American Pie, Day DISCO died.

[KrisHawkXXX]

I rewrote the song but wrote about how DISCO died. Older folks should understand the references.

A long, long time ago
I can still remember how that disco used to
make me smile
And I knew that if I had my chance
I could make those people dance
And maybe they'd be happy for a while

Melodies of summers falling in love
Do You see black lights high above
Beegees put on a good show
Before you danced did you pop a roll?
Does donna of R&B heal your soul?
Take Me Hand and we'll dance, real slow

Well, I Think that I'm in love with him
Senior year the prom was held in the gym.
We all kicked off our shoes
Cubs stadium, all over the news

We were happy teens who kept on truckin'
All the kids lookin for a fuckin'
But I knew that I was out of luck
The day the music died
I started singing

Bye, bye, Miss American Pie
One by one shattered records
While the fire was dry
Coming down boys and girls started cry
Singing this'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die

I met a girl who sang the blues
And I asked her for some happy news
But she just smiled and turned away
I went down to the record store
Where I'd heard the music years before
But the man there said the music wouldn't play

Well now, in the streets the rockers screamed
The lovers cried, and the writers dreamed
But not a word was spoken
Tho disco balls all were broken
And the Djs I admire the most
Their sounds gone almost like a ghost.
Took the trains for the clubs on the coast
The day the music died

 

[ChickenGuy]

Can someone who knows tell me - did Don McLean specifically write it as an anti-Vietnam song?

Or was it just 'taken up' and 'adopted' as one, due to the feelings and events of that time?

 

[G-Lexington]

It wasn't an anti-Vietnam song at all. The original spark was remembering how he felt in February 1959 when Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, and Richie Valens died in a plane crash. It then expanded out to a rumonation on the sixties, written as obscurely as possible. Apparently Bob Dylan is "the Jester", and Satan is either Mick Jagger or, um, Satan.

Lex

 

[gsdx]

G-Lex is correct. It was written about the death of Buddy Holly.

 

[ChickenGuy]

^ Why have I always linked that tune in my mind with Vietnam? Maybe it was a movie or documentary I saw ages ago, I really can't remember now, but I thought a lot of artists at the time took up the political cause in their songs.

 

[swerve]

It wasn't an anti-Vietnam song at all. The original spark was remembering how he felt in February 1959 when Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, and Richie Valens died in a plane crash. It then expanded out to a rumonation on the sixties, written as obscurely as possible. Apparently Bob Dylan is "the Jester", and Satan is either Mick Jagger or, um, Satan.

Lex

Thanks Lex!!!

I NEVER knew that -- even though I've loved the song for DECADES...

 

[gsdx]

^ Why have I always linked that tune in my mind with Vietnam?

Possibly because the song came out at the peak of the Vietnam War protests and just 2 years before the US pulled out in 1973.

 

[G-Lexington]

There were plenty of anti-Vietnam sings from the period, and the vast majority were at least somewhat obscure. (The only really blatant ones I can think if were "Stop the War Now" by Edwin Starr, and "Bring the Boys Home" from Freda Payne.) Given that, and the fact that "American Pie" is a song with deliberately obscure lyrics from that period, I guess it's not surprising some people might have guessed it was an anti-Vietnam song. Back then, most songs with hard to decipher lyrics were either about the war, drugs, or sex.

Lex

 

[KrisHawkXXX]

Well this one was about disco

 

[gsdx]

There were plenty of anti-Vietnam sings from the period, and the vast majority were at least somewhat obscure.

Here's a list: List of songs about the Vietnam War - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[gsdx]

Well this one was about disco

Well, except for the second verse, there's not much disco in it.

 

[G-Lexington]

And what day did disco die? When Studio 54 got raided? When Can't Stop the Music opened? When Get the Knack was released? Disco Demolition Night at Commiskey Park?

Lex

 

[kevbo]

American Pie by Don McLean Songfacts

Has interpretations of various lyrics from the original

 

[KrisHawkXXX]

American Pie by Don McLean Songfacts

Has interpretations of various lyrics from the original

Well i thought it was about famous rockers that died i think it came out in 69 or 70 wasn't it?

I changed it to the day that disco died. It went out like a light somewhere in 1979. I know it happened in Chicago Cubs stadium people were burning disco records it became a psychedelic dance music at one time like in the mid to late 60s. But the Village People brought gays to attention in a different light. Jungle Fever was about interracial sex or relationships. The rock industry was losing money so somehow a propaganda got spread. They complained it was too sexual but the 80s had sexuality too! Anyway It got too liberal, and Jimmy Carter was not being re-elected. By 1980 the hot 100 had VERY limited disco then became soft rock then hard rock and well you know how the 80s goes. Later on here and there were some kinds of dance as well as other genres here and there.