American Pie and Semiotics

Reading about semiotics and symbolism immediately brought me to Don McLeon's American Pie. Largely considered one of the most symbolic songs in music history, American Pie was composed in 1971 and quickly rose to fame in numerous countries around the globe.

For years people speculated and theorized on what sort of things "the day the music died," and bye-bye miss american pie," meant. Semiotologists and Symbologists have also studied this song immensly for its innumerable meanings. If you Google conspiracies associated with American Pie you will find people's various interpretations of the song, but they range from sexual symbolism to historical. . This website however, is completely dedicated to Don's original meaning he released in various press reviews.

The song, contrary to some belief, is a symbolism of America's loss of innocence. It details the tragic plane crash of February 1959 in a more concrete way. "Bye bye miss american pie," is an abstract symbol for the cherry pie of America's innocence. The Levee Don sings of is also an abstract symbol, representing a reservoir of love and happiness he had towards a lover and his country. As the various tragic incidences happen, including his lover leaving him, the levee dries up and he is left dry.

Later verses speak of more love lost, as well as new great musicians rising. At this point in the song the names of those musicians are indexed. The Beatles are compared with Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley showing that innocence is leaving. The Rolling Stones and their internal turmoil is mentioned as well. The tragic climax of the song speaks of how revolution and war is upon the nation. The new music being released by bands such as the Rolling Stones isn't what music should be like. It speaks of anarchy and revolution and music should bring people together. "Jack Flash" was a reference to the song by The Rolling Stones in which the "protagonist plays with fire to boast freedom." He references this song and uses its name as a sort of connotation symbolizing the recreational drug usage increasing and the new lifestyles sweeping the nation as well as the innocence of america burning to boast freedom.

The final verses of the song detail Don remembering his past before it turned to chaos in the new generation. More respectable musicians died such as Jimmi Hendrix and Jim Morrison. He returned to the shop he used to buy music from before the plane crash that killed his musical idols in 1959, but all he found was the new soulless music. "The Three Men I admire most, the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost, caught the last train for the coast," simply act as an index saying the the religion and goodness left and headed elsewhere, and so he must too, because the music he so longed for was dead. The music Don longed to listened to was also a symbol of his home, and so the day the music died was the day he became homeless and died.

The song itself is a connotation.