Mal12345
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This is a continuation of a thread I started on Don McLean's signature classic "American Pie."
Once again, on a tv show I was watching tonight, somebody has declared that the day the music died was February 3, 1959.
For example:
It's easy to imagine that this will be the interpretation that will stand forever and ever.
Sorry, but Wikipedia is wrong.
The day the music died was definitely December 6, 1969, the day of the Rolling Stone's Altamont free concert, mentioned in verse 4 of Don McLean's song.
The Altamont Festival brings the 1960s to a violent end — History.com This Day in History — 12/6/1969
How do I know this? Simply by analyzing the lyrics to "American Pie."
Ihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Pie_(song)
Here is verse 4 of this amazingly symbolic poem:
Oh, and there we were all in one place
A generation lost in space
With no time left to start again.
So come on, Jack be nimble, Jack be quick
Jack Flash sat on a candlestick
'Cause fire is the devil's only friend.
Oh, and as I watched him on the stage
My hands were clenched in fists of rage
No angel born in Hell
Could break that Satan's spell.
And as the flames climbed high into the night
To light the sacrificial rite
I saw Satan laughing with delight
The day the music died.
Most if not all interpretations of these lyrics point to the Altamont free concert as McLean's source of inspiration. For example:
"American Pie" Lyrics - What Do They Mean? (explanation of verse 6)
The Straight Dope: What is Don McLean's song "American Pie" all about? (references Mick Jagger Altamont)
Understanding American Pie - Interpretation of Don Mclean's epic song to the passing of an era. (..."and ending near the tragic concert at Altamont Motor Speedway.")
and on and on...
So how did February 3, 1959 become the "day the music died"? This interpretation goes back to the first verse - and the fact that Don McLean dedicated his signature song to Buddy Holly. However, the dedication certainly can't stand as proof. After all, there's no other hero in the song to dedicate it to, unless you count the Father, Son and Holy Ghost of the final verse.
Why Buddy Holly then, and not the other two singers who died on the same day in 1959? The other two singers are not found in any lyrics, whereas Buddy Holly is mentioned indirectly here:
"I can't remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride"
Buddy Holly left behind a widow who was pregnant with Holly's child.
The next part of that verse, however, is the most telling clue as to the identity of 'the day the music died' -
"But something touched me deep inside
The day the music died."
(To be touched deep inside is to be emotionally stirred - http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/touched definition 1.)
Putting the stanza back together, we have:
"I can't remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride
But something touched me deep inside
The day the music died."
In this stanza, McLean has created a contrast between two events using the third line as a bridge:
"BUT something touched me deep inside
The day the music died."
If the day the music died was the same day as Holly's death, McLean would not need to put the word "but" in there to indicate a contrast. It's that simple.
But the REALLY simple answer is merely to assume that the song obviously references the date of Holly's death. That interpretation is not only simple, it is simple-minded. It seems to reflect some very early 1970s efforts to interpret this difficult song, resulting in an interpretation which stuck probably because nobody had yet figured out that the song's climactic (and by far its most dominating) verse refers to the 1969 Altamont concert which resulted in the death of Meredith Hunter, the concert itself symbolizing the death of music itself.
Once again, on a tv show I was watching tonight, somebody has declared that the day the music died was February 3, 1959.
For example:
The Day the Music Died, dubbed so by a lyric in the Don McLean song "American Pie", is a reference to the deaths of rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, on February 3, 1959. Pilot Roger Peterson was also killed.
The Day the Music Died - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaIt's easy to imagine that this will be the interpretation that will stand forever and ever.
Sorry, but Wikipedia is wrong.
The day the music died was definitely December 6, 1969, the day of the Rolling Stone's Altamont free concert, mentioned in verse 4 of Don McLean's song.
The Altamont Festival brings the 1960s to a violent end — History.com This Day in History — 12/6/1969
How do I know this? Simply by analyzing the lyrics to "American Pie."
Ihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Pie_(song)
Here is verse 4 of this amazingly symbolic poem:
Oh, and there we were all in one place
A generation lost in space
With no time left to start again.
So come on, Jack be nimble, Jack be quick
Jack Flash sat on a candlestick
'Cause fire is the devil's only friend.
Oh, and as I watched him on the stage
My hands were clenched in fists of rage
No angel born in Hell
Could break that Satan's spell.
And as the flames climbed high into the night
To light the sacrificial rite
I saw Satan laughing with delight
The day the music died.
Most if not all interpretations of these lyrics point to the Altamont free concert as McLean's source of inspiration. For example:
"American Pie" Lyrics - What Do They Mean? (explanation of verse 6)
The Straight Dope: What is Don McLean's song "American Pie" all about? (references Mick Jagger Altamont)
Understanding American Pie - Interpretation of Don Mclean's epic song to the passing of an era. (..."and ending near the tragic concert at Altamont Motor Speedway.")
and on and on...
So how did February 3, 1959 become the "day the music died"? This interpretation goes back to the first verse - and the fact that Don McLean dedicated his signature song to Buddy Holly. However, the dedication certainly can't stand as proof. After all, there's no other hero in the song to dedicate it to, unless you count the Father, Son and Holy Ghost of the final verse.
Why Buddy Holly then, and not the other two singers who died on the same day in 1959? The other two singers are not found in any lyrics, whereas Buddy Holly is mentioned indirectly here:
"I can't remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride"
Buddy Holly left behind a widow who was pregnant with Holly's child.
The next part of that verse, however, is the most telling clue as to the identity of 'the day the music died' -
"But something touched me deep inside
The day the music died."
(To be touched deep inside is to be emotionally stirred - http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/touched definition 1.)
Putting the stanza back together, we have:
"I can't remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride
But something touched me deep inside
The day the music died."
In this stanza, McLean has created a contrast between two events using the third line as a bridge:
"BUT something touched me deep inside
The day the music died."
If the day the music died was the same day as Holly's death, McLean would not need to put the word "but" in there to indicate a contrast. It's that simple.
But the REALLY simple answer is merely to assume that the song obviously references the date of Holly's death. That interpretation is not only simple, it is simple-minded. It seems to reflect some very early 1970s efforts to interpret this difficult song, resulting in an interpretation which stuck probably because nobody had yet figured out that the song's climactic (and by far its most dominating) verse refers to the 1969 Altamont concert which resulted in the death of Meredith Hunter, the concert itself symbolizing the death of music itself.