What does it all mean? Just what a song about the day the music died seems like it might be about: the end of the American Dream.
The song includes references to Karl Marx Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (or, more likely, John Lennon) the Fab Four the Byrds James Dean Charles Manson the Rolling Stones the “widowed bride,” Jackie Kennedy and the Vietnam War. The lyrics had to do with the state of society at the time.”īut what state was that? It seemed like the song’s cast of characters - which include a jester, a king, a queen, good ol’ boys drinking whiskey and rye as well as “Miss American Pie” herself - were meant to represent real people. I wanted to make a whole series of complex statements. “People ask me if I left the lyrics open to ambiguity,” McLean said in an early interview, as the Guardian reported.
