Vincent (song)

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"Vincent"
Single by Don McLean
from the album American Pie
B-side Castles In The Air
Released June 17, 1971
Recorded May 1971
Genre Folk, baroque pop
Length 4:03
Label United Artists Records, BGO Records
Writer(s) Don McLean
Producer(s) Ed Freeman
Don McLean singles chronology
"American Pie"
(1971)		 "Vincent"
(1972)		 "Dreidel" (1973)

"Vincent" is a song by Don McLean written as a tribute to Vincent van Gogh. It is also known by its opening line, "Starry Starry Night", a reference to Van Gogh's painting The Starry Night. The song also describes different paintings done by the artist. It was created on the 100th anniversary of the midpoint of Van Gogh's life.

McLean wrote the lyrics in 1971 after reading a book about the life of the artist.[1] The following year, the song became the number one hit in the UK Singles Chart[2] and No. 12 in the US.[3] Coincidentally, it spent 12 weeks on the HOT 100. In the US, "Vincent" also peaked at number two on the Easy Listening chart.[4] Billboard ranked it as the No. 94 song for 1972.[5]

The song makes use of the accordion, vibraphone, strings, and guitar.

In 2000, PBS aired Don McLean: Starry, Starry Night, a concert special that was filmed in Austin, Texas.

Production

McLean said the following about the genesis of the song:

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“In the autumn of 1970 I had a job singing in the school system, playing my guitar in classrooms. I was sitting on the veranda one morning, reading a biography of Van Gogh, and suddenly I knew I had to write a song arguing that he wasn’t crazy. He had an illness and so did his brother Theo. This makes it different, in my mind, to the garden variety of 'crazy’ – because he was rejected by a woman [as was commonly thought]. So I sat down with a print of Starry Night and wrote the lyrics out on a paper bag.”[6]

Song interpretation

Van Gogh's painting "Starry Night"

The song clearly demonstrates a deep-seated admiration for not only the work of Van Gogh, but also for the man himself. The song includes references to his landscape works, in lines such as "sketch the trees and the daffodils" and "morning fields of amber grain" which describe the amber wheat that features in several paintings. There are also several lines that may allude to Van Gogh's self-portraits: perhaps in "weathered faces lined in pain / are soothed beneath the artist's loving hand", McLean is suggesting that Van Gogh may have found some sort of consolation in creating portraits of himself. However, this line may also refer to Van Gogh's painting "The Potato Eaters", which depicts a hard-working Dutch farming family sitting in semi-darkness and eating their meager meal. There is, too, a single line describing Van Gogh's most famous set of works, Sunflowers. "flaming flowers that brightly blaze" not only draws on the luminous orange and yellow colours of the painting, but also creates powerful images of the sun itself, flaming and blazing, being contained within the flowers and the painting.

In the first two choruses, McLean pays tribute to Van Gogh by reflecting on his lack of recognition: "They would not listen / they did not know how / perhaps they'll listen now." In the final chorus, McLean says "They would not listen / they're not listening still / perhaps they never will." This is the story of Van Gogh: unrecognised as an artist until after his death. The lyrics suggest that Van Gogh was trying to "set [people] free" with the message in his work. McLean feels that this message was made clear to him: "And now I understand what you tried to say to me," he sings. Perhaps it is this eventual understanding that inspired McLean to write the song.

There are also references to Van Gogh's sanity and his suicide. Throughout his life, Van Gogh was plagued with mental disorders, particularly depression. He "suffered for [his] sanity" and eventually "took [his] life as lovers often do."

Critical reception

The Telegraph wrote "With its bittersweet palette of major and minor chords, Vincent’s soothing melody is one of high emotion recollected in tranquillity".[6] Allmusic described the song as " McLean's paean to Van Gogh... sympathiz[ing] with Van Gogh's suicide as a sane comment on an insane world. "[7] The site also said McLean performs "a particularly poignant rendition of "Vincent" " on the live album Starry Starry Night.[8]

Covers

Use in popular culture

References

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  5. ↑ Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1972
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  9. ↑ Booklet from Ramalama Music Spain CD RO 53802 "Karina Vol. 3 Sus cuatro primeros albumes en Hispavox (1970-1974)" 2007
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External links

Preceded by UK Singles Chart number one single
June 17, 1972 (2 weeks)		 Succeeded by
"Take Me Bak 'Ome" by Slade
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