American Pie Analysis

In 1971 Don McLean wrote “American Pie” to remember America as an idyllic country in the 1950’s. McLean wanted to give listeners a snapshot of what the 50’s and 60’s was like while touching on a few of the more memorable events of the era, from his perspective, it was a time of fantastic music and great musicians that McLean wanted to pay homage to. “American Pie” had a deep personal meaning to McLean, it was going to be the last album that his producers were authorizing him to record and he wanted to pay his respects to the classic rock age that gave him his initial inspiration to become a musician as well as to memorialize the wholesome values of the 50’s.
During the cynicism of the 1970’s over the Vietnam war, McLean wanted to use his music …show more content…
The Hippie culture was rising all over the country, they rallied for harmony with nature, peace, and love, as well as vocal protesters of the Vietnam war. A large portion of the population was either focused on going to space, since we couldn’t let the Commies of Russia beat the Republic of America or had their heads in the clouds, due to the sheer volume of drugs being consumed during this time, “A generation lost in space / with no time left to start again.” When the plane that was carrying Buddy Holly and the others went down, “I saw Satan laughing with delight / the day the music died.” This signaled the change from a wholesome family lifestyle to the debauchery of the hippie era, with their free love spirit, and copious amounts of drugs, it appeared Satan was winning the battle for our souls. The violence of the riots that appeared to be happening on a weekly basis protesting for civil rights or against the Vietnam war helped push the thought that man was falling for Satan’s temptations compared to just a decade