Welcome to A Breath of Fresh Air with Sandy Kaye. Hello, so glad you could join me this week. I hope you’re liking what you’re hearing on A Breath of Fresh Air.
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Let’s move on to our very special guest today. He’s someone you all know because of one massive chart topper that he had way back in 1971. Of course, he has had other hits, and he’s crafted a very handsome body of work.
But this song was so big that it was voted to be in the top five of the best songs ever. Can you guess what the song is? It’s Not White Christmas by Bing Crosby, or This Land is Your Land by Woody Guthrie. It’s this one.
The oldest, of course, is singer-songwriter Don McLean, whose life was changed forever when that long winding composition went straight to number one and propelled itself into the heart of popular culture for decades on end. So who is this man who wrote this anthem? And what was his life like before, during and after it? I wanted to find out. I’ve been quite busy actually, running hither and yon.
I want to take you right back to where it all started for you and build up to present day because there’s quite a bit to talk about. If you can cast your mind back to that first album that you released called Tapestry. It was a very special time going on then, wasn’t it? Can you describe the era that it was and what led to that album? Well, I had a manager.
I first knew him in the mid 60s. So he was trying to make deals for the first album that I was working on in 67, 68, around there. And that was the Tapestry album.
And in the world out there, there were riots going on in Berkeley, California, and a lot of upheaval in the country, you know, rioting in the streets and cities being set on fire. And in all that while, he knew how to do things, but he was a very idiosyncratic individual. He was very arrogant.
And he also was very ignorant of some things. And in all that while, he’s trying to get a record company. So anyway, he kept blowing one deal after another.
And it was infuriating me. And finally, we found some money and went out and started working on this record. And where did we go but to Berkeley, California.
So we’re in the middle of rioting every day making this record. Musicians would come to the studio having been tear gassed by the riots in the street, and then they’d start to play, you know, Castles in the Air. Hills of forest green, where the mountains touch the sky, a dream come true.
I’ll live there till I die. I’m asking you to say my last goodbye. The love we knew ain’t worth another try.
Save me from all the trouble and the pain. I know I’ve been weak but I can’t face that girl again. Tell her the reasons why I can’t remain.
Perhaps she’ll understand. If you turn into a flame. That is sort of a little bit of the background.
There was tremendous financial insecurity, and there was in my world, and it was because of this guy. And there was tremendous political insecurity in the country. And it was made for nothing like it.
Have I ever seen it ever since, no matter what, we’ve never seen anything like it. Right of all the things you read about today. So the album, five visits out there, I guess.
And finally it was finished. And a little record label released the album and paid all the bills. And this time was over $20,000 on $20,000.
Back in 1969 was a lot of money. So this ridiculous manager had already got me in debt for $20,000. And I’d just gotten out of college a year ago.
By the skin of our teeth, we got out of this. And it turns out that a great record man named Alan Livingston, who had been the source of all the power of Capitol Records, was starting this independent little company. We had beautiful offices on Sunset Boulevard.
I was in heaven. I couldn’t believe that it happened. So it was all working.
The album came out and I was always doing promotion for it. I was going with independent promotion men all the time in their cars, going to meetings, program directors, radio stations and the like. Yeah.
And what happened was that the album, really, it was a hit. It started getting played on underground radio. It was played so much that the title track Tapestry became the inspiration for the formation of the Greenpeace environmental movement.
Every thread of creation is held in position by still other strands of things living. In an earthly tapestry hung from the skyline of smoldering cities, so gray and so vulgar as not to be satisfied with their own negativity, but needing to touch all the living as well. And every breeze that blows kindly is one crystal breath we exhale on the blue diamond heaven.
As gentle to touch as the hands of the healer, as soft as farewells whispered over the coffin, we’re poisoned by venom with each breath we take from the brown sulfur chimney and the black highway snake. And every dawn that breaks golden is held in suspension like the yolk of the egg in albumen where the birth and the death of unseen generations are interdependent in vast orchestration and painted in colors of tapestry thread when the dying are born and the living are dead. I was on my way now I was headlining night clubs and doing college concerts and I was extremely busy starting from like 1968 when I got out of college till today.
You must have had an awful lot of confidence about you to support yourself producing that first album. You knew that’s what you wanted to do. Did you have any doubt that you’d become successful or you were pretty cocksure of yourself? I had no plan b but I was not going to fail all the rest of it.
If I had to kill somebody I think I would do it in order to succeed at that point in my life. I was not going to be denied the ability to make recordings and I was very very very focused on that. If it’s just me I had no desire to get married or have a family although I did get married in 1969 but I don’t even know why I did it.
I think I was lonely it was just a dumb thing that I did and I just didn’t think about anything but music and and singing and I was able to make you know a fairly decent living performing in nightclubs and they had given me a contract for three years, a publishing contract. So I had the record deal but I also had a publishing agreement with them and they paid I think $300 a week for three years and I was able to give that to my mother. We had lived in a little house in New York which you may be aware of if you know anything about my history and in 1963 when I made my first attempt at college my mother left the house and rented it so I had no home to go back to.
I had a one-room apartment which was hers and basically the message was well you’re on your own you know. It was tough you know it wasn’t easy. Seven years we we lived in that apartment and so in 1970 when I got that publishing agreement I gave her the money and she moved back into the house and that’s where she stayed until she passed away in 1984.
him I don’t know I guess they understand how lonely life has been but life began again the day you took my hand and yes I knew how lonely life can be the shadows follow me and the night won’t set me free but I don’t let the evening get me down now that you’re around John that first album the single off it was Castles in the Air but it also contained the song And I Love You So which became a number one for Perry Como a couple of years later. Yes but there were there were there were songs on there like Magdalene Lane which is about Los Angeles and that was like the first effort on my part to write in a quasi-American pie style of songwriting. There was Tapestry about the environment and there was a song like General Storer which was interesting dialogue about racism which ended up influencing a lot of John.
Morning Mrs. Campbell lovely day today I heard about the fire I wonder what the papers say I heard about the fire I wonder what the papers say let’s see now give me 50 shotgun shells and a hundred feet of rope just add that to my bill says yeah there ain’t no hope they all were burned alive and four packs of cigarettes no I think I’ll make it five I heard about the wedding I’m so happy for the bride I heard about the fire I wonder what the papers say why that firehouse looked mighty nice and the whole town swelled with pride we’ve watched her grow to womanhood she’s found an upright man she learned this life ain’t easy you do the best you can there were a lot of other songs on that record that are worthy but those two you know ended up being two of my best known songs so there was certainly no shortage of fodder for you to write about during those crazy times was there it depended on what you wanted to do I mean I didn’t want to write songs let’s say like and I love you so which Johnny Mathis and who I love by the way and let’s say Andy Williams would want a thing but I was very interested in that genre of music so I wrote and I love you so in that style but yeah but at the same token I didn’t want to be a still oaks I didn’t want to be a guy who was a fire brand writing only songs about politics there are quite a few folks around doing that so I mixed it up basically the first album established the footprint and the style of album making that I would use for the next 20 records was there a problem pigeonholing you as a result of that did the radio stations were they unsure of how to use you well as I say the FM radio stations played the whole record one time I came home to visit my mother and I turned the radio on and I called her into the room I said look they’re playing the whole record in New York that was an amazing moment that record had caused me so much grief and it was so hard all those trips out to California and meanwhile I’m hanging around all these druggies from the Grateful Dead and all the rest of this which you know stuff I didn’t like and interestingly enough at the same time in the early 60s I had befriended a guy named Eric Darling who had been in the Weavers and when I knew him before all the stuff that I just told you about this is 62 and right around then he had a number one record with Walk Right In he formed this group called the Rooftop Singers everybody’s talking about a new way of walking do you want to lose your mind walk right in set right down daddy let your mind roll on walk right in set right down baby let your hair hang down walk right in set right down baby let your hair hang down everybody’s talking about a new way of walking do you want to lose your mind walk right in set right down baby let your hair hang down I would go visit him in New York when I was 16 years old and he was going on the road every weekend playing these college concerts and being on the Hootenanny TV show and all this stuff I was around a guy was having number one records so that was very interesting also I was in the middle of something and I knew it but I just didn’t know where it was going to go no one knew but Don McLean felt it and wanted to be a part of whatever it turned out to be
This is a breath of fresh air with Sandy Kaye. It’s a beautiful day. Don McLean was very fortunate that his mother supported him doing whatever he chose to do.
My mother was Italian and she was very proud. She loved to hear me play and sing. My father was the absolute opposite.
He thought it was a complete waste of time. He thought that if I was going to be a serious young man and grow into a rational adult and the pillar of the community that I was wasting my time with his singing and guitar stuff. When I was about five years old, I could sing.
I grew up in a family of grown-ups. I had a sister who was 15 years older than me and I had a grandmother. My two parents, so there were these four adults in the house.
I was either coddled and beloved or I was in the way. Nothing in between. I remember saying once, and it was just gales of laughter, I would say, I’m going to be a famous singer.
I’m going to buy you a mink coat. I told my mother when I was six or seven. By God, there’s a photograph of me in one of the books of her and her mink coat going to Carnegie Hall.
I guess it was 1973. To be lovers I’ve been wanting to ask you Where has all the love gone? And what have we become? Storm clouds full of thunder Move silent as they drum And when they’re gone we’ll be fine Till tomorrow I guess that talks about the power of believing in yourself and the power of dreams and never letting go of what you want, doesn’t it? Well, you know, you really hit on something very, very important. Because of the asthma, because I was home alone all the time, I was very lonely.
I had nobody to relate to and I created a whole other vocabulary, I guess, for myself that made me happy. I started with just loving the Top Ten and the music. But I was different, I was much more involved with this stuff than the average kid was because they were more normal, you know, and I wasn’t.
But I grabbed hold of this dream that I had. I started really playing guitar and banjo and I got way into it. I practiced hours and hours and hours every day for years until I got good.
And when that happened, then I had a weapon, the guitar, that I could use in order to put forward any songs that I might want to sing. And that led to arranging songs. I did everything on all my records.
I wrote the songs, I wrote the arrangements. Yeah, I did everything myself. So the guitar was my ally and it was my weapon.
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 Now I understand What you tried to say to me How you suffered for your sanity How you tried to set them free They would not listen, they did not know how Perhaps they’ll listen Starry, starry night Flaming flowers that brightly blaze Swirling clouds in violet haze Reflect in Vincent’s eyes of china blue Colors changing hue Morning fields of amber grain Weathered faces lined in pain Are soothed beneath the artist’s loving hand I fell into a group of young singers and songwriters, men and women, who were playing coffee houses all across the country. They were opening up every place and you could make $300 a night. Meanwhile, guys that I knew were still lifeguarding for $25 a week.
Must have been very appealing. It was very exhilarating, very exciting, because these doors were opening and I was going through them. But I had no idea that it’d be 50 years later and I’d be worth an astounding amount of money.
When I was about 13 years old, me and a bunch of friends went to see a movie and I spent $6. And when my father found out I spent $6, he went crazy. That’s how much money was worth in those days.
I never saw a $10 or $20 bill in my life. My father paid for that house $7,000. He bought it in probably 1929 or 30, and he paid it off in 1960, just before he died.
$7,000 he spent 30 years paying off. You’ve seen a lot in the years. It’s just not the same world anymore, is it? Well, that documentary movie, The Day the Music Died, the story of Don McLean’s American Pie, was up for an MTV award.
I am flying high right now. I have never been happier, I have never been more successful, and I don’t think I’ve ever been more famous than I am right now. The documentary does go into what was going on for you when you wrote American Pie.
Can you share a little bit about that? The song American Pie is so biographical. In the beginning, February made me shiver. I’m the paper boy, and then as we go along, I’m seeing this and I’m seeing that.
And at the end, really, with the metagirl who sang the blues part, I was thinking about the March on Washington and how it was after it was over. Quiet, the rain had come, the tear gas had been used on everybody and everything was quiet in the street. The political violence.
There was a lot of bombing going on on college campuses. You never knew when a bomb scare was going to get phoned in or one would go off, and I was around all that. So I was rough and ready, man.
In fact, there’s a movie about me called American Troubadour, a moment in there where I’m playing at Columbia University and there’s a bomb scare. They stopped the show. So does that mean that you always had to be on alert? Yeah, because I’m a free radical rolling around.
I’m a rambling man, you know. I’m not a business. I put my ass on the line all over the place, every time, all the time.
I play in front of audiences in Northern Ireland, you know, where people were in the audience who hated each other and they could have shot me in a minute. I played in many dangerous places. Just let it take me wherever it took me.
It was obviously your concern for everything that you saw going on around you that led to all those incredible lyrics throughout American Pie. Well, all that energy and all that tumult is in those lyrics. That’s something I built into the song.
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 a while But February made me shiver With every paper I’d deliver Bad news on the doorstep I couldn’t take one more step I can’t remember if I cried When I read about his widowed bride But something touched me deep inside The day the music died I really don’t know how I do what I do. There’s no way to describe how I do anything. When you had put that song together, did you know you had a massive hit on your hands? All I knew, when Ed Freeman finished mastering that album, American Pie, I listened to that and I thought that was this is something very, very special and I don’t know what’s going to happen with it.
But luckily for me, United Artists bought the record company and put money behind it and immediately they had a number one record with the cut down version. And we were off to the races at that point. The album went number one, the single went number one, Vincent went number three, went number one all over the world.
If it were today, they could have put out two more records and I would have had more hits off that record. So bye bye Miss American Pie Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry And them good old boys were drinking whiskey and rye Singing this’ll be the day that I die This’ll be the day that I die Did you write the book of love And do you have faith in God above If the Bible tells you so And do you believe in rock and roll Can music save your mortal soul And can you teach me how to dance real slow Well I know that you’re in love with him Cause I saw you dancing in the gym You both kicked off your shoes And I dig those rhythmic blues I was a lonely teenage bronc and buck With a pink carnation and a pickup truck But I knew I was out of luck The day the music died I started singing bye bye Miss American Pie Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry Them good old boys were drinking whiskey and rye Singing this’ll be the day that I die This’ll be the day that I die How did you feel when you weren’t able to replicate the same sort of success? I would say it was probably the biggest change in my life without a doubt For a whole variety of reasons One is the world changed, I didn’t You see, everything changed So I was now almost like a rare bird I wasn’t a human being anymore How did that make you feel? Well first of all, back in New Rochelle, where I was born I had failed to make anything out of myself when I quit school And so I was thought of as kind of a loser, you know And here stories were being written about me being a millionaire now So suddenly I was completely away from the pack In one moment, who everybody thought was a loser Became the biggest winner of any of the guys and girls who’d ever come out of that town So it was a complete explosion And everybody of course had their opinions And some liked me and some hated my music But you’re in this maelstrom And the thing that happens is that you have to start not caring about what anybody thinks or says And that changes you It makes you less sensitive It has an effect on you And I said, you know, I’m going to deal with this And the way I dealt with it was that I played solo for about 10 years So I always made money And I bought my own house And I took care of my mother So I never tried to live up to any big star image that was laid on me In fact, I tried to pull back from it And be under the radar And find a nice sweet spot where I could not be under this crushing burden Of this ridiculous image that people wanted to make for me Yeah, I had a breakdown in 1974 And after that, I didn’t let anybody, managers, agents, anybody push me You know, I thought, we’ll do it in a convenient way when it’s comfortable for me I will not do it because you want your commission on five more gigs It’s a lesson you have to learn I feel like a spinning top or a cradle The spinning don’t stop when you leave the cradle You just slow down Around and around this world you go Spinning through the lives of the people you know We all slow down How you gonna keep on turning from day to day? How you gonna keep from turning your life away? No days you can borrow No time you can buy No trust in tomorrow It’s a lie I feel like a spinning top or a cradle The spinning don’t stop when you leave the cradle You just slow down Around and around this world you go Spinning through the lives of the people you know We all slow down One of the things that happened to me is I fell in love with horses Right after that breakdown, I got a horse called Papago Warrior And he taught me a hell of a lot And that pulled me right out of it I forgot all about that other crap All I cared about, everybody in my career, they’re always terrified I was gonna get dragged home with a foot in the stirrup, you know, dead But I was always by myself and I was really good at this I had to do whatever I had to do So Don, why did you decide to resurface come 1987? Well, I never left the music industry I just had a little couple of glitches But I was always working constantly I never took time off I’ve worked steadily for 50 years Except for the two years of the pandemic It was at this time that Don received his most meaningful accolade The city of Norrishell, where I grew up and where I was thought of as a bit of a loser Started painting these enormous murals 150 feet high And there’s one of me on the side of the building I cried when I saw this Don had finally achieved what he set out to do I wanted to be a romantic figure of some sort My songs and my singing, you know, Travelling Troubadour, that’s me So I created who I am And I had this vision of who I wanted to be How I wanted to look, how I wanted to dress, how I wanted to sound What I wanted to say, how I wanted to sing Everything I was always working on this And I never varied Of all the songs that you’ve written and released Do you have a personal favourite? Well, of my recordings The covers of Since I Don’t Have You and Crying I think are the two best records I ever made in my life They just sound so gorgeous I don’t have plans and schemes And I don’t have hopes and dreams I don’t have anything Since I don’t have you I don’t have fond desires I don’t have happy hours I don’t have anything Since I don’t have you I don’t have happiness And I guess I never will again It’d be pretty hard to pick your favourite from 21 studio albums 4 live albums 11 compilation albums And 16 singles, wouldn’t it?
Welcome to A Breath of Fresh Air with Sandy Kaye. Cause it’s a beautiful day. A Breath of Fresh Air. Beautiful day. Oh, I bet any day that you’re going away, it’s a beautiful day. Hello, so glad you could join me this week.
I hope you’re liking what you’re hearing on A Breath of Fresh Air. Please do let me know if there’s someone special that you’d like me to interview. And if you feel like doing me a favour, I’d be so grateful if you could rate and review the show for me on your favourite podcast platform.
Anyway, enough of that. Let’s move on to our very special guest today. He’s someone you all know because of one massive chart topper that he had way back in 1971.
Of course, he has had other hits and he’s crafted a very handsome body of work. But this song was so big that it was voted to be in the top five of the best songs ever. Can you guess what the song is? It’s Not White Christmas by Bing Crosby or This Land is Your Land by Woody Guthrie.
It’s this one. Bye bye Miss American Pie Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry Them good old boys were drinking whiskey and rye Singing this’ll be the day that I die This’ll be the day that I die The oldest, of course, is singer-songwriter Don McLean, whose life was changed forever when that long winding composition went straight to number one and propelled itself into the heart of popular culture for decades on end. So who is this man who wrote this anthem? And what was his life like before, during and after it? I wanted to find out.
I’ve been quite busy actually, running hither and yon. I want to take you right back to where it all started for you and build up to present day because there’s quite a bit to talk about. If you can cast your mind back to that first album that you released called Tapestry, it was a very special time going on then, wasn’t it? Can you describe the era that it was and what led to that album? Well, I had a manager, I first knew him in the mid-60s, so he was trying to make deals for the first album that I was working on in 67, 68, around there.
And that was the Tapestry album. And in the world out there, there were riots going on in Berkeley, California and a lot of upheaval in the country, you know, rioting in the streets and cities being set on fire. And in all that while, he knew how to do things, but he was a very idiosyncratic individual.
He was very arrogant and he also was very ignorant of some things. And in all that while, he’s trying to get a record company. So anyway, he kept blowing one deal after another.
And it was infuriating to me. And finally, we found some money and went out and started working on this record. And where did we go but to Berkeley, California? So we’re in the middle of rioting every day making this record.
Musicians would come to the studio having been tear-gassed by the riots in the street and then they’d start to play, you know, passes in the air. And if she asks you why, you can tell her that I told you that I’m tired of castles in the air. I’ve got a dream, I want the world to share and castle walls just lead me to despair.
Hills of forest green where the mountains touch the sky, a dream come true, I’ll live there till I die. I’m asking you to say my last goodbye, the love we knew ain’t worth another try. Save me from all the trouble and the pain, I know I’m weak but I can face that girl again.
Tell her… That is sort of a little bit of the background. There was tremendous financial insecurity in my world and it was because of this guy. And there was tremendous political insecurity in the country.
And it was major, nothing like it have I ever seen ever since. No matter what, we’ve never seen anything like it in spite of all the things you read about today. So the album, five visits out there I guess, and finally it was finished.
And a little record label released the album and paid all the bills and this time it was over $20,000, and $20,000 back in 1969 was a lot of money. So this ridiculous manager had already got me in debt for 20 grand and I had just gotten out of college like a year ago. By the skin of our teeth we got out of this.
And it turns out that a great record man named Alan Livingston, who had been the source of all the power of Capitol Records, was starting this independent little company. We had beautiful offices on Sunset Boulevard. I was in heaven, I couldn’t believe that it happened.
So it was all working. The album came out and I was always doing promotion for it. I was going with independent promotion men all the time in their cars, going to meetings, program directors.
Radio stations and the like, yeah. And what happened was that the album, really it was a hit. It started getting played on underground radio.
It was played so much that the title track Tapestry became the inspiration for the formation of the Greenpeace environmental movement. Every thread of creation is held in position by still other strands of things living in an earthly tapestry hung from the skyline of smouldering cities So grey and so vulgar As not to be satisfied with their own negativity But needing to touch all the living as well And every breeze that blows kindly Is one crystal breath we exhale on the blue diamond heaven As gentle to touch as the hands of the healer As soft as farewells whispered over the coffin We’re poisoned by venom with each breath we take From the brown sulfur chimney and the black highway snake And every dawn that breaks golden is held in suspension Like the yolk of the egg in albumen Where the birth and the death of unseen generations Are interdependent in vast orchestration And painted in colors of tapestry thread When the dying are born and the living are dead I was on my way now, I was headlining nightclubs and doing college concerts and I was extremely busy starting from like 1968 when I got out of college till today You must have had an awful lot of confidence about you to support yourself producing that first album You knew that’s what you wanted to do Did you have any doubt that you’d become successful or were you a pretty cocksure of yourself? I had no plan B but I was not going to fail That’s all there is to it If I had to kill somebody I think I would do it In order to succeed at that point in my life I was not going to be denied the ability to make recordings And I was very, very, very focused on that If it was just me, I had no desire to get married or have a family Although I did get married in 1969 but I don’t even know why I did it I think I was lonely It was just a dumb thing that I did And I just didn’t think about anything but music and singing And I was able to make a fairly decent living performing in nightclubs And they had given me a contract for three years Publishing contract So I had the record deal but I also had a publishing agreement with them And they paid I think $300 a week for three years And I was able to give that to my mother We had lived in a little house in Murrischell, New York which you may be aware of if you know anything about my history And in 1963, when I made my first attempt at college My mother left the house and rented it I had no home to go back to I had a one-room apartment which was hers And basically the message was, well, you’re on your own It was tough, it wasn’t easy Seven years we lived in that apartment And so in 1970 when I got that publishing agreement I gave her the money and she moved back into the house And that’s where she stayed until she passed away in 1984 And I love you so The people ask me how How I’ve lived till now I tell them I don’t know I guess they understand How lonely life has been But life began again The day you took my hand And yes, I know How lonely life can be The shadows follow me And the night won’t set me free But I don’t let the evening Get me down Now that you’re around John, that first album, the single off it was Castles in the Air But it also contained the song And I Love You So Which became a number one for Perry Como a couple of years later Yes, but there were songs on there like Magdalene Lane Which was about Los Angeles And that was like the first effort on my part To write in a quasi-American pie style of songwriting And there was Tapestry about the environment And there was a song like General Store Which was an interesting dialogue about racism Which ended up influencing a lot of young Morning, Mrs. Campbell Lovely day today I heard about the fire I wonder what the papers say Let’s see now Give me 50 shotgun shells And a hundred feet of rope Just add that to my bill Says here there ain’t no hope They all were burned alive And four packs of cigarettes No, I think I’ll make it five I heard about the wedding I’m so happy for the bride Why that firehouse looked mighty nice And the whole town swelled with pride We’ve watched her grow to womanhood She’s found an upright man She learned this life ain’t easy You do the best you can There were a lot of other songs on that record That are worthy But those two You know, ended up being two of my best known songs So there was certainly no shortage of fodder For you to write about during those crazy times, was there? It depended on what you wanted to do I mean, I didn’t want to write songs, let’s say Like And I Love You So Which Johnny Mathis, who I love by the way And let’s say Andy Williams would want to sing But I was very interested in that genre of music So I wrote And I Love You So in that style But on the same token, I didn’t want to be a Phil Oakes I didn’t want to be a guy who was a firebrand Writing only songs about politics There were quite a few folks around doing that So I mixed it up Basically, the first album established the footprint And the style of album making that I would use For the next 20 records Was there a problem pigeonholing you as a result of that? Did the radio stations, were they unsure of how to use you? Well, as I say, the FM radio stations played the whole record One time I came home to visit my mother And I turned the radio on and I called her into the room I said, look, they’re playing the whole record in New York City And it was an amazing moment That record had caused me so much grief And it was so hard All those trips out to California You know, I’m hanging around all these druggies from the Grateful Dead And all the rest of this, you know, stuff I didn’t like And interestingly enough, at the same time In the early 60s, I had befriended a guy named Eric Darling Who had been in the Weavers And when I knew him before all the stuff that I just told you about This was 62 And right around then, he had a number one record With Walk Right In, he formed this group called the Rooftop Singers Walk right in, sit right down Daddy, let your mind roll on Walk right in, sit right down Daddy, let your mind roll on Everybody’s talking about a new-age woman Do you wanna lose your mind? Walk right in, sit right down Daddy, let your mind roll on Walk right in, sit right down Baby, let your hair hang down Walk right in, sit right down Baby, let your hair hang down Everybody’s talking about a new-age woman Do you wanna lose your mind? Walk right in, sit right down Baby, let your hair hang down I would go visit him in New York when I was 16 years old And he was going on the road every weekend Playing these college concerts And being on the Hootenanny TV show and all this stuff And I was around a guy who was having number one records So that was very interesting Also, I was in the middle of something And I knew it, but I just didn’t know where it was going to go No one knew, but Don McLean felt it And wanted to be a part of whatever it turned out to be Don McLean was very fortunate that his mother supported him Doing whatever he chose to do My mother was Italian and she was very proud She loved to hear me play and sing My father was the absolute opposite He thought it was a complete waste of time He thought that if I was going to be a serious young man And grow into a rational adult And the pillar of the community That I was wasting my time with this singing and guitar stuff When I was about five years old, I could sing I grew up in a family of grown-ups I had a sister who was 15 years older than me And I had a grandmother who had two parents So there were these four adults in the house I was either coddled and beloved Or I was in the way Nothing in between I remember saying once, and it was just gales of laughter I would say, I’m going to be a famous singer I’m going to buy you a mink coat I told my mother I was six or seven And by God, there’s a photograph of me In one of the books of her Her mink coat going to Carnegie Hall I guess it was 1973 Can you tell me Would you like to discover Why we’re not free To be lovers I’ve been wanting to ask you Where has all the love gone And what have we become Storm clouds full of thunder Move silent as they drum And when they’re gone We’ll be fine Until tomorrow I guess that talks about the power of believing in yourself And the power of dreams And never letting go of what you want, doesn’t it? Well, you know, you’ve really hit on something Very, very important Because of the asthma Because I was home alone all the time I was very lonely I had nobody to relate to And I created a whole other vocabulary, I guess, for myself That made me happy It started with just loving the Top Ten and the music But I was different I was much more involved with this stuff Than the average kid was Because they were more normal, you know And I wasn’t So I grabbed hold of this dream that I had I started really playing guitar and banjo And I got way into it I practiced hours and hours and hours every day For years, until I got good And when that happened Then I had a weapon, the guitar That I could use in order to put forward Any songs that I might want to sing And that led to arranging songs I did everything on all my records I wrote the songs, I wrote the arrangements I did everything myself So the guitar was my ally And it was my weapon Catch the breeze and the winter chills In colors on the snowy linen land Now I understand What you tried to say to me How you suffered for your sanity And how you tried to set them free They would not listen, they did not know how Perhaps they’ll listen now Starry, starry night Flaming flowers that brightly blaze Swirling clouds in violet haze Reflect in Vincent’s eyes of China blue Colors changing hue Morning fields of amber grain Weathered faces lined in pain Are soothed beneath the artist’s loving hand I fell into a group of young singers And songwriters, men and women Who were playing coffee houses All across the country They were opening up every place And you could make $300 a night Meanwhile guys that I knew Were still lifeguarding for 25 bucks a week Must have been very appealing It was very exhilarating, very exciting Because these doors were opening And I was going through them But I had no idea that it’d be 50 years later And I’d be worth an astounding amount of money When I was about 13 years old Me and a bunch of friends went to see a movie And I spent $6 And when my father found out I spent $6 He went crazy That’s how much money was worth in those days I never saw a $10 or $20 bill in my life My father paid for that house $7,000 He bought it in probably 1929 or 30 And he paid it off in 1960 just before he died $7,000 he spent 30 years paying off You’ve seen a lot in the years It’s just not the same world anymore, is it? Well, that documentary movie The Day the Music Died The Story of Don McLean’s American Pie Was up for an MTV award I am flying high right now I have never been happier I have never been more successful And I don’t think I’ve ever been more famous Than I am right now The documentary does go into what was going on for you When you wrote American Pie Can you share a little bit about that? The song American Pie is so biographical In the beginning, February made me shiver I’m the paper boy And then as we go along I’m seeing this and I’m seeing that And at the end, really With the metagirl who sang the blues part I was thinking about the March on Washington And how it was after it was over Quiet, the rain had come The tear gas had been used on everybody And everything was quiet in the street The political violence There was a lot of bombing going on On college campuses You never knew when a bomb scare Was going to get phoned in Or one would go off And I was around all that So I was rough and ready, man In fact, there’s a movie about me Called American Troubadour A moment in there where I’m playing At Columbia University And there’s a bomb scare They stopped the show So does that mean that you always Had to be on alert? Yeah, because I’m a free radical Rolling around I’m a rambling man You know, I’m not a business I put my ass on the line All over this place Every time, all the time I play in front of audiences In Northern Ireland You know, where people Were in the audience Who hated each other And they could have shot me in a minute I played in many dangerous places Just let it take me Wherever it took me It was obviously your concern For everything that you saw Going on around you That led to all those Incredible lyrics Throughout American Pie Well, all that energy And all that tumult Is in those lyrics That’s something I built Into the song 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 a while But February made me shiver With every paper I’d deliver Bad news on the doorstep I couldn’t take one more step I can’t remember if I cried When I read about His widowed bride But something touched me Deep inside The day The music died I really don’t know how I do what I do There’s no way to describe how I do anything When you had put that song together Did you know you had a massive hit on your hands? All I knew when Ed Freeman finished mastering that album American Pie I listened to that and I thought that was this is something very, very special and I don’t know what’s going to happen with it but luckily for me United Artists bought the record company and put money behind it and immediately they had a number one record with the cut down version and we were off to the races at that point The album went number one The single went number one Vincent went number three Went number one all over the world If it were today they could have put out two more records and I would have had more hits off that record So bye bye Miss American Pie Drove my Chevy to the levee But the levee was dry And them good old boys Were drinking whiskey and rye Singing this’ll be The day that I die This’ll be the day that I die Did you write the book of love And do you have faith In God above If the Bible tells you so And do you believe In rock and roll Can music save Your mortal soul And can you teach me How to dance real slow Well I know that you’re In love with him Cause I saw you Dancing in the gym You both kicked off your shoes Man I dig those Rhythm and blues I was a lonely teenage Bronkin buck With a pink carnation And a pickup truck But I knew I was out of luck The day the music died I started singing Bye bye Miss American Pie Drove my Chevy to the levee But the levee was dry And them good old boys Were drinking whiskey and rye Singing this’ll be The day that I die This’ll be the day that I die How did you feel When you weren’t able to replicate The same sort of success? I would say it was Probably the biggest change in my life Without a doubt For a whole variety of reasons.