Posted on 02/10/2012 5:39:54 AM PST by navysealdad
Songs like “Revolution” by The Beatles, which was clearly suspicious of violent revolution and uprisings, as well as “American Pie” by Don McLean.
Many people think that the song “American Pie” is about the death of Buddy Holly and other musicians in a plane crash, but Glenn presented a reading of the lyrics on radio and showed how it could also be seen as a warning against the danger of violent uprisings.
“ I’ve never understood I drove the Chevy to the levee, I didn’t know what that was. Let’s just start there on the simple part because Chevy, just think of Chevy and mom and apple pie. He’s making a point here. Chevy, I drove my Chevy to the levee. This actually goes back into the 1950s and a Dinah Shore commercial for Chevy,”
(Excerpt) Read more at angelfire.com ...
Interesting. I always lost interest in the song as it progressed as the lyrics became more obscure.
This line could also be a reference to the Nick Noble song The Bible Tells Me So. The fact that this song was a chart hit in 1955 shows how much our culture has changed--mostly for the worse--since that time.
Speaking of “hidden meanings” in songs; I seem to remember that the author of Roberta Flack’s hit “Killing Me Softly With His Song” was referring to seeing and hearing Don McLean perform one of his songs.
In a way it refers both to the Byrds and the First Edition.
The latter was doing its own reference to the Byrds song.
As I’ve heard the song over the years, it was clear to me
what was being talked about—Dylan, Stones, unrest, Beatles,
and all the stuff about the 50s and later the 60s. “The levee was dry” means he went to get water (representing—faith? hope? etc.) but could get nothing.
And how more obvious a line could he do than “The church
bells all were broken”?
"The Levee" was the name of a bar where he often went to tip a glass or two. When he went there and it was closed, he had to head up the road to a bar in Rye, NY. The good old boys in Rye were drinking whiskey.
***Buddy Holly being the inspiration for it has been the long standing and most popular explanation.***
When I first heard the song back in 1971, I immediately thought of Buddy Holly. This is before the psycho-analysists started telling everyone what it meant.
American Pie
“Saw a short piece on Lennon a while back and he said sometimes the words don’t mean anything.”
I read that writer had been trying to fathom some of Lennon’s lyrics. In response, John wrote “Strawberry Fields” (I am the Walrus) and said to a confidant, “Let the (bleep)er figure that one out”.
Obviously some still are. LOL
Bookmarked.
One that always scared me was “Back Door Man” by the Doors.
I read the explanation. Whatever. A song that obscure fails its message. No one understands it, so what is the point?
I remember American Pie for this reason......
Shortly after buying the 45 of this song, which had the first half on one side and the second half on the other, I got braces on my teeth. The orthodontist instructed me that I had to brush for 5 minutes every time.
The “B” side, second half of this song, was 4:31 long. I would put it on the record player and brush my teeth to it.
Ah—I had thought he’d sung “drinking whiskey an’ rye...”
If so, then Buddy and the angels truly puked when the song reached them.
Can't believe how often I had to endure that song during my morning paper route in the early 70's.
No way to know for sure. Maybe some of his wording is just words that rhyme and sound good together. McLean isn't saying.
Saying "drinking whiskey and rye" would be like saying "drinking beer and pilsner". Since pilsner is just a type of beer, just as rye is just a type of whiskey, it doesn't make much sense. Again though, it doesn't preclude him saying it if he chose. The lyrics to the song posted on his website DO say "and", not "in".
I just prefer the explanation that seems to make the lyrics logically make sense. It makes more sense to me than pulling a phrase from some Dinah Shore Chevy ad that mentions a levee and throwing it together with some unrelated phrase about drinking whiskey and rye. I think McLean spent a lot of time choosing just the right words for his thoughts and that he didn't throw in words that didn't make sense in portraying his thoughts.
Other things in the song like "sang for the Kind and Queen" don't make sense until you look on the internet and find that there is a King and Queen pub in London where Dylan played. In "a voice that came from you and me".... check out youtube versions of Woody Guthrie singing This Land is Your Land and you'll get an idea what Dylan used for creating his singing style.
Sheesh... KING and Queen.
Yes, very scary.
In the Martin Scorsese documentary about Bob Dylan, Joan Baez talks about Dylan sitting there writing lyrics on the typewriter and laughing that someone is going to try to make them mean something.
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