Don McLean is famous for his 1971 album American Pie, containing the socially relevant songs "American Pie" and "Vincent". "People ask me if I left the lyrics open to ambiguity. Of course I did. I wanted to make a whole series of complex statements. The lyrics had to do with the state of society at the time." - Don Mclean. "Basically, in 'American Pie' things are heading in the wrong direction," McLean said in the interview. "It is becoming less ideal, less idyllic. I don't know whether you consider that wrong or right, but it is a morality song in a sense. I was around in 1970 and now I am around in 2015 … there is no poetry and very little romance in anything anymore, so it is really like the last phase of 'American Pie.'"
American
Pie - Written & Popularized by: Don McLean.
A long, long, time ago,
I can still remember how that music used to make me smile.
And I knew if I had my chance, that I could make those people dance,
and maybe, they'd be happy, for awhile.
Starry, starry night.
Paint your palette blue and grey,
Look out on a summer's day,
With eyes that know the darkness in my soul.
Shadows on the hills,
Sketch the trees and the daffodils,
Catch the breeze and the winter chills,
In colors on the snowy linen land.
Don
McLean took his life.
You took your life, as lovers often do.
But I could have told you, Vincent,
This world was never meant for one
As beautiful as you.
McLean said, "The last album (Don McLean) was a study in depression whereas the new one (Playin' Favorites) is almost the quintessence of optimism."