American Pie, ranked the fifth best song of the twentieth century, is 50 this year

By Ben West

Precious few musicians have accomplished a fraction of what Don McLean has achieved. He’s a Grammy Award honouree, a Songwriter Hall of Fame member, a star on the Hollywood Hall of Fame, a BBC Lifetime Achievement award recipient. His catalogue of songs have been recorded by Madonna, Tyson Fury, Perry Como, George Michael, Garth Brooks, Josh Groban, Drake and countless others. 

He is celebrating the 50th anniversary of his eight-and-a-half-minute hit American Pie this year [2022], which has included a worldwide tour. The Recording Industry of America lists it as the fifth best song of the 20th century.

In 2015 one of McLean’s four handwritten manuscripts of the lyrics to American Pie was auctioned by Christies, selling for just over $1.2 Million. Music rights management organisation BMI confirm that it has had more than 5 million radio airplays now, and it sometimes feels like I’ve heard most of them, considering the regularity the recording is played to this day.

It is a song that has been analysed and debated incessantly – even theses have been written about it – but when McLean has been asked what it means, has just replied “It means I’ll never have to work again.”

A New York native, quite simply, Don McLean is one of the most revered and respected songwriters in American history. However, the start of his career wasn’t easy. His first album was rejected a reputed 72 times.

“It was 30 times,” he corrects me. “The number has [incorrectly] grown over the years. I received a large number of painful rejections over two years. It was tough on me and my nerves, I was angry, but finally got that first record out.”

Does he ever reflect that he may have given up on just a handful of rejections, and what a different life he would have led as a result? Does he think most people give up on things too easily?

“I had made my mind up that I was going to pursue this way of life when I was 16 or 17 years old. I never worried what people thought of me, whether I had any kind of pension, healthcare, or any of that stuff. I was completely focused on myself, I was not going to be denied.

“But yes, I do think most people give up too easily. They don’t understand the word ‘try’ properly. It means try and try and try. I knew I was valuable. That songs I had written were better than any of the songs out there.”

That’s quite a claim, and indeed many people feel his work never again realised the greatness of his early compositions. That doesn’t stop him continuing to release albums: this year he has been working on his latest, American Boys.

And it can’t be denied that his early work was outstanding – songs like Vincent, Empty Chairs, Castles in the Air and I Love You So. The latter was played at Prince Harry and Megan Markle’s wedding. He currently has more than five million monthly listeners on Spotify, which must indicate that he’s still pretty relevant today.

McLean’s top ten list of his best songs would differ from what’s commonly agreed, however: “Tapestry is more important than American Pie, but from the point of the public it’s not so popular. I do many different kinds of songs. American Pie isn’t like Castles, or like Vincent, they are all radically different.”

That said, I can’t help seeing a sizeable similarity between Empty Chairs and Vincent, for example, yet both are tender and beautiful all the same.

Does he prefer to play or listen to music?

“I have a love for both, they’re separate appetites,” he says. “I love travelling to play rock and roll with my fans. The listening to music comes from a different place, it reminds myself of who I am. It is easy to forget when you’re rushing around.”

With the large amount of touring he has done over the years, does he feel grounded, or instead more of a nomad?

“I feel that I embrace the whole of the world, every country and culture is so interesting to me. I have such a short time left, and in that time I want to learn about people’s countries, their cultures. I remember driving out of South Korea one time and noticing how the forest was so different than ones in the United States – I love discovering things like that.

“The great guitar player Segovia said ‘I have eternity to rest, I don’t think of my work as work.’ I’m driven by all the projects I’m involved with and then move onto the next thing. There are challenges and pitfalls, but like with the first album, I enjoy the process of overcoming those challenges.”

McLean’s private life has garnered a lot of interest over the years. For example, in 2016 he was divorced from his second wife, Patrisha McLean, and there were accusations of domestic violence. He opted for a plea bargain and paid a fine. A statement from his lawyer explained that this was “not because he was in fact guilty of anything, but to provide closure for his family and keep the whole process as private as possible”.

His current wife, Paris Dylan, has raised a few eyebrows too, being a 28-year-old former Playboy model – 48 years his junior.

I tell him that I read that he had said that in the past he can have a temper, and that he grew up in a physically abusive household. Does he therefore find that creating songs is a kind of therapy?

“No, I didn’t come from a physically abusive household,” he says. “It was normal to hit children in the 1950s – even your neighbour doing it. I am a very happy person, that stuff has come out in articles.

“But writing songs is therapy, for sure. I amaze myself, I put together 12 songs and make an album and think how did I do that? The songs come to me. I’m not like Billy Joel or Paul Simon, these people are real smart, they know what a hit record is. Neil Sedaka, Neil Diamond, they know how to write songs. I don’t read music, I just invent stuff.”

Of course reaching emotional lows is painful, but can it bring out your best work?

“If you don’t feel pain, you’re not going to be any good. All art is real, art is based on suffering, to the point you can’t stand it anymore, you can’t function even. Long term pain, emotional suffering, every artist has to have this, otherwise they’re not going to be worth anything.”

McLean has dueted with artists as diverse as Ed Sheeran and Nanci Griffith. Who has he been most proud to work with in his career?

“I haven’t worked with many people in my career. I did a nice duet with Judy Collins, Send in the Clowns. It’s on YouTube. That’s the kind of way I like to work with people.” He pauses: “I think it would be fun to work with Drake or Kanye West.”

I ask him what changes to the music industry have been most surprising.

“YouTube. That has been a tremendous rebirth for me because 10 years ago everything I did was history. Now everything I did is coming back. In the future if you are an artist of some stature it matters to people, and you’re going to have historians checking everything you did in your life, and write everything down. Every interview I ever did will be available. This is just the beginning.”

Further information: donmclean.com