Verse 1 referencing 1959 was definitely before my time. Verse 5 is indisputably 1969. Anyhow 50 years sure goes by quickly nowadays. <div><br></div><div><span style="font-size:16px;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Lato,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">“In February 2015, McLean announced he would reveal the meaning of the lyrics to the song when the original manuscript went for auction in </span><a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City" title="New York City" style="font-size:16px;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Lato,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;background-image:none;color:rgb(107,75,161)">New York City</a><span style="font-size:16px;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Lato,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">, in April 2015. </span><span style="font-size:16px;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Lato,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">The lyrics and notes were auctioned on April 7, and sold for $1.2 million. </span><span style="font-size:16px;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Lato,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">In the sale catalogue notes, McLean revealed the meaning in the song's lyrics: "Basically in American Pie things are heading in the wrong direction. ... It [life] is becoming less idyllic. I don't know whether you consider that wrong or right but it is a morality song in a sense." </span><span style="font-size:16px;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Lato,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">The catalogue confirmed some of the better known references in the song's lyrics, including mentions of </span><a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley" title="Elvis Presley" style="font-size:16px;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Lato,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;background-image:none;color:rgb(107,75,161)">Elvis Presley</a><span style="font-size:16px;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Lato,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> ("the king") and </span><a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Dylan" title="Bob Dylan" style="font-size:16px;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Lato,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;background-image:none;color:rgb(107,75,161)">Bob Dylan</a><span style="font-size:16px;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Lato,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> ("the jester"), and confirmed that the song culminates with a near-verbatim description of the </span><a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Meredith_Hunter" title="Death of Meredith Hunter" style="font-size:16px;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Lato,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;background-image:none;color:rgb(107,75,161)">death of Meredith Hunter</a><span style="font-size:16px;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Lato,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> at the </span><a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altamont_Free_Concert" title="Altamont Free Concert" style="font-size:16px;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Lato,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;background-image:none;color:rgb(107,75,161)">Altamont Free Concert</a><span style="font-size:16px;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Lato,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">, ten years after the plane crash that killed Holly, Valens, and Richardson.”</span><div style="font-family:UICTFontTextStyleBody;font-size:17px"><font color="#222222" face="-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Segoe UI, Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" size="3"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2);"><br></span></font></div><div style="font-family:UICTFontTextStyleBody;font-size:17px"><a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Pie_(song)">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Pie_(song)</a></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" style="font-family:-webkit-standard"><br>On Friday, December 6, 2019, Ron Force <<a href="mailto:ronforce@gmail.com">ronforce@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small">No, this was the reference in the song:</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small"><br></div><div class="gmail_default"><div lang="en-US" style="font-size:14px;clear:none;padding-top:0px;font-family:Roboto,arial,sans-serif"><div style="padding:16px 16px 4px"><div style="font-size:32px;line-height:1.25;margin-bottom:5px">February 3, 1959</div><div style="color:rgb(135,135,135)"></div></div></div><div lang="en-US" style="clear:none;padding-left:16px;padding-right:16px;font-family:Roboto,arial,sans-serif"><div style="font-size:14px;overflow:hidden;padding-bottom:20px"><span style="font-size:16px;line-height:1.375"><span style="padding:0px 8px 0px 0px">The Day the Music Died at 60: Remembering rock and roll's biggest tragedy. On <b>February 3, 1959</b>, the music world was shocked when American rock and roll stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and JP 'The Big Bopper' Richardson were killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, along with pilot Roger Peterson.</span></span><span style="display:inline-block;color:rgb(112,117,122);font-size:12px;line-height:1.33;white-space:nowrap">Feb 3, 2019</span></div><div style="overflow:hidden;padding-bottom:20px"><span style="display:inline-block;color:rgb(112,117,122);line-height:1.33;white-space:nowrap"><a href="https://www.smoothradio.com/news/music/day-the-music-died-buddy-holly-plane-crash/" target="_blank">https://www.smoothradio.com/<wbr>news/music/day-the-music-died-<wbr>buddy-holly-plane-crash/</a><br></span></div><div style="overflow:hidden;padding-bottom:20px"><span style="display:inline-block;color:rgb(112,117,122);line-height:1.33;white-space:nowrap">I was a senior in high school near there.  You were probably too young to remember 😀</span></div></div></div><div><div dir="ltr" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><font size="2">Ron Force<br>Moscow Idaho USA</font></div></div></div><br></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri, Dec 6, 2019 at 10:22 AM Scott Dredge <<a href="mailto:sdredge408@gmail.com" target="_blank">sdredge408@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div>50 years ago today: verse 5 of American Pie. The Day the Music Died at the notorious Altamont Free Concert.</div><div>“No Angel born in Hell, could break that Satan’s spell” - Don McLean</div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://allthatsinteresting.com/altamont-speedway-free-concert" target="_blank">https://allthatsinteresting.<wbr>com/altamont-speedway-free-<wbr>concert</a></div><div><br></div>
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