American Pie Lyrics

[Brad Little]

Don McLean sold the original lyric sheets through Christie's auction house, brought in 1.2 million:
http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/06/entertainment/feat-american-pie-lyrics-mclean-auction/
Brad

 

[twocorgis]

That's exactly 1.2 million more than I would have paid! I think I've heard that song one too many times...

 

[walrus]

I'm with ya, Sandy! If I never hear it again, it's fine with me.

To promote the auction, according to Christie's, McLean is "one the foremost singer-songwriters of his generation". Say what??

walrus

 

[AcornHouse]

Anyone here?!? (Not Sandy, obviously.) :barbershop_quartet_

 

[adorshki]

Anyone here?!? (Not Sandy, obviously.) :barbershop_quartet_

Not me, although I think they'd make a terrific investment.
Yeah, I'D flip 'em.

 

[walrus]

Maybe the famous Hankeroo will buy them and sell them one line at a time...

walrus

 

[davismanLV]

Maybe the famous Hankeroo will buy them and sell them one line at a time...

Now THAT"S FUNNY!! LMAO!!! :encouragement:

 

[Default]

Did he srite anything else? We could put him on stage with Arlo Guthry and have the shortest concert ever! Alice's Restaurant would be the encore!

 

[AcornHouse]

How could you forget "Vincent"?!? Did he write anything else. Geesh!:livid:

 

[The Guilds of Grot]

Maybe the famous Hankeroo will buy them and sell them one line at a time...

walrus

Now THAT"S FUNNY!! LMAO!!! :encouragement:

I get a mental picture of a paper cutter and thin strips of lyrics!

 

[adorshki]

Did he srite anything else? We could put him on stage with Arlo Guthry and have the shortest concert ever! Alice's Restaurant would be the encore!

Actually if each of 'em did their "full versions" you'd almost have a whole concert right there.

 

[twocorgis]

Did he srite anything else? We could put him on stage with Arlo Guthry and have the shortest concert ever! Alice's Restaurant would be the encore!

Just my opinion of course (and we all know what opinions are like), Arlo Guthrie has a lot of great music besides "Alice's Restaurant". the whole Running Down the Road album is great I think, amongst others, and Arlo a great storyteller puts on a fine show, too. Other than "Vincent", I can't think of anything worthwhile that Don McLean does.

 

[AcornHouse]

"On the Amazon", "Oh My What a Shame", etc... He didn't get a lot of AirPlay other than V & AP, but he has other quite worthwhile songs. Just like Arlo.

 

[wileypickett]

This Don McLean story came to me from the promoter of a club who had booked him some years ago.

The band who got the opening slot on that particular McLean tour found him insufferably full of himself and the shows something of a chore. But they'd signed a contract and were locked into the tour.

Finally they came up with a way to get out of it -- and get some revenge at the same time -- by learning "American Pie" -- the full-length version -- and performing it as their set closer, exhorting the audience to sing and clap along, and thereby pretty much stealing McLean's thunder.

McLean told them to drop the song, which they'd do for a night or two, then it would creep back into the set again. They were finally fired by McLean's management after they'd pulled the stunt one too many times.

 

[Westerly Wood]

This Don McLean story came to me from the promoter of a club who had booked him some years ago.

The band who got the opening slot on that particular McLean tour found him insufferably full of himself and the shows something of a chore. But they'd signed a contract and were locked into the tour.

Finally they came up with a way to get out of it -- and get some revenge at the same time -- by learning "American Pie" -- the full-length version -- and performing it as their set closer, exhorting the audience to sing and clap along, and thereby pretty much stealing McLean's thunder.

McLean told them to drop the song, which they'd do for a night or two, then it would creep back into the set again. They were finally fired by McLean's management after they'd pulled the stunt one too many times.

awesome!

 

[CA-35]

For what it's worth he didn't have a truck load of hits. He was an artist who, for a short time, had the right stroke. Was he full of himself? I don't know. I believe nothing I see and only half of what I read. The guy is cashing out to live the rest of his life in a way that he and his family won't have to worry. I cut him some slack. It is an iconic song regardless of what any of us believe; Forty some odd years of on-air playing time is a testament to that.

There are certainly worse things in American society than Don McLean's "American Pie"

 

[shot put]

Hi- Listen to his first album "Tapestry" some interesting songs there. Empty Chairs, Magdalene Lane, The Grave-just to name a few. Spoke with him at length a couple of years ago-very nice guy; decent guitarist as well.

 

[MLBob]

Interesting piece of trivia regarding Don McLean's song "Empty Chairs" and what it inspired :

"KillingMe Softly with His Song" is a song composed by Charles Fox with lyrics by Norman Gimbel. The song was written in collaboration with Lori Lieberman who recorded the song in late 1971. It was a number-one hit in1973 for Roberta Flak. According to Lori Lieberman the artist who performed the original recording in 1972, the song was born of a poem she wrote after experiencing a strong reaction to the song "Empty Chairs," written, composed, and recorded by Don McLean
In an April 5,1973 article in the Daily News, Norman Gimbel was quoted as follows: "She[Lori Lieberman] told us about this strong experience she had listening toMcLean ("I felt all flushed with fever / Embarrassed by the crowd / I felthe had found my letters / And read each one out loud / I prayed that he wouldfinish / But he just kept right on…"). I had a notion this might make agood song so the three of us discussed it. We talked it over several times,just as we did for the rest of the numbers we wrote for this album and we allfelt it had possibilities".
Roberta Flack first heard the song on a flight from Los Angeles to New York City on which the Lieberman original was featured on the in-flightaudio program. After scanning the listing of available audio selections, Flackwould recall: "The title, of course, smacked me in the face.In September 1972, Flack was opening for Marvin Gayeat the Greek Theater; after performing her prepared encore song, Flack was advised by Gaye to sing anadditional song. Flack - "I said well, I got this song I’ve been working on called 'Killing Me Softly...' and he said 'Do it, baby.' And I did it andthe audience went crazy, and he walked over to me and put his arm around me andsaid, 'Baby, don’t ever do that song again live until you record it.'"
Released in January 1973, Flack's version spent a total of five non-consecutive weeks at number-one in Februaryand March 1973

Bob

 

[killdeer43]

Empty Chairs and Castles in the Air have long been on my personal playlist. :friendly_wink:

Joe

 

[txbumper57]

Speaking of Roberta Flack, there was a documentary about her and her music on showtime recently. Can't remember the exact name of it but it was awesome to see. Always loved Mclean and what a lyricist he is. As far as Roberta goes, I could listen to her voice for hours and never get tired of it. What an amazing gift to be able to sing like that. One cool thing in the documentary was she said that she got her big break because Clint Eastwood insisted on playing the whole 5 minutes plus of "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" set to a love scene in his Directorial Debut Film. Everyone told him it was too long and he needed to edit it. He said no and millions of folks became introduced to Roberta Flack, so the story goes.:star: