Even if you don’t like Don McLean’s song “American Pie,” you have to admit that it’s the result of a unique pop culture. An almost eight-and-a-half-minute parable from sadness to infectiousness to sadness again, the 1971 radio hit seems to be known to all generations and is still sung during closing times around the world. I am.
The last fact is due to a devout documentary about this song. Directed by Mark Mooreman, this film travels all over the United States to bring back the idea that “American Pie” is telling something deep about the country. Interweaving McLean’s biography with the last days of 50’s rockers, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper, the plane crash that killed them in 1959 is not just young McLean, but American music itself. The film then alternates between McLean’s professional career history (including his guidance by folk legend Pete Seeger) and the scenes of stars, including Garth Brooks, rhapsody about the song.
At the time, the children analyzing the lyrics speculated that the fragment about the “devil” represented McLean’s moral and aesthetic disapproval of Mick Jagger. But for many of the interviewees here, including Brooks (who brought McLean to the stage to sing with him at his gigantic Central Park concert in 1997) and Cuban-born musician Rudy Perez. Is “about freedom”.
This movie is really lively when recreating a recording session of a song. This shows how ace studio keyboardist Paul Griffin changed the song on an energetic gospel-style piano.
Frequently drawn McLean Thorny figureWhen bad, Wear his most fascinating Mien here. And why not. Few musicians are given the generous opportunity to pay homage to their heritage.
The Day Music Died: The Story of Don McLean’s “American Pie”
Unrated. Execution time: 1 hour 34 minutes. See Paramount +.
