0:00:03 > 0:00:08ELECTRIC GUITAR PLAYS
0:00:27 > 0:00:30# A long, long time ago
0:00:30 > 0:00:33# I can still remember
0:00:33 > 0:00:37# How that music used to make me smile... #
0:00:37 > 0:00:39Today is February 3rd,
0:00:39 > 0:00:43the day Buddy Holly's plane crashed, and for no particular...
0:00:43 > 0:00:45..we didn't plan it this way, no particular reason,
0:00:45 > 0:00:48we were in the studio looking at this album,
0:00:48 > 0:00:50um,
0:00:50 > 0:00:53which certainly has as its inspiration
0:00:53 > 0:00:57the things that happened on this day to Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper,
0:00:57 > 0:00:59and Ritchie Valens.
0:00:59 > 0:01:01# Bad news on the doorstep... #
0:01:01 > 0:01:05It was something that mattered to me a lot,
0:01:05 > 0:01:07and I kept it inside for years.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10# I can't remember if I cried
0:01:10 > 0:01:15# When I read about his widowed bride
0:01:15 > 0:01:20# But something touched me deep inside
0:01:20 > 0:01:26# The day the music died. #
0:01:29 > 0:01:32An album about America,
0:01:32 > 0:01:35an album about love
0:01:35 > 0:01:40and falling out of love, beautiful songwriting,
0:01:40 > 0:01:42beautiful songs.
0:01:42 > 0:01:45In 1971, when Don McLean came on the scene,
0:01:45 > 0:01:48he spoke about things that no other singer songwriter
0:01:48 > 0:01:52at that time was, I mean,
0:01:52 > 0:01:55no-one else was writing about - Vincent, American Pie.
0:01:55 > 0:01:58We all realised that this was a masterpiece.
0:01:58 > 0:02:01It was a very moving thing.
0:02:01 > 0:02:04We listened to that and we said, "Wow."
0:02:04 > 0:02:07# Starry, starry night
0:02:09 > 0:02:13# Flaming flowers that brightly blaze... #
0:02:13 > 0:02:15American Pie is classic American pop.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20Buddy Holly-influenced,
0:02:20 > 0:02:24but right down the middle of the heart of American pop.
0:02:24 > 0:02:28And he was taking the genre to a new place.
0:02:28 > 0:02:32# And for the first time I'm discovering
0:02:32 > 0:02:35# The things I used to treasure... #
0:02:37 > 0:02:39It's quite a lopsided record,
0:02:39 > 0:02:45because any album which contains two of the biggest, most iconic,
0:02:45 > 0:02:50not just songs, but hit singles of all time.
0:02:50 > 0:02:53And then a number of songs which most people,
0:02:53 > 0:02:56you wouldn't actually know what they were.
0:02:56 > 0:02:59But it is a masterpiece of record production.
0:02:59 > 0:03:04# And I wonder if you know
0:03:04 > 0:03:09# That I never understood
0:03:09 > 0:03:12# That although you said you'd go
0:03:12 > 0:03:18# Until you did I never thought you would. #
0:03:18 > 0:03:19A genius songwriter,
0:03:19 > 0:03:24a man with an amazing voice, amazing musician and amazing songs.
0:03:25 > 0:03:28# Bye-bye, Miss American Pie,
0:03:28 > 0:03:32# Drove my Chevy to the levee
0:03:32 > 0:03:34# But the levee was dry
0:03:34 > 0:03:38# Them good old boys were drinking whisky and rye
0:03:38 > 0:03:44# Singing this'll be the day that I die. #
0:03:44 > 0:03:48CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:03:50 > 0:03:53Right, here's my voice, starting the song Vincent.
0:03:53 > 0:03:55# Starry, starry night
0:03:57 > 0:04:00# Paint your palette blue and grey... #
0:04:01 > 0:04:06I think I must have sung this 30 or 40 times before the perfect take,
0:04:06 > 0:04:09with my vibrato, my pitch, and everything else,
0:04:09 > 0:04:12they didn't have the machines that would pitch your voice
0:04:12 > 0:04:14and put it in tune.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17They didn't have all this stuff that they do now
0:04:17 > 0:04:20to make lousy singers sound like they can sing.
0:04:20 > 0:04:24You know, the studio was a world of truth.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27You either were good or you weren't.
0:04:27 > 0:04:30It told the truth back to you. Like photography told you the truth.
0:04:30 > 0:04:32Now it's Photoshop.
0:04:32 > 0:04:34I'd read a number of books about Van Gogh in my life,
0:04:34 > 0:04:40but this particular one made me want to write a song about him.
0:04:40 > 0:04:44And then, once that occurred,
0:04:44 > 0:04:48the fun part was, you know, how to do it.
0:04:49 > 0:04:50You know...
0:04:50 > 0:04:53# There once was a painter... #
0:04:53 > 0:04:56You know, you've got to...
0:04:56 > 0:04:59There's a thousand ways to go about this, you know.
0:04:59 > 0:05:03And... So I looked at the Van Gogh painting,
0:05:03 > 0:05:07Starry Night, which is his most famous painting, I guess,
0:05:07 > 0:05:13and tried to get this swirling feeling going with the lyrics.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16# Starry, starry night
0:05:18 > 0:05:22# Flaming flowers that brightly blaze
0:05:23 > 0:05:27# Swirling clouds in violet haze
0:05:27 > 0:05:31# Reflecting Vincent's eyes of China blue
0:05:31 > 0:05:34# Colours changing hue... #
0:05:34 > 0:05:35When I was about 12 years old,
0:05:35 > 0:05:38I was just watching an episode of the Simpsons,
0:05:38 > 0:05:40and Vincent came on one day.
0:05:40 > 0:05:42And I was just like, "Wow, what is that song?"
0:05:42 > 0:05:45I had no interest in music before or anything like that.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48And so I went away and found out what it was,
0:05:48 > 0:05:51and I just couldn't stop playing it for some reason. I don't know why.
0:05:51 > 0:05:54And I didn't even start playing guitar at that point, I think.
0:05:54 > 0:05:56That kind of opened the door for me.
0:05:56 > 0:05:58# Starry, starry night... #
0:05:58 > 0:06:01CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:06:01 > 0:06:05# Paint your palette blue and grey
0:06:05 > 0:06:08# Look out on a summer's day
0:06:08 > 0:06:12# With eyes that know the darkness in my soul
0:06:12 > 0:06:16# Shadows on the hills
0:06:16 > 0:06:20# Sketch the trees and the daffodils
0:06:21 > 0:06:25# Catch the breeze and the winter chills
0:06:25 > 0:06:29# In colours on the snowy linen land... #
0:06:30 > 0:06:35And that song is written in the form,
0:06:35 > 0:06:40exactly like a popular song of the 1940s would be.
0:06:40 > 0:06:45It's two verses, a bridge, and a verse, with a chorus.
0:06:45 > 0:06:51When we did the album, I felt that Vincent was the diamond.
0:06:51 > 0:06:57I just thought it was just so beautiful, and it is.
0:06:57 > 0:07:00It is just a beautiful song. It's a beautiful poem.
0:07:00 > 0:07:06I was stunned by the beauty of that song.
0:07:06 > 0:07:10You know, by the standards of the day, it wasn't a single.
0:07:10 > 0:07:11It's a masterpiece.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15It deserves to be a hit, but it didn't sound like a hit.
0:07:15 > 0:07:181971 was the year of Carole King's Tapestry.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21And Neil Young, Harvest.
0:07:21 > 0:07:23We are dealing with a point in time
0:07:23 > 0:07:25where the Beatles have just broken up,
0:07:25 > 0:07:29so we are starting to deal with solo Beatles very slowly.
0:07:29 > 0:07:31You had a series of deaths,
0:07:31 > 0:07:33Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin,
0:07:33 > 0:07:35Jim Morrison of The Doors, Brian Jones.
0:07:35 > 0:07:39James Taylor was very hot, you know,
0:07:39 > 0:07:41and was doing some beautiful work
0:07:41 > 0:07:44with those first two or three records that he made.
0:07:44 > 0:07:47Elton John became a huge star that year.
0:07:47 > 0:07:50And certainly Cat Stevens was emerging,
0:07:50 > 0:07:52and that whole idea of the singer songwriter
0:07:52 > 0:07:55where the performer not only performed the music,
0:07:55 > 0:07:58but also wrote the song and expressed themselves.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01Very folky kinds of music, I think.
0:08:01 > 0:08:03Very acoustic kinds of music.
0:08:03 > 0:08:06That is what I was drawn to,
0:08:06 > 0:08:10and that's where I believe Don came out of.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13I found an album called Bird On A Wire
0:08:13 > 0:08:16which was a Tim Hardin record,
0:08:16 > 0:08:21which was produced by a man named Ed Freeman,
0:08:21 > 0:08:24so I said, "I want Ed Freeman." Because I liked that.
0:08:24 > 0:08:28There was a certain elegant sound. I thought it was elegant.
0:08:28 > 0:08:34Ed Freeman would put a lot of things on a recording,
0:08:34 > 0:08:37and would blend some of those things very subtly.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40The album that changed my life was Rubber Soul,
0:08:40 > 0:08:45and I thought, "You know, OK, all restrictions are off.
0:08:45 > 0:08:50"You can put any instrument on any song and you can get away with it."
0:08:50 > 0:08:54This is what it sounded like when we recorded the whole...
0:08:54 > 0:08:57This is everything we put in the song.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00# Now I understand... #
0:09:00 > 0:09:05There's a harpsichord, there is a piano, there is an oboe,
0:09:05 > 0:09:11four tracks of marimba, strings, there is a harp.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14There is everything but the kitchen sink in there.
0:09:14 > 0:09:15So we recorded all that,
0:09:15 > 0:09:18and then we took it all back out.
0:09:18 > 0:09:23But the thing is, that we had to record all these things
0:09:23 > 0:09:25to find the few things that worked.
0:09:25 > 0:09:29# Now I understand... #
0:09:29 > 0:09:36See, everything about the record is dictated by the guitar.
0:09:36 > 0:09:40I was a guitarist. Um...
0:09:40 > 0:09:43And I was a good guitarist,
0:09:43 > 0:09:46and so I was very, very judgmental
0:09:46 > 0:09:49about other people's guitar playing.
0:09:49 > 0:09:53And I thought Don's finger picking was good.
0:09:53 > 0:09:56But I did not like his rhythm guitar playing.
0:09:56 > 0:09:59It was a big, major thing, you know,
0:09:59 > 0:10:02he was very condescending about my guitar playing.
0:10:02 > 0:10:08I had worked with other musicians at Columbia, and I just, you know,
0:10:08 > 0:10:11took the instrument out of their hands physically.
0:10:11 > 0:10:13Just walked into the studio
0:10:13 > 0:10:16and took the guitar out of their hand
0:10:16 > 0:10:18and said, "OK, you're not playing any more.
0:10:18 > 0:10:19"Go away."
0:10:19 > 0:10:22"We'll get a professional in here." I said, "You're looking at him."
0:10:22 > 0:10:25And that started right off on the wrong foot.
0:10:25 > 0:10:28This is where he fell down terribly as a producer.
0:10:28 > 0:10:30You are there to make things good.
0:10:30 > 0:10:34You know, "That was great, Don, you sang so great. Try one more time."
0:10:34 > 0:10:37You know? "See if we can do this. Everything was great."
0:10:37 > 0:10:40Rather than, "Yeah, I don't like that. That's not good."
0:10:40 > 0:10:43That's how you kill a groove right away.
0:10:43 > 0:10:49I wish I had been more supportive than I was. Um...
0:10:49 > 0:10:55I wish I had known how to deal with
0:10:55 > 0:10:57a delicate artist's ego
0:10:57 > 0:10:59a little bit better than I did.
0:10:59 > 0:11:01I don't think I was very good at doing that.
0:11:01 > 0:11:04There was a lot of artistry that went into this album,
0:11:04 > 0:11:06and a bunch of arguing also,
0:11:06 > 0:11:08but it turned out OK.
0:11:09 > 0:11:13But, see, the thing sounds complete with just the voice and guitar.
0:11:13 > 0:11:17And in my mind, when I hear the record, think about the record,
0:11:17 > 0:11:20it's basically voice and guitar until the bridge,
0:11:20 > 0:11:22when I hear the marimba,
0:11:22 > 0:11:25which was a brilliant idea to have that in there.
0:11:25 > 0:11:29One of the first songs that I played on was Vincent.
0:11:29 > 0:11:33I think we experimented with me playing vibraphone first,
0:11:33 > 0:11:35because I am mainly a vibraphonist.
0:11:35 > 0:11:37I thought that we should try it on marimba.
0:11:42 > 0:11:45The marimba is an ancient instrument, really.
0:11:45 > 0:11:48It is an African instrument, and, you know,
0:11:48 > 0:11:50it has a very, very low register.
0:11:50 > 0:11:54And the bars are made out of rosewood, African rosewood.
0:11:54 > 0:11:58And so it has this, like an ancient sound to it.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02This really beautiful sort of lush...
0:12:02 > 0:12:06# Now I understand
0:12:06 > 0:12:10# What you tried to say to me
0:12:10 > 0:12:15# How you suffered for your sanity
0:12:15 > 0:12:18# And how you tried to set them free
0:12:18 > 0:12:20# They would not listen
0:12:20 > 0:12:25# They did not know how
0:12:25 > 0:12:29# Perhaps they'll listen now... #
0:12:29 > 0:12:33Initially, I wrote an arrangement for strings
0:12:33 > 0:12:37that went through the entire song.
0:12:37 > 0:12:40What I wanted to get into the Vincent song
0:12:40 > 0:12:46and the record was wind, air, circling.
0:12:47 > 0:12:51This kind of, like the air flowing through a window
0:12:51 > 0:12:53when you see the curtains flutter.
0:12:53 > 0:12:57In mixing, Don insisted that we leave the strings out
0:12:57 > 0:12:58until the very end.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02And this was one of our...
0:13:03 > 0:13:06..one of our heated discussions,
0:13:06 > 0:13:09and I have to admit that he was right.
0:13:09 > 0:13:10He was absolutely right.
0:13:10 > 0:13:13It works perfectly that the strings come in at the very end.
0:13:13 > 0:13:17And that's what he did, with those strings at the end.
0:13:17 > 0:13:21It's like the wind suddenly comes through the window.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24You know, that's how I think about it when I hear it.
0:13:24 > 0:13:29You know, I'm singing the last part and it becomes just so beautiful.
0:13:29 > 0:13:34STRINGS PLAY # Now I think I know
0:13:34 > 0:13:38# What you tried to say to me
0:13:38 > 0:13:43# And how you suffered for your sanity
0:13:43 > 0:13:46# And how you tried to set them free
0:13:46 > 0:13:48# They would not listen
0:13:48 > 0:13:51# They're not listening still
0:13:52 > 0:13:58# Perhaps they never will. #
0:14:03 > 0:14:05If you are a good songwriter, every now and then
0:14:05 > 0:14:09you'll come across something that is alive. This is alive.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12For a long, long, time before my father died,
0:14:12 > 0:14:16I was sick at home with asthma.
0:14:16 > 0:14:19I would get this in the spring, I would get it in the fall,
0:14:19 > 0:14:22and I would be home for a month, way behind in school.
0:14:22 > 0:14:26Didn't have a lot of friends.
0:14:26 > 0:14:30Couldn't get along with people. I was used to doing things my own way.
0:14:30 > 0:14:35So I started to fall in love with records and music and radio.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38Because I had a lot of time on my hands when you are sick, you know.
0:14:38 > 0:14:42I think the big thing that happened was the guitar
0:14:42 > 0:14:45and the five-string banjo later on.
0:14:45 > 0:14:48My father basically had a heart attack right in front of me.
0:14:49 > 0:14:51Late at night, like, one in the morning,
0:14:51 > 0:14:54and I had to call the ambulance,
0:14:54 > 0:14:58call the police, and he didn't want me to do that.
0:14:58 > 0:15:00Basically, I took over.
0:15:00 > 0:15:04And he was always a very authoritarian, Scottish,
0:15:04 > 0:15:06you know, he ruled.
0:15:06 > 0:15:08All of a sudden, he said, "Don't call the police."
0:15:08 > 0:15:11I said, "I'm calling the police. I'm calling the ambulance right now."
0:15:11 > 0:15:14You know, I said, "You lay down on the bed." I was in charge.
0:15:14 > 0:15:1615 years old.
0:15:17 > 0:15:20From that point on, I have been in charge.
0:15:20 > 0:15:23And... So he...
0:15:23 > 0:15:25Ha!
0:15:25 > 0:15:27He had a smile.
0:15:27 > 0:15:31He was all wrapped up... He was on his stretcher,
0:15:31 > 0:15:32and they were taking him out.
0:15:32 > 0:15:34He wasn't going to live but a few more hours,
0:15:34 > 0:15:36but he looked up at me and he smiled.
0:15:36 > 0:15:38And he said, "You are a man now."
0:15:38 > 0:15:39HE LAUGHS
0:15:39 > 0:15:43# The grave that they dug him had flowers
0:15:43 > 0:15:48# Gathered from the hillsides in bright summer colours
0:15:48 > 0:15:51# And the brown earth bleached white
0:15:51 > 0:15:54# At the edge of his gravestone
0:15:54 > 0:15:56# He's gone
0:15:56 > 0:15:59# But eternity knows him
0:15:59 > 0:16:03# And it knows what we've done... #
0:16:04 > 0:16:06The Grave was a dream.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10You know, I mean, I had the...
0:16:10 > 0:16:12I, along with millions of other young men,
0:16:12 > 0:16:16I had the war in Vietnam nipping at our heels all through the '60s.
0:16:16 > 0:16:23By 1971, it was absolutely clear that the Vietnam War was a disaster.
0:16:23 > 0:16:25And all America could do was to try
0:16:25 > 0:16:29to get out. As their President said, "Peace with honour."
0:16:29 > 0:16:31Which basically meant we need to extricate ourselves
0:16:31 > 0:16:33without looking too bad about it.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36I just lucked out. I was the only guy to come back on the bus
0:16:36 > 0:16:38that day from New York.
0:16:38 > 0:16:40Everybody else went in the army.
0:16:43 > 0:16:45Because I had this asthma, you know, they kept me away from school
0:16:45 > 0:16:48all those years and doctors' letters,
0:16:48 > 0:16:50and the guy said, "You're out."
0:16:50 > 0:16:53I said, "Huh? What? I'm out?"
0:16:53 > 0:16:57He dreamt about a soldier and his experience at the front line.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00This soldier lost his life.
0:17:00 > 0:17:03A kid that I had gone to high school with,
0:17:03 > 0:17:07a young Irish kid, nice boy, came into the bar that night,
0:17:07 > 0:17:09and said, "Yay, boy, we are going over to Vietnam."
0:17:09 > 0:17:11And he got killed, like, right away.
0:17:11 > 0:17:15# When the wars of our nation did beckon
0:17:15 > 0:17:19# A lad barely 20 did answer the calling
0:17:19 > 0:17:23# Proud of the trust that he placed in our nation
0:17:23 > 0:17:24# He's gone.
0:17:26 > 0:17:32# I'll cover myself with the mud and the earth
0:17:32 > 0:17:35# I'll cover myself
0:17:35 > 0:17:38# I know I'm not brave
0:17:38 > 0:17:41# The earth, the earth
0:17:41 > 0:17:45# The earth is my grave... #
0:17:45 > 0:17:46Now the guitar...
0:17:46 > 0:17:50ACOUSTIC GUITAR PLAYS
0:17:53 > 0:17:55You must have release, you know,
0:17:55 > 0:17:58you have tension and release in music.
0:17:58 > 0:18:02You also have to start quiet in order to get loud.
0:18:02 > 0:18:05That is something I had to learn. You can't be loud all the time.
0:18:05 > 0:18:09If you start quiet, and then you build, you have dynamics.
0:18:09 > 0:18:14The Grave didn't become the anthem for the anti-Vietnam protest.
0:18:14 > 0:18:18The song's time certainly came in 2003.
0:18:18 > 0:18:21George Michael wanted to record that song as a protest
0:18:21 > 0:18:24for the American-led invasion of Iraq.
0:18:24 > 0:18:26He was the only one that did.
0:18:26 > 0:18:29You know, nobody else did anything.
0:18:29 > 0:18:33They had us so completely cowered by that Patriot Act,
0:18:33 > 0:18:39and fearing that if anybody really was vocal and protested,
0:18:39 > 0:18:42they could end up in some, you know,
0:18:42 > 0:18:45maximum security prison, and you would never hear from them again.
0:18:45 > 0:18:47Don phoned me up and he said,
0:18:47 > 0:18:50"Alan, you've got to watch Top Of The Pops tonight.
0:18:50 > 0:18:53"George Michael is going to sing my song, The Grave."
0:18:53 > 0:18:59# But the silence of night was shattered by fire
0:18:59 > 0:19:01# As guns and grenades
0:19:01 > 0:19:04# Blasted sharp through the air
0:19:05 > 0:19:11# One after another his comrades were slaughtered
0:19:11 > 0:19:14# In a morgue of marines
0:19:14 > 0:19:17# Alone, standing there
0:19:17 > 0:19:19# He crouched ever lower
0:19:19 > 0:19:22# Ever lower with fear
0:19:22 > 0:19:25# They can't let me die
0:19:25 > 0:19:28# They can't let me die here
0:19:28 > 0:19:33# I'll cover myself with the mud and the earth
0:19:33 > 0:19:35# I'll cover myself
0:19:35 > 0:19:40# I know I'm not brave
0:19:40 > 0:19:44# The earth, the earth
0:19:44 > 0:19:50# The earth is my grave. #
0:19:50 > 0:19:54Don's always been really impressed by George Michael.
0:19:54 > 0:19:58So The Grave, perhaps one of the smallest songs in reputation
0:19:58 > 0:20:00to begin with on American Pie,
0:20:00 > 0:20:04got its own life, thanks to another major music star.
0:20:07 > 0:20:11When I was 14, I was in love with The Weavers.
0:20:11 > 0:20:14The Weavers were Pete Seeger, Fred Hellerman, and Ronnie Gilbert,
0:20:14 > 0:20:16and Lee Hays.
0:20:16 > 0:20:20The sound of the four of them was just stunning.
0:20:20 > 0:20:23I mean, it was just thrilling to hear.
0:20:23 > 0:20:28One day, I must have been 14, maybe, 15, I said,
0:20:28 > 0:20:30"I wonder if their names are in the phone book."
0:20:30 > 0:20:34I called the operator, you know, in Manhattan Directory, and said,
0:20:34 > 0:20:37"Do you have a number for Fred Hellerman in Manhattan?"
0:20:37 > 0:20:38"Yes, we do."
0:20:38 > 0:20:41And they gave me the number. I called it, you know?
0:20:41 > 0:20:44And one by one, I guess he told The Weavers about me
0:20:44 > 0:20:48and I would call them and got to know them and then
0:20:48 > 0:20:52Erik Darling said, "Why don't you come to the house and we can play?"
0:20:52 > 0:20:57Erik became an influence, helped refine Don's musical style,
0:20:57 > 0:21:02the clarity of his singing and the quality of his guitar playing
0:21:02 > 0:21:06and then, later, he wrote to Pete Seeger and asked him
0:21:06 > 0:21:08why he believes in Communism.
0:21:08 > 0:21:12This immediately grabbed Pete Seeger's attention
0:21:12 > 0:21:15and they struck up a friendship.
0:21:15 > 0:21:19He was very much..."do it yourself and learn about everything".
0:21:19 > 0:21:21So that rubbed off on me, I mean, certainly,
0:21:21 > 0:21:24and it was a tremendous experience.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27You know, I wasn't always in agreement with him politically,
0:21:27 > 0:21:33but I was in agreement with him about the value of human life and
0:21:33 > 0:21:38the value of culture and the value of diversity and the value of love.
0:21:38 > 0:21:44This is something that so many poor people, poor kids, black,
0:21:44 > 0:21:48white, whatever you want to say, in this country have not had
0:21:48 > 0:21:52this realisation that you can do anything.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55They're taught that they're stupid, not worthy.
0:21:55 > 0:21:59They don't realise that they can do anything.
0:21:59 > 0:22:02The only reason I got as far as I did was
0:22:02 > 0:22:06because I was just a powerhouse back in 1969.
0:22:06 > 0:22:10I ended up being in debt for 20,000, which was a lot of money,
0:22:10 > 0:22:13in order to finance the first album, Tapestry,
0:22:13 > 0:22:18and had no solid indication that it was going to come out any place.
0:22:18 > 0:22:23Alan Livingston was the president of the newly-formed
0:22:23 > 0:22:26Media Arts Label.
0:22:26 > 0:22:28Livingston had previously worked as chief executive
0:22:28 > 0:22:31at Capitol Records and he signed Don McLean
0:22:31 > 0:22:34and as an initial advance,
0:22:34 > 0:22:39Don received 25,000 and financing for the production of the album,
0:22:39 > 0:22:42which wiped out his debts and put him
0:22:42 > 0:22:45in a much more comfortable position.
0:22:45 > 0:22:47So I was able to give my mother money every week for three
0:22:47 > 0:22:51years and move her back into the house that she had had to leave
0:22:51 > 0:22:53seven years before.
0:22:53 > 0:22:58I remember listening to his first album and thinking, erm...
0:22:58 > 0:23:02This was quite unusual for a singer-songwriter at that time.
0:23:02 > 0:23:07And I Love You So and Castles In The Air, those were terrific songs.
0:23:07 > 0:23:11But I don't think in any way Don was a household name.
0:23:11 > 0:23:15# And if she asks you why, you can tell her that I told you
0:23:15 > 0:23:19# That I'm tired of castles in the air
0:23:19 > 0:23:22# I've got a dream I want the world to share
0:23:22 > 0:23:26# And castle walls just lead me to despair... #
0:23:26 > 0:23:30I love Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, and I would try
0:23:30 > 0:23:35to learn to sing some of the slow songs that Sinatra would sing.
0:23:35 > 0:23:39It's not so hard to sing a fast one, you know. Just connect the dots.
0:23:39 > 0:23:41But a slow song, we really
0:23:41 > 0:23:44understand...
0:23:44 > 0:23:48..every millisecond
0:23:48 > 0:23:50of time
0:23:50 > 0:23:52is important.
0:23:52 > 0:23:55And that's a wonderful thing to work on.
0:23:55 > 0:24:00# And I love you so
0:24:02 > 0:24:06# People ask me how
0:24:06 > 0:24:10# How I've lived till now
0:24:12 > 0:24:16# I tell them I don't know... #
0:24:16 > 0:24:22I was always very dark. I'm a dark... I'm a blue person.
0:24:22 > 0:24:26You know, there's just kind of a blue tinge to things, you know.
0:24:26 > 0:24:31And it's really kind of a pointless way to be, you know,
0:24:31 > 0:24:35when you have so much good fortune as I've had,
0:24:35 > 0:24:39and I'm aware of that, but I guess it's the Scottish in me
0:24:39 > 0:24:42or something, I don't know what it is.
0:24:42 > 0:24:44But it's hard to shake.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47You know, I'm always waiting for the other shoe to drop or looking
0:24:47 > 0:24:50around the corner and thinking, "What's going to go wrong?"
0:24:53 > 0:24:59# Yes, I know
0:24:59 > 0:25:04# How loveless life can be
0:25:06 > 0:25:10# The shadows follow me
0:25:10 > 0:25:14# And night won't set me free... #
0:25:14 > 0:25:17And I Love You So went on to be a hit record
0:25:17 > 0:25:23for Perry Como in 1974, and was recorded by Elvis Presley.
0:25:23 > 0:25:28In fact, featured on Elvis Presley's last live album.
0:25:28 > 0:25:33I also got married in 1969.
0:25:33 > 0:25:36I was very needy.
0:25:36 > 0:25:42I needed someone and I really didn't know anything about marriage,
0:25:42 > 0:25:45I didn't know anything about relationships,
0:25:45 > 0:25:47but I was desperately lonely.
0:25:47 > 0:25:52And I married a girl, a very smart girl,
0:25:52 > 0:25:56who was supportive of my music,
0:25:56 > 0:26:00but it wasn't a good marriage.
0:26:00 > 0:26:05# Morning comes and morning goes with no regret
0:26:07 > 0:26:11# And evening brings the memories I can't forget
0:26:12 > 0:26:17# Empty rooms that echo as I climb the stairs
0:26:18 > 0:26:23# Empty clothes that drape and fall on empty chairs... #
0:26:24 > 0:26:30Empty Chairs is the song of someone leaving someone and loneliness,
0:26:30 > 0:26:33and you can't get lonelier than, you know,
0:26:33 > 0:26:38empty clothes hanging on empty chairs.
0:26:39 > 0:26:43Well, Empty Chairs is a sort of distance cousin of Vincent.
0:26:43 > 0:26:46And I never really wrote any song that was similar to another one in
0:26:46 > 0:26:51my whole life, but for some reason, this song came out and it's the same
0:26:51 > 0:26:57thing, two verses, a bridge, and a verse, with a sort of a chorus.
0:26:57 > 0:26:59That's the harpsichord.
0:26:59 > 0:27:01HARPSICHORD PLAYS
0:27:01 > 0:27:03That's neat.
0:27:03 > 0:27:06I like that.
0:27:08 > 0:27:10That's pretty.
0:27:10 > 0:27:12How'd that get left out?!
0:27:12 > 0:27:15And one thing, you know, these records were handmade.
0:27:15 > 0:27:17All records were handmade.
0:27:17 > 0:27:20That is to say a lot of times, we'd have to go and find hands,
0:27:20 > 0:27:23you know, in the studio to pull,
0:27:23 > 0:27:27to push parts up to certain marks that were made on tape,
0:27:27 > 0:27:29at key moments.
0:27:29 > 0:27:32So, all right, raise the strings now, slowly, to that,
0:27:32 > 0:27:34and it was exciting.
0:27:34 > 0:27:38It was my girlfriend who called me on the phone and said,
0:27:38 > 0:27:40"You've got to come to the Troubadour,
0:27:40 > 0:27:45"you've got to see this amazing singer that I love," she said.
0:27:45 > 0:27:47"Named Don McLean."
0:27:47 > 0:27:52And I didn't want to go, I was going through a break-up,
0:27:52 > 0:27:56I just wanted to stay in my apartment, I was 19 years old,
0:27:56 > 0:28:01and reluctantly, I went to see him.
0:28:01 > 0:28:05I had not heard of him before, and sitting in the club,
0:28:05 > 0:28:12I just felt like all of a sudden, he was singing about me and my life,
0:28:12 > 0:28:15especially when he started to sing this particular song.
0:28:15 > 0:28:20The effect that I had and the song had on her caused her to
0:28:20 > 0:28:24include me and the whole experience that she had in this poem.
0:28:24 > 0:28:27What really got to me in the song was,
0:28:27 > 0:28:32"And I wonder if you know that I never understood."
0:28:32 > 0:28:36# And I wonder if you know
0:28:38 > 0:28:41# That I never understood
0:28:44 > 0:28:48# That although you said you'd go
0:28:48 > 0:28:51# Until you did
0:28:51 > 0:28:54# I never thought you would... #
0:28:56 > 0:28:58And so when everybody filtered out of the club,
0:28:58 > 0:29:01my girlfriend as well, I stayed there and I wrote a poem
0:29:01 > 0:29:04on a napkin that was there,
0:29:04 > 0:29:08and that poem became Killing Me Softly.
0:29:08 > 0:29:11And the "him" is Don McLean.
0:29:12 > 0:29:16# I felt all flushed with fever
0:29:16 > 0:29:19# Embarrassed by the crowd
0:29:21 > 0:29:27# I felt he found my letters and read each one out loud
0:29:29 > 0:29:33# I prayed that he would finish
0:29:33 > 0:29:38# But he just kept right on
0:29:38 > 0:29:41# Strumming my pain with his fingers
0:29:42 > 0:29:45# Singing my life with his words
0:29:47 > 0:29:50# Killing me softly with his song
0:29:50 > 0:29:54# Killing me softly with his song
0:29:54 > 0:29:59# Telling my whole life with his words
0:29:59 > 0:30:02# Killing me softly
0:30:04 > 0:30:07# With his song. #
0:30:10 > 0:30:13I remember when I first heard Roberta Flack singing it.
0:30:13 > 0:30:16My version had started to go up the charts
0:30:16 > 0:30:21and then she heard it on an airplane and she loved it, and by the time
0:30:21 > 0:30:26she landed, she had contacted Quincy Jones and Joel Dorn, her producer.
0:30:26 > 0:30:30# Killing me softly with his song
0:30:30 > 0:30:33# Telling my whole life with his words
0:30:33 > 0:30:37# Killing me softly
0:30:37 > 0:30:40# With his song
0:30:42 > 0:30:45# Oh
0:30:45 > 0:30:49# Oh-oh-oh... #
0:30:49 > 0:30:54You could see, mine is a very simple folk song, but hers,
0:30:54 > 0:30:57she added these elements that I never would have imagined,
0:30:57 > 0:31:00and she made it something that I could never have imagined
0:31:00 > 0:31:03the song holding. And yet it did.
0:31:03 > 0:31:08And I think I was so surprised that it resonated with so many people.
0:31:08 > 0:31:10I'm not an entertainer.
0:31:10 > 0:31:13There are aspects of entertainment to what I do
0:31:13 > 0:31:16and I will entertain you, in order to get your attention,
0:31:16 > 0:31:18maybe then to do something else.
0:31:18 > 0:31:23Crossroads, I think, is a masterpiece.
0:31:23 > 0:31:24It's a gorgeous piece of writing.
0:31:24 > 0:31:28Crossroads, when I was playing it, seemed to be repetitive.
0:31:28 > 0:31:31I was going from the G to the E minor to the A minor.
0:31:31 > 0:31:33And then Ed said,
0:31:33 > 0:31:36"We can get this really good piano player to play it,"
0:31:36 > 0:31:41and so they got Warren Bernhardt, a very sensitive player,
0:31:41 > 0:31:47and so Ed created with Warren this track, and then I sang to it.
0:31:47 > 0:31:48Turned out very well.
0:31:48 > 0:31:54When I hear the opening strings, it's still very memorable.
0:31:54 > 0:31:57# I've got nothing on my mind
0:31:57 > 0:32:00# Nothing to remember
0:32:03 > 0:32:06# Nothing to forget... #
0:32:06 > 0:32:08See how beautiful it is.
0:32:08 > 0:32:11# And I know that on the outside... #
0:32:11 > 0:32:15All that stuff I was talking about, dynamics.
0:32:15 > 0:32:17Quiet.
0:32:17 > 0:32:18Loud.
0:32:20 > 0:32:22Very liquid.
0:32:22 > 0:32:23Fluid.
0:32:23 > 0:32:28The melody is just so beautiful that it resonates with me, certainly,
0:32:28 > 0:32:30and I think with a lot of people.
0:32:30 > 0:32:34I think, when music is written in such a beautiful way,
0:32:34 > 0:32:36there's no escaping it, really.
0:32:36 > 0:32:40# So there's no need for turning back
0:32:43 > 0:32:46# Cos all roads lead to where we stand... #
0:32:48 > 0:32:50A lot of Don's music is sad.
0:32:50 > 0:32:52I probably pushed for something -
0:32:52 > 0:32:58do we have anything else that's a little bit more hit-like, please?
0:32:58 > 0:33:03But in the end, you just have to say, well, that's what he writes.
0:33:03 > 0:33:08Everybody Loves Me, Baby, which is about the egotistical,
0:33:08 > 0:33:11rich leader, who everybody is supposed to love,
0:33:11 > 0:33:15except this one person who thinks he's a jerk.
0:33:15 > 0:33:18It was during the Nixonian time period.
0:33:18 > 0:33:21He was a wonderful catalyst for creativity.
0:33:21 > 0:33:24This is Everybody Loves Me, Baby.
0:33:24 > 0:33:26It's the only other upbeat song on the album.
0:33:26 > 0:33:29And we wanted it to sound like a party.
0:33:29 > 0:33:32And so it's a sloppy mess, on purpose.
0:33:34 > 0:33:38- It sounds like this. - One, two, three, four!
0:33:44 > 0:33:47# Fortune has... #
0:33:47 > 0:33:51What's unusual about this is that we have a track of people,
0:33:51 > 0:33:54I think there must have been a dozen people in the studio,
0:33:54 > 0:34:00just carrying on, having a great drunken time, banging on every
0:34:00 > 0:34:04percussion instrument they could find and yelling and screaming.
0:34:04 > 0:34:06And this is what that track sounds like, solo.
0:34:06 > 0:34:11VARIOUS PERCUSSION
0:34:12 > 0:34:15Everybody Loves Me, Baby, I thought could have been a lot better.
0:34:15 > 0:34:18That was one of the things where I think we dropped the ball.
0:34:18 > 0:34:22Lyrically, it's OK, but I don't like the melody all that much.
0:34:22 > 0:34:26I could have done a better job on that.
0:34:26 > 0:34:31I didn't have the ideas to help the producer, but one thing,
0:34:31 > 0:34:34I would have put voices on the chorus.
0:34:34 > 0:34:36I think that could have made it a very catchy chorus.
0:34:36 > 0:34:41He has got a really playful, acrobatic voice when he likes,
0:34:41 > 0:34:43full of humour and kind of vigour
0:34:43 > 0:34:46and effervescence, and that is to the fore on this song.
0:34:46 > 0:34:50# You're all enslaved My own flag is forever waved by... #
0:34:52 > 0:34:55This must have been a lot of fun to record.
0:34:55 > 0:35:01I don't remember the session, exactly, but listening to
0:35:01 > 0:35:06the multitrack now, I think we must have had a really good time.
0:35:06 > 0:35:09It comes, I think, at a great moment in the album,
0:35:09 > 0:35:12as far as the running order is concerned, when it really needs
0:35:12 > 0:35:15a sort of energy lift and a kind of a humour lift.
0:35:15 > 0:35:18And I would have it as a personal highlight.
0:35:18 > 0:35:20This is the song, Babylon,
0:35:20 > 0:35:23sometimes it's called By The Waters Of Babylon.
0:35:23 > 0:35:28Babylon is an arrangement of Psalm 1:37.
0:35:28 > 0:35:30I maintained a relationship with Lee Hays, who was
0:35:30 > 0:35:37a member of The Weavers and he said, "Oh, hey, sing this song with me.
0:35:37 > 0:35:38"And I'll sing it for you...
0:35:38 > 0:35:42# By the waters... #"
0:35:42 > 0:35:45He started to sing it. And he said, "Now..."
0:35:45 > 0:35:47He sang the whole thing and said,
0:35:47 > 0:35:49"See if you can remember how that goes."
0:35:49 > 0:35:52So I remembered it, then he sang it against me.
0:35:52 > 0:35:56He said, "Imagine a third part to that." So, I thought...
0:35:56 > 0:36:00I heard it right away and I thought, "Oh, that's perfect," you know?
0:36:00 > 0:36:04"And I know what I'll do with it. I'll make up a banjo part."
0:36:04 > 0:36:07And although it's co-credited with Lee Hays,
0:36:07 > 0:36:11in practice, Don McLean made the arrangement,
0:36:11 > 0:36:17and insisted on giving 50% of the royalties from that
0:36:17 > 0:36:21particular song to Lee Hays to thank him
0:36:21 > 0:36:26for all he'd done in supporting his development in the 1960s.
0:36:26 > 0:36:30# We lay down and wept
0:36:30 > 0:36:33# And wept
0:36:33 > 0:36:36# For thee Zion... #
0:36:36 > 0:36:40It was one of the few times where Don actually sang more
0:36:40 > 0:36:41than one part.
0:36:41 > 0:36:45Ed wanted him to enhance it, but he didn't want to have
0:36:45 > 0:36:48professional background singers come in and sing along with him.
0:36:48 > 0:36:52He just wanted to use Don's voice.
0:36:52 > 0:36:55# We lay down and wept
0:36:55 > 0:36:57# And wept
0:36:57 > 0:37:00# For thee Zion... #
0:37:00 > 0:37:02It is a beautifully sung song.
0:37:02 > 0:37:05We underrate how good a singer Don McLean is.
0:37:05 > 0:37:11He has a very clear, beautiful, precise voice, but not a cold voice.
0:37:11 > 0:37:14It's a voice which is, you know, full of feeling and emotion.
0:37:14 > 0:37:18But he heard it and he said, "You sang it wrong." Cos it's...
0:37:18 > 0:37:20# We lay down and wept
0:37:20 > 0:37:23# And wept... #
0:37:23 > 0:37:25I sang... # We lay down and wept... #
0:37:25 > 0:37:26NOTE HIGHER: # And wept. #
0:37:26 > 0:37:29Just a little note change. Instead of... # And wept... #
0:37:29 > 0:37:31It's... # And wept. #
0:37:31 > 0:37:34One note difference. But it makes a big difference.
0:37:34 > 0:37:37BANJO PLAYS This is the banjo part
0:37:37 > 0:37:40that I came up with.
0:37:42 > 0:37:43It's in a funny tuning.
0:37:43 > 0:37:45I think it's a G minor.
0:37:46 > 0:37:50# Waters, the waters of Babylon
0:37:51 > 0:37:55# We lay down and wept
0:37:55 > 0:37:57# And wept... #
0:37:57 > 0:38:00I DID sing it right.
0:38:00 > 0:38:04# We lay down and wept
0:38:04 > 0:38:06# And wept... # Yeah, I sang it wrong.
0:38:06 > 0:38:10Sang it right the first time and wrong the second time.
0:38:10 > 0:38:12That's funny.
0:38:15 > 0:38:19# For thee Zion... #
0:38:19 > 0:38:24So this was like a little finish to the whole album.
0:38:24 > 0:38:26Just a period
0:38:26 > 0:38:28put at the end of this whole experience.
0:38:28 > 0:38:32With Babylon, you could end on a sense of mystery and beauty.
0:38:32 > 0:38:38It kid of leaves it open and it gives you this kind of warm feeling.
0:38:38 > 0:38:43And that's what albums at their best really did is that they take
0:38:43 > 0:38:44you on a sort of an emotional
0:38:44 > 0:38:48and intellectual journey over 40 minutes,
0:38:48 > 0:38:51where it's not just a variety of song,
0:38:51 > 0:38:56but a sort of thread of feeling, which kind of changes and weaves
0:38:56 > 0:38:59around, that where you are at the end of it,
0:38:59 > 0:39:05when you've finished side two of the album is different from where
0:39:05 > 0:39:07you were at the beginning of it,
0:39:07 > 0:39:10when you first put the needle on the beginning of side one.
0:39:10 > 0:39:14# We remember thee
0:39:14 > 0:39:16# Remember thee
0:39:16 > 0:39:20# Remember thee Zion. #
0:39:30 > 0:39:35I had most of the album written without American Pie.
0:39:35 > 0:39:40In fact, they were going to call the album Empty Chairs or
0:39:40 > 0:39:42something like that.
0:39:42 > 0:39:46You know, American Pie hadn't been written.
0:39:46 > 0:39:48But I wasn't happy with that.
0:39:48 > 0:39:50You know, it's not right. I said, "It's not finished yet.
0:39:50 > 0:39:53"I've got more to do. Something else I want to say."
0:39:53 > 0:39:56A really big song I had in me, I knew I had this.
0:39:56 > 0:39:59It's like a pregnancy.
0:39:59 > 0:40:01And I knew it.
0:40:01 > 0:40:05I was in this little gatehouse that I lived in
0:40:05 > 0:40:08in Cold Spring on the Hudson,
0:40:08 > 0:40:12and I shared that house with my first wife.
0:40:12 > 0:40:15It was a happy life, because we had all these singers around and artists
0:40:15 > 0:40:18and there were actors and there were poets
0:40:18 > 0:40:20and there were biographers and there were painters.
0:40:20 > 0:40:22It was a wonderful experience, very rich.
0:40:22 > 0:40:27I just wanted to find this way of talking about America
0:40:27 > 0:40:30that was big and that was dramatic,
0:40:30 > 0:40:33but dramatic in a whole new way.
0:40:33 > 0:40:38What happened to me is I had this little room in this gatehouse,
0:40:38 > 0:40:40and I would sit up there with my guitar
0:40:40 > 0:40:43and I had this old carpeting on the floor.
0:40:43 > 0:40:47And I had a little bed in the corner.
0:40:47 > 0:40:52That seclusion in the gatehouse in that small, rural community
0:40:52 > 0:40:55was just what he needed.
0:40:55 > 0:40:58So I was rocking in my little chair and all of a sudden,
0:40:58 > 0:41:02I went over to the guitar, I had a little tape recorder.
0:41:02 > 0:41:05And I just sang, "A long, long time ago,"
0:41:05 > 0:41:08to this whole thing, right through "the day the music died".
0:41:10 > 0:41:14ACOUSTIC: # A long, long time ago I can still remember how
0:41:14 > 0:41:17# That music used to make me smile
0:41:19 > 0:41:23# And I knew if I had my chance That I could make those people dance
0:41:23 > 0:41:27# And maybe they'd be happy for a while
0:41:28 > 0:41:31# But February made me shiver
0:41:31 > 0:41:34# With every paper I'd deliver
0:41:34 > 0:41:36# Bad news on the doorstep
0:41:36 > 0:41:39# I couldn't take one more step
0:41:40 > 0:41:45# I can't remember if I cried When I read about his widowed bride
0:41:45 > 0:41:49# But something touched me deep inside
0:41:49 > 0:41:54# The day the music died... #
0:41:56 > 0:41:58I said, "Oh, wow, this is really great.
0:41:58 > 0:42:00"I don't know what it is, but it's really neat."
0:42:00 > 0:42:04You know, and it spoke to me, like this was going someplace,
0:42:04 > 0:42:07and I had to figure out where it was going.
0:42:07 > 0:42:09Buddy Holly is the singer-songwriter
0:42:09 > 0:42:12who remains by far the most influential on Don McLean.
0:42:12 > 0:42:17For everything he did. You know, his gifts as a melodist, as a lyricist.
0:42:17 > 0:42:19And as a sort of an outsider,
0:42:19 > 0:42:22a rock star who didn't look like a rock star.
0:42:22 > 0:42:28It was that moment of Don in his mid-20s, harking back to childhood,
0:42:28 > 0:42:30to that moment of innocence,
0:42:30 > 0:42:35before everything got complicated and adult and conflicted.
0:42:35 > 0:42:37A month or two went by, and I just had it,
0:42:37 > 0:42:40and didn't know what to do with it.
0:42:40 > 0:42:44And then I said, "I want it to be a fast song, a rock and roll song."
0:42:44 > 0:42:49So I came up with this crazy chorus.
0:42:49 > 0:42:53"Bye-bye, Miss American Pie, drove my Chevy to the levee,
0:42:53 > 0:42:54"but the levee was dry."
0:42:54 > 0:43:00# Them good ole boys were drinking whisky and rye
0:43:00 > 0:43:02# Singin' this'll be the day that I die
0:43:02 > 0:43:05# This'll be the day that I die... #
0:43:05 > 0:43:08I was in the shower a couple of months later,
0:43:08 > 0:43:10and I got out of the shower all wet,
0:43:10 > 0:43:12and I grabbed paper and I started writing.
0:43:12 > 0:43:15"Did you write the book of love..." I just...
0:43:15 > 0:43:19I just had this...this thing that came to me.
0:43:19 > 0:43:20And then it goes...
0:43:23 > 0:43:26# Did you write the book of love
0:43:26 > 0:43:30# And do you have faith in God above
0:43:30 > 0:43:33# If the Bible tells you so?
0:43:35 > 0:43:38# Now do you believe in rock and roll?
0:43:38 > 0:43:41# Can music save your mortal soul?
0:43:41 > 0:43:47# And can you teach me how to dance real slow? #
0:43:47 > 0:43:52And the four middle verses would be growing dissatisfaction,
0:43:52 > 0:43:57growing anger, growing public unrest, if you will.
0:43:57 > 0:43:58I don't know how to describe it.
0:43:58 > 0:44:02I'd been to the March on Washington.
0:44:02 > 0:44:05They tear-gassed a lot of people.
0:44:05 > 0:44:09There was all that activity all day, but then the tear-gas dispersed
0:44:09 > 0:44:11everybody and the streets were all empty.
0:44:11 > 0:44:14And all that activity and, you know,
0:44:14 > 0:44:18political anger and everything else had been dispersed.
0:44:18 > 0:44:22I think I captured that in my head, and that was the last verse.
0:44:22 > 0:44:25"I met a girl who sang the blues, I asked her for some happy news..."
0:44:25 > 0:44:27She was, like, the only one left.
0:44:27 > 0:44:29Everything else, all this other stuff that had happened
0:44:29 > 0:44:30in the four verses before,
0:44:30 > 0:44:36all this energy and activity had just dispersed,
0:44:36 > 0:44:38and now it was just...the...
0:44:38 > 0:44:39..the end.
0:44:39 > 0:44:42# And in the streets the children screamed
0:44:42 > 0:44:46# The lovers cried, and the poets dreamed
0:44:46 > 0:44:48# But not a word was spoken
0:44:49 > 0:44:53# The church bells all were broken
0:44:53 > 0:44:56# And the three men I admire most
0:44:56 > 0:45:00# The Father, Son and the Holy Ghost
0:45:00 > 0:45:03# They caught the last train for the coast
0:45:03 > 0:45:09# The day the music died
0:45:09 > 0:45:12# And they were singin'
0:45:12 > 0:45:18# Bye-bye, Miss American Pie... #
0:45:18 > 0:45:21It came as a major shock and a major blow
0:45:21 > 0:45:26to hear that Mediarts as a label were going out of business.
0:45:26 > 0:45:28And this immediately threw into jeopardy
0:45:28 > 0:45:30the future of the American Pie project.
0:45:30 > 0:45:34One week, I was without a record company and the next week,
0:45:34 > 0:45:36I was on United Artists,
0:45:36 > 0:45:40which was a terrible record company at the time.
0:45:40 > 0:45:42United Artists took over the business
0:45:42 > 0:45:46and for Don McLean, took over the contract.
0:45:46 > 0:45:49They were not a record label for a young guy like me,
0:45:49 > 0:45:50doing what I was doing.
0:45:52 > 0:45:54But they were trying to remake themselves
0:45:54 > 0:45:56into something much better, which they did.
0:45:56 > 0:46:01United Artists taking over Mediarts was perhaps a stroke of luck,
0:46:01 > 0:46:05but gave Don McLean further momentum
0:46:05 > 0:46:10in his development as a mainstream music star.
0:46:10 > 0:46:13Then there were some practice sessions,
0:46:13 > 0:46:18which I kind of liked how they felt, they felt pretty good.
0:46:18 > 0:46:21Don was not used to working with other musicians,
0:46:21 > 0:46:25so I put him together with a couple of players,
0:46:25 > 0:46:28bass and drums, who were very good players.
0:46:28 > 0:46:33But they were also not slick studio players,
0:46:33 > 0:46:37who had done thousands of sessions.
0:46:37 > 0:46:43Rehearsals consisted of Rob Stoner playing bass,
0:46:43 > 0:46:44Don on acoustic,
0:46:44 > 0:46:49and I think occasionally also Ed on acoustic.
0:46:50 > 0:46:52And me on drums.
0:46:52 > 0:46:58So there was...there was no piano, no guitar, electric guitar.
0:46:58 > 0:47:04The sort of ingredient X which makes it such a stunning record,
0:47:04 > 0:47:07is a piano, by a guy called Paul Griffin,
0:47:07 > 0:47:11who played with Bob Dylan, Dionne Warwick.
0:47:11 > 0:47:13When we were about to record,
0:47:13 > 0:47:18Ed told us that we needn't go into the room yet,
0:47:18 > 0:47:21because he wanted to do a piece with the piano player,
0:47:21 > 0:47:22who'd just showed up.
0:47:22 > 0:47:24He came to me and said, "What am I supposed to do?
0:47:24 > 0:47:27"I don't know how to do... I don't know how to play this."
0:47:27 > 0:47:30I said, "Paul, don't worry about it, you'll figure it out."
0:47:30 > 0:47:34What he did was that he free-associated the, as it were,
0:47:34 > 0:47:35the emotion of the song,
0:47:35 > 0:47:40but also he listened very clearly to the lyrics of the song.
0:47:40 > 0:47:43And, yeah, the song is called American Pie,
0:47:43 > 0:47:47because his piano playing is full of what you might call Americana.
0:47:47 > 0:47:49When he came in and got it,
0:47:49 > 0:47:52he just said, "Man, that was so great." He was pounding the piano.
0:47:52 > 0:47:56But, you know, Ed Freeman found him, thank God.
0:47:56 > 0:48:01It's a music which reaches to the Church, to the backwoods,
0:48:01 > 0:48:06to the honky-tonks, to the Great White Way of Broadway.
0:48:06 > 0:48:07It's all in there.
0:48:07 > 0:48:11When Paul Griffin played the part that he did, it was such a relief
0:48:11 > 0:48:14to me, because finally, I was in the pocket,
0:48:14 > 0:48:16I was in the groove that I wanted.
0:48:16 > 0:48:19I could feel this thing lift up and it was flying,
0:48:19 > 0:48:23like I had imagined it would and how I had heard it in my head.
0:48:23 > 0:48:27WITH PIANO: # Do you believe in rock and roll?
0:48:27 > 0:48:31# Can music save your mortal soul? #
0:48:31 > 0:48:35PIANO AND GUITAR ONLY
0:48:37 > 0:48:41This is just acoustic guitar and Paul playing along.
0:48:44 > 0:48:51And you can hear...this is the kind of miracle that happens in sessions
0:48:51 > 0:48:55that you hope for, but doesn't always happen, obviously.
0:48:55 > 0:48:59The combination just works perfectly,
0:48:59 > 0:49:02and this kind of style that he came up with,
0:49:02 > 0:49:06it's the perfect American Pie piano playing.
0:49:08 > 0:49:13It blew me away, because I had long been a fan of Paul Griffin,
0:49:13 > 0:49:14the pianist.
0:49:14 > 0:49:18He was a great piano player.
0:49:18 > 0:49:21And he shows up and he just plays the hell out of it.
0:49:23 > 0:49:26The piano is the whole game.
0:49:26 > 0:49:27He's all over this thing.
0:49:27 > 0:49:31Very Ray Charles.
0:49:31 > 0:49:34# ..the music died
0:49:34 > 0:49:36# He was singing
0:49:36 > 0:49:39VOCALS ONLY: # Bye-bye, Miss American Pie... #
0:49:39 > 0:49:42In the body of the song, everybody is playing live.
0:49:42 > 0:49:46And there are no splices.
0:49:46 > 0:49:50The rhythm guitar, Don's rhythm guitar, piano, bass, drums,
0:49:50 > 0:49:53electric guitar, they're all playing live.
0:49:53 > 0:49:56There are no splices, there are no overdubs, that's the way it is.
0:49:56 > 0:50:01Now, the beginning of the song, where there's just the piano,
0:50:01 > 0:50:03I think the first verse had 12 splices.
0:50:03 > 0:50:06Don is a free-form kind of performer.
0:50:06 > 0:50:09He doesn't... You can't put a metronome to him.
0:50:09 > 0:50:16So to get the piano and Don, which are both playing in free-form,
0:50:16 > 0:50:20both together perfectly, at the same time,
0:50:20 > 0:50:25we did a few takes and then cut it together
0:50:25 > 0:50:28to make it a single flow.
0:50:28 > 0:50:32Don is a wonderful singer, he was perfectly capable
0:50:32 > 0:50:37of singing it perfectly all the way through the first time.
0:50:37 > 0:50:41If he had wanted to sing it that way, he could have,
0:50:41 > 0:50:44but he didn't want to. He wanted to improvise.
0:50:44 > 0:50:50One of the things that I was doing a lot, when I made American Pie,
0:50:50 > 0:50:55was singing, sort of way out there, sometimes.
0:50:55 > 0:50:57And Ed didn't like that.
0:50:57 > 0:51:01And he was probably right about that.
0:51:01 > 0:51:04VOCAL AND ACOUSTIC GUITAR: # We were singin'
0:51:04 > 0:51:05# Bye-bye, Miss American Pie
0:51:05 > 0:51:09# Drove my Chevy to the levee But the levee was dry
0:51:09 > 0:51:12# And them good old boys were drinkin' whisky and rye
0:51:12 > 0:51:16# Singin' this'll be the day that I di-i-i-i-ie
0:51:16 > 0:51:19# This'll be the day that I die... #
0:51:19 > 0:51:22So I just edited out all his improvisations...er...
0:51:22 > 0:51:28And I think eventually, we sort of arrived at some kind of an agreement
0:51:28 > 0:51:32that that's the way it was going to be done,
0:51:32 > 0:51:37is that he was going to sing it any way he wanted and that was fine,
0:51:37 > 0:51:41and I was going to do anything I wanted to in editing his vocals,
0:51:41 > 0:51:43and that was fine.
0:51:43 > 0:51:46# I was a lonely, teenage broncin' buck
0:51:46 > 0:51:49# With a pink carnation and a pick-up truck
0:51:49 > 0:51:52# But I knew I was out of luck
0:51:52 > 0:51:56# The day the music died... #
0:51:58 > 0:52:00Each time you'd get to the end of "the day the music died",
0:52:00 > 0:52:02that was a different thing that happened that day,
0:52:02 > 0:52:07so that when you got to the chorus, each time, the chorus is enhanced
0:52:07 > 0:52:12by the new information that you've had, by the last verse.
0:52:12 > 0:52:15# And while Lenin read a book on Marx
0:52:15 > 0:52:18# The quartet practised in the park
0:52:18 > 0:52:21# And we sang dirges in the dark
0:52:21 > 0:52:26# The day the music died... #
0:52:27 > 0:52:30And then the next verse does it again, so it builds that way.
0:52:30 > 0:52:34But the group had to play like that also.
0:52:34 > 0:52:37The band had to play and build, and it had to be mixed that way,
0:52:37 > 0:52:40so that it would build. And then it drops down...
0:52:40 > 0:52:43..you know, to this end, which is a dirge,
0:52:43 > 0:52:46it's like, you're standing in an empty street, or standing over,
0:52:46 > 0:52:49you know, someone's gravestone or something
0:52:49 > 0:52:52in some graveyard somewhere quiet,
0:52:52 > 0:52:56thinking about all this stuff that happened.
0:52:56 > 0:52:58So it's a complete, you know, circle.
0:52:58 > 0:53:03When the whole album was finished, I turned to Don's manager and said,
0:53:03 > 0:53:05"That's all very well and good for an album,
0:53:05 > 0:53:07"but what are we going to do for a single?"
0:53:07 > 0:53:10And he said, "Oh, we're going to release American Pie."
0:53:10 > 0:53:12And I said, "You've got to be kidding!"
0:53:12 > 0:53:15There had been long singles before.
0:53:15 > 0:53:18Like A Rolling Stone by Bob Dylan in 1965
0:53:18 > 0:53:21was, I think, about seven minutes long.
0:53:21 > 0:53:25Hey Jude by the Beatles in 1968, much the same.
0:53:25 > 0:53:29It was 8 and a half minutes long, you just don't, not in those days.
0:53:29 > 0:53:31In those days, if you had a record
0:53:31 > 0:53:34that was three minutes and four seconds long,
0:53:34 > 0:53:36you put 2 minutes 57 on the label,
0:53:36 > 0:53:39so that DJs would actually play it,
0:53:39 > 0:53:43because they wouldn't play anything longer than three minutes.
0:53:43 > 0:53:48We had to break it up and put it on two sides of a 45,
0:53:48 > 0:53:50which was an awful idea.
0:53:50 > 0:53:51It was just awful.
0:53:51 > 0:53:57It sort of faded out halfway through the middle of a verse,
0:53:57 > 0:54:02and then reprised on the second side of the 45. It was terrible.
0:54:02 > 0:54:09We actually did get it all on a 45rpm record on one side.
0:54:09 > 0:54:15We did a technical thing called half-speed cutting.
0:54:15 > 0:54:17Then the record company rejected it,
0:54:17 > 0:54:21because the jukeboxes wouldn't play the whole thing -
0:54:21 > 0:54:24they were set to lift the needle out of the record
0:54:24 > 0:54:26at a certain point in time,
0:54:26 > 0:54:32so that the needle wouldn't go into the paper of the record
0:54:32 > 0:54:34and hurt the needle.
0:54:34 > 0:54:37And then, everybody of course went and bought the album,
0:54:37 > 0:54:41so they could hear the song without having to turn the record over.
0:54:41 > 0:54:46I was shocked when it came out and it hit number one instantly.
0:54:46 > 0:54:49The thing about American Pie the single,
0:54:49 > 0:54:52it wasn't just a big hit single, it was a phenomenon.
0:54:52 > 0:54:54I remember in the fall of 1971,
0:54:54 > 0:54:58just the song literally seemed to explode.
0:54:58 > 0:55:03Give people something with tunes and imagination,
0:55:03 > 0:55:05and they will go for it and they will love it.
0:55:05 > 0:55:09American Pie, and American Pie the single specifically,
0:55:09 > 0:55:13propelled him to instant superstardom in 1972.
0:55:13 > 0:55:18Newspapers running stories about the song, about Don McLean.
0:55:18 > 0:55:23Investigative reporters were going out of their way
0:55:23 > 0:55:25to find stories about Don McLean.
0:55:25 > 0:55:30There's stories of them searching his trash, planting women
0:55:30 > 0:55:35in his dressing room - perhaps all the trappings of superstardom.
0:55:35 > 0:55:37If I were to go to a town, I was always on the news,
0:55:37 > 0:55:39I was always on the CBS Evening News.
0:55:39 > 0:55:41I was always... Anything I did was news.
0:55:41 > 0:55:45Um...which was a lot for me to handle.
0:55:45 > 0:55:53When my kids were in grade school, it was part of their English lesson.
0:55:53 > 0:56:00It was actually in the textbooks of the schools in this country.
0:56:00 > 0:56:03The lyrics are fascinating. They are fantastic.
0:56:03 > 0:56:05You know, they are full of sort of culture,
0:56:05 > 0:56:07but also there's a mystery involved. Everybody loves a mystery.
0:56:07 > 0:56:12Who is the jester? What does "eight miles high" mean?
0:56:12 > 0:56:15That particular song was just so historic,
0:56:15 > 0:56:16and all of us, you know,
0:56:16 > 0:56:19paused and wondered what the heck he was talking about.
0:56:19 > 0:56:21We all had our own theories about it.
0:56:21 > 0:56:24And I love that he has never actually said what it was about.
0:56:24 > 0:56:28Don himself has said, "If I actually have to start explaining
0:56:28 > 0:56:30"what a song means, line by line,
0:56:30 > 0:56:32"then it has kind of failed as a song."
0:56:32 > 0:56:37Sometimes just let the mystery resonate, you know?
0:56:37 > 0:56:41American Pie does mean a lot of different things
0:56:41 > 0:56:43to a lot of different people,
0:56:43 > 0:56:48and that's part of the genius of writing what is a hit song.
0:56:48 > 0:56:52You know, people can listen to it and they can get whatever meaning
0:56:52 > 0:56:55out of it they want, whatever suits them.
0:56:55 > 0:56:59The producer Ed Freeman thinks the song told the story
0:56:59 > 0:57:01of America in the 1960s.
0:57:01 > 0:57:05It's like a funeral oration for America
0:57:05 > 0:57:10that allowed the Americans to grieve and to move forward.
0:57:10 > 0:57:13After American Pie came out,
0:57:13 > 0:57:17there was an article about it in Life magazine,
0:57:17 > 0:57:19and two weeks after the article came out,
0:57:19 > 0:57:22there were some letters to the editors about it.
0:57:22 > 0:57:24And one of them came from a woman
0:57:24 > 0:57:30who said that her husband was missing in action in Vietnam,
0:57:30 > 0:57:32- and... - HIS VOICE BREAKS
0:57:34 > 0:57:39..that she used to cry and feel sorry for herself a lot,
0:57:39 > 0:57:44until she heard the full version of American Pie,
0:57:44 > 0:57:49and it made her realise how much we had all lost.
0:57:50 > 0:57:52And, um...
0:57:52 > 0:57:57I think that says it about as well as I've ever heard it said.
0:57:57 > 0:58:00It's the loss of that innocence,
0:58:00 > 0:58:05and the innocence is what died in 1959, when Buddy Holly died.
0:58:05 > 0:58:11Not the music, as such, but what the music meant to him,
0:58:11 > 0:58:17as a sort of idealised innocence of happiness and joy.
0:58:17 > 0:58:19That went.
0:58:19 > 0:58:22Don wanted to do his version of Sgt Pepper,
0:58:22 > 0:58:26and it was supposed to be a concept album.
0:58:26 > 0:58:30And for the life of me, I didn't understand the concept,
0:58:30 > 0:58:34but then, eventually, I did.
0:58:34 > 0:58:38If you look at the lyrics in the songs, it's all about loss.
0:58:38 > 0:58:43It just really made me feel good, and it was just beautiful.
0:58:43 > 0:58:44It's like a symphony.
0:58:44 > 0:58:46That is where I think he's rated,
0:58:46 > 0:58:50I think he is rated along with the greatest songwriters of all time.
0:58:50 > 0:58:54My songs will be around a long, long time from now.
0:58:54 > 0:58:56Because they already have been around almost 50 years.
0:58:56 > 0:59:01And I've been alive for that, so who knows what will happen when I die?
0:59:01 > 0:59:03# And they were singin', what? #
0:59:03 > 0:59:08AUDIENCE SINGS AND CLAPS ALONG: # Bye-bye, Miss American Pie
0:59:08 > 0:59:13# Drove my Chevy to the levee But the levee was dry
0:59:13 > 0:59:17# And them good old boys were drinking whisky and rye
0:59:17 > 0:59:25# Singing this'll be the day that I di-i-i-ie. #
0:59:25 > 0:59:28RAPTUROUS APPLAUSE