One of the most controversial yet successful songs of the 20th century, Don McLean wrote and released “American Pie” in 1971. The elegiac composition of the song became a staple of American music and, as the decades have passed, multiple interpretations have been given to the lyrics. Three decades later, “American Pie” remains one of the most debated and dissected songs in the history of popular music.
Recorded on May 26, 1971, “American Pie” was no ordinary song – at eight and a half minutes long, it quickly became a cultural event and, even though many people weren’t entirely sure what it was about, it reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart in a matter of weeks and sold over three million copies. Refusing to discuss the meaning of the lyrics for decades, McLean finally cracked the code in a 2015 interview that preceded the auction for the original manuscript of the iconic song.