The "Long, Long Time Ago, I Can Still Remember" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Singing to myself one of my all-time favorite songs...American Pie.  I assume you have heard it sometime in the past if you listen to music.  If you are not sure if you have heard it before, it begins with: 

Long long time ago, I can still remember, How that music used to make me smile...

Does that help?  I read a story recently about the musical artist who composed the song, Don McLean.  Told of an interview with Don where he told the Associated Press that "just about everyone is happy when they sing it.  And...you don't really have to worry about how well you sing this song anymore.  Even sung badly, people are really happy with it."  American Pie is considered a masterpiece, voted among the top 5 Songs of the Century as compiled by the Recording Industry Association of America and the National Endowment for the Arts.  Don and his tune about "the day the music died" are the subject of a full length documentary which recently debuted on Paramount+.  If you never heard the lyrics before, you just knew I would post them in my story today.  They will follow shortly...and Don will share the secrets of his lyrics with all.  The documentary begins with a single-engine plane carrying Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and Jiles P. Richardson, the "Big Bopper," plunging into a cornfield north of Clear Lake, Iowa on February 3, 1959, killing the three musicians and their pilot.  Don McLean was 13 at the time and living in New Rochelle, New York.  During his song he sings about a "sacred store" which was where he bough his music and a guitar at "The Sacred Store of Music on Main Street."  Young Don was a paperboy at the time and every paper he delivered which told of the death of a famous artists such as Elvis, Bo Diddley and Holly affected him.  Years later he remembered these artists in "American Pie."  It was in 1971, while the nation was racked by assassinations, anti-war protests and civil rights marches, that he lost his father.  He thought he "needed a big song about America."  The first verse and melody seemed to just tumble out.  Began like this..."A long, long, time ago..."  It ended in the huge sing-along-chorus: "We were singing', 'Bye-bye, Miss American pie'/Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry/Them good old boys were drinking' whiskey 'n' rye/And singin', "This'll be the day that I die.'"  After reaching this point he said, "Wow, that is something.  I don't know what it is, but its exactly what I've been wanting to try to get ahold of...that feeling about Buddy Holly--for all these years and that plane crash," McLean told the Associated Press.  "I always feel a tug inside me whenever I think about Buddy." In a 90-minute documentary, cameras capture McLean visiting the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, the last place where Buddy played before their fateful plane trip in 1959.  The documentary also has interviews with Garth Brooks, Weird Al Yankovic, Brian Wilson and Spanish language singer Jencarlos Canela who speaks to how the song has resonated far past America.  The documentary reveals that recording the album was not exactly a smooth process.  Producer Ed Freeman didn't think McLean was up to playing rhythm guitar on "American Pie."  He eventually relented.  But, recording the song was just the beginning of trouble.  At over 8 minutes, radio stations balked at playing it, and McLeans's record label, Media Arts, went bust just as it was to release the album "American Pie."  After seeing the documentary, McLean was struck by a common strand in his career.  He noticed that he had to fight and fight to get this thing done the way he wanted it done.  

Don McLean

McLean said that it was all worthwhile.  "If it starts young people thinking about Buddy Holly, about rock 'n' roll and that music, and then it teaches 'the maybe' about what else happened in the country...if that can happen, then the song really is serving a wonderful purpose and a positive purpose."    As for me... I could listen and listen to his lengthy song and sing along with the lyrics and when it was over, do it all over again.  How could you not love American Pie?  Check out the lyrics that follow.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  See if you can find the music to the song and sing along with the lyrics to "American Pie" which follows..... 

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

So 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 will 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
Do you believe in rock 'n' 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
Then I dig those rhythm and blues

I was a lonely teenage broncin' 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 will be the day that I die."

Now for ten years we've been on our own
And moss grows fat on a rolling stone
But that's not how it used to be...
When the jester sang for the King and Queen
In a coat he borrowed from James Dean
And a voice that came from you and me

Oh, and while the King was looking down
The jester stole his thorny crown
The courtroom was adjourned
No verdict was returned

And while Lenin read a book of Marx
The Quartet practiced in the park
And we sang dirges in the dark
The day the music died

We were 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 will be the day that I die.

Helter skelter in the summer swelter
The birds flew off with a fallout shelter
Eight miles high and falling fast
It landed foul on the grass, the players tried for a forward pass
With the jester on the sidelines in a cast

Now the halftime air was sweet perfume
While the sergeants played a marching tune
We all got up to dance
Oh, but we never got the chance

'Cause the players tried to take the field
The marching band refused to yield
Do you recall what was revealed
The day the music died?

We 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
And singing, "This'll be the day that I die"
This will be the day that I die

Oh, and there we were all in one place
A generation lost in space
With no time left to start again
So come on, Jack be nimble, Jack be quick
Jack Flash sat on a candlestick
'Cause fire is the devil's only friend

Oh, and as I watched him on the stage
My hands were clenched in fists of rage
No angel born in Hell
Could break that Satan's spell

And as the flames climbed high into the night
To light the sacrificial rite
I saw Satan laughing with delight
The day the music died

He was 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
And singing, "This'll be the day that I die"
This will 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 sacred store
Where I'd heard the music years before
But the man there said the music wouldn't play

And in the streets, the children screamed
The lovers cried and the poets dreamed
But not a word was spoken
The church bells all were broken

And the three men I admire most
The Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost
They caught the last train for the coast
The day the music died

And they were 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 will be the day that I die

....and, so my story ends for today.  The longest story I have ever posted, just like the song I just wrote about.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.