoonful

*** the jester stole his thorny crown

Dylan and the other new rock and roll people taking over rock and roll as Elvis declined. Considering the price of success for Elvis, the crown looks pretty thorny.

*** the courtroom was adjourned
*** no verdict was returned

Could be the Chicago 7 trial. That's the only possibility mentioned for this.

*** and while Lennon read a book on Marx

John Lennon of the Beatles, referencing his tendencies to the left.

*** the quartet practiced in the park

The quartet being the Beatles, of course. The concert in Shea Stadium.

*** and we sang dirges in the dark
*** the day the music died
*** we were singing

*** CHORUS

*** helter skelter in a summer swelter

The Tate murders committed by Charles Manson. Helter Skelter was a song by the Beatles off the White Album. Charles Manson was "inspired" by it, thought it was the devil talking to him.

*** the birds flew off with a fallout shelter
*** eight miles high and falling fast
*** landed fouled, on the grass

Referring to the music group, the Byrds, who had a song called "Eight Miles High". One of the Byrds was arrested for marijuana use.

*** the players tried for a forward pass
*** with the jester on the sidelines in a cast

Bob Dylan had a motorcycle accident at one point and broke his leg.

*** now the halftime air was sweet perfume
*** while the sergeant played a marching tune

Could be the Beatles concert (Sergant Pepper) at Candlestick Park. It only lasted 35 minutes. Shea Stadium was the other candidate.

*** we all got up to dance
*** 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 1968 Democratic Convention is mentioned as a possibility, but more people think that it refers to Kent State. Another interesting possibility is tha sang the blues is Janis Joplin. The next lines could reference her suicide, but that isn't totally clear.

*** I went down to the sacred store

Bill Graham's Fillmore East.

*** 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

The trend towards psychedelic music in the 60's, and its closing.

*** but not a word was spoken
*** the church bells all were broken
*** and the three men I admired most
*** the father, son and the holy ghost
*** they caught the last train for the coast

Reference to Holly, Valens and the Bopper.

*** the day the music died
*** and they were singing

*** CHORUS

*** Repeat

--
Martin Terman mfterman@phoenix.princeton.edu            mftermanQpucc.bitnet
Disclaimer: No sane being would believe what I say, but then this *is*
   the Net so I make no claims about any of my readership out there.
"My priorities are straight. Or at least they're warped in the right direction"