AMERICAN PIE, DECIPHERED: THE DAY THE MUSIC DIED

SCOTT WESTERMAN * Sirius XM/KRKE Radio * 2010

**AMERICAN PIE. AN ANALYSIS REVISITED**

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
Something touched me deep inside
The day the music died

**February 3, 1959**. *59 years ago today*

ONE OF THE MOST analyzed records of all time is Don McLean’s “American Pie.” While it’s commonly agreed that the song is an ode to the deaths of Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Big Bopper, it’s nuances are still debated.

The closest McLean came to explaining it’s meaning was in his 2000 video, Starry Starry Night. “I’m very proud of the song,” he said. “It is biographical in nature and I don’t think anyone has ever picked up on that. The song starts off with my memories of the death of Buddy Holly. But it moves on to describe America as I was seeing it and how I was fantasizing it might become, so it’s part reality and part fantasy but I’m always in the song as a witness or as even the subject sometimes in some of the verses.”

While Don McLean never fully discussed it’s meaning, many of us have tried. The best analysis I’ve read was written by WKNR and WCFL veteran, Bob Dearborn.

Here is my breakdown of American Pie as broadcast on KRKE and XM/Sirius in 2010.

— Scott Westerman February 1, 2012