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.
It has been 21 years between the time this song came out and the event in 1959 that the song is referring to.
Don Maclean has aspirations to be a singer.
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.
Holly's recent bride was pregnant at the time of the crash. She miscarried shortly after.
Don McLean dated a Miss America candidate during the pageant.
Buddy Holly wrote: "That'll be the Day" with the lines "That'll be the day/When I die."
"Book of Love" by the Monotones, 1959.
"Do you believe in magic........it's like trying to tell a stranger 'bout rock and roll." Lovin' Spoonful
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.
Could be the Chicago 7 trial. That's the only possibility mentioned for this.
John Lennon of the Beatles, referencing his tendencies to the left.
The quartet being the Beatles, of course. The concert in Shea Stadium.
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.
Referring to the music group, the Byrds, who had a song called "Eight Miles High". One of the Byrds was arrested for marijuana use.
Bob Dylan had a motorcycle accident at one point and broke his leg.
Could be the Beatles concert (Sergant Pepper) at Candlestick Park. It only lasted 35 minutes. Shea Stadium was the other candidate.
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.
Bill Graham's Fillmore East.
The trend towards psychedelic music in the 60's, and its closing.
Reference to Holly, Valens and the Bopper.
-- 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"