Tribute: Don McLean - American Pie Lyrics

American Pie  is the title of a 1971 music album by Don McLean, best known for its title track about The Day the Music Died.
The original 1971 LP is dedicated to the loss of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and Jiles Perry Richardson (The Big Bopper) 3 of the biggest icons in rock history that were tragically taken from us by a plane crash on Feb 03, 1959 in Iowa..(read more below the video)




Feb 03, 1959 will forever be known as "The Day The Music Died" .. The day people lined the streets and cried and no churches would play any music.

Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 February 3, 1959), known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll. Although his success lasted only a year and a half before his death in an airplane crash, Holly is described by critic Bruce Eder as "the single most influential creative force in early rock and roll. His works and innovations inspired and influenced both his contemporaries and later musicians, notably The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan, and exerted a profound influence on popular music for decades.
Buddy Holly and his band The Crickets sang hits such as "That'll be the Day", "Blue Days, Black Nights", "Oh Boy!" and "Peggy Sue"

Richard Steven "Ritchie" Valenzuela (May 13, 1941 February 3, 1959), better known by the stage name Ritchie Valens, was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. A rock and roll pioneer and the forefather of the Chicano rock movement, Valens' recording career lasted only eight months. During this time however, he scored several hits, most notably "Donna" which peaked at #2 on the Billboard Best Sellers chart; and, the flip side "La Bamba", which was originally a Mexican folk
song that Valens transformed into a song with a rock rhythm. Both songs charted in early 1959, making Valens a pioneer of the Spanish-speaking rock and roll movement. On February 3, 1959, on what has become known as The Day the Music Died, Valens was killed in a small-plane crash outside Mason City, Iowa, USA, an event that also claimed the lives of fellow musicians Buddy Holly and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson.

Jiles Perry Richardson, Jr. (October 24, 1930 February 3, 1959), called JP by his friends but commonly known as The Big Bopper, was an American disc jockey, singer, and songwriter whose big voice and exuberant personality made him an early rock and roll star. He was drafted into the Army and served from 1955-1957. after his discharge he returned to KTRM as a disc jockey where he set the record for continuous on-air broadcasting 5 days, 2 hours and 8 mins.. during this he lost 35 pounds and after completeing the task, he slept 20 hours straight. He is credited for coining the term "music video" in 1959 and recorded an early example himself. However, his business venture in this area was cut short by his untimely death. He is best known "musically" for his recording of "Chantilly Lace". On February 3, 1959, on what has become known as The Day the Music Died, Richardson was killed in a small-plane crash in Iowa, along with Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens.

The song also makes references to Bob Dylan "the Jester" and The Beatles "Helter Skelter", which both owe their start in music and musical influences to Buddy Holly. Also a reference to Elvis and Prescilla Presley "king and queen," because Buddy Holly got his start in music by opening for Elvis.. could you imagine the pressure from your first concert opening for The King of Rock-N-Roll? I guess Buddy loved the pressure, because he definitely took this and ran with it.