Don McLean, where are you? ……………………………. A great song and a talented guy.

"American Pie" is a song by American singer and songwriter Don McLean. Recorded and released in 1971 on the album of the same name, the single was the number-one US hit for four weeks in 1972 starting January 15[3] after just eight weeks on the US Billboardcharts (where it entered at number 69).[4] The song also topped the charts in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. In the United Kingdom, the single reached number 2, where it stayed for three weeks on its original 1971 release, and a reissue in 1991 reached No. 12. The song was listed as the No. 5 song on the RIAA project Songs of the Century. A truncated version of the song was covered by Madonna in 2000 and reached No. 1 in at least 15 countries, including the UK, Canada, and Australia. At 8 minutes and 42 seconds, McLean's combined version is the sixth longest song to enter the Billboard Hot 100 (at the time of release it was the longest). The song also held the record for almost 50 years for being the longest song to reach number one[5] before Taylor Swift's "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)" broke the record in 2021.[6] Due to its exceptional length, it was initially released as a two-sided 7-inch single.[7] "American Pie" has been described as "one of the most successful and debated songs of the 20th century".[8]The repeated phrase "the day the music died" refers to a plane crash in 1959 that killed early rock and roll stars Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens, ending the era of early rock and roll; this became the popular nickname for that crash. The theme of the song goes beyond mourning McLean's childhood music heroes, reflecting the deep cultural changes and profound disillusion and loss of innocence of his generation[8] – the early rock and roll generation – that took place between the 1959 plane crash and either late 1969[9] or late 1970.[10][11] The meaning of the other lyrics, which cryptically allude to many of the jarring events and social changes experienced during that period, has been debated for decades. McLean repeatedly declined to explain the symbolism behind the many characters and events mentioned; he eventually released his songwriting notes to accompany the original manuscript when it was sold in 2015, explaining many of these. McLean further elaborated on the lyrical meaning in a 2022 documentary celebrating the song's 50th anniversary, in which he stated the song was driven by impressionism, and debunked some of the more widely speculated symbols.In 2017, McLean's original recording was selected for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[12] To mark the 50th anniversary of the song, McLean performed a 35-date tour through Europe, starting in Wales and ending in Austria, in 2022.[13]BackgroundBuddy HollyRitchie ValensThe Big BopperEarly rock and roll musicians killed in the February 3, 1959, plane crash alluded to in the songDon McLean drew inspiration for the song from his childhood experience delivering newspapers during the time of the plane crash that killed early rock and rollmusicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper:I first found out about the plane crash because I was a 13-year-old newspaper delivery boy in New Rochelle, New York, and I was carrying the bundle of the local Standard-Star papers that were bound in twine, and when I cut it open with a knife, there it was on the front page.— Don McLean[14]McLean reportedly wrote "American Pie" in Saratoga Springs, New York, at Caffè Lena, but a 2011 New York Times article quotes McLean as disputing this claim.[15] Some employees at Caffè Lena claim that he started writing the song there, and then continued to write the song in both Cold Spring, New York,[16] and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[17] McLean claims that the song was only written in Cold Spring and Philadelphia.[15] Tin & Lint, a bar on Caroline Street in Saratoga Springs, claims the song was written there, and a plaque marks the table. While a 2022 documentary on the history of the song claims Saint Joseph's University as where the song was first performed,[18][19] McLean insists that the song made its debut in Philadelphia at Temple University[15] when he opened for Laura Nyro on March 14, 1971.[17]The song was produced by Ed Freeman and recorded with a few session musicians. Freeman did not want McLean to play rhythm guitar on the song but eventually relented. McLean and the session musicians rehearsed for two weeks but failed to get the song right. At the last minute, the pianist Paul Griffin was added, which is when the tune came together.[20] McLean used a 1969 or 1970 Martin D-28guitar to provide the basic chords throughout "American Pie".[21]The song debuted on the album American Pie in October 1971 and was released as a single in November. The song's eight-and-a-half-minute length meant that it could not fit entirely on one side of the 45 RPM record, so United Artists had the first 4:11 taking up the A-side of the record and the final 4:31 the B-side. Radio stations initially played the A-side of the song only, but soon switched to the full album version to satisfy their audiences.[22]Upon the single release, Cash Box called it "folk-rock's most ambitious and successful epic endeavor since 'Alice's Restaurant.'"[23] Record World called it a "monumental accomplishment of lyric writing".[24]