American Pie (album)

American Pie
Studio album by Don McLean
Released	October 24, 1971
Recorded	May 1971 – June 1971 at Record Plant Studios, NYC
Genre	Folk, folk rock
Length	36:24
Label	United Artists Records UAS-5535 (original) Liberty Records (1980 reissue) Capitol Records (2003 reissue)
Producer	Ed Freeman
Don McLean chronology
Tapestry (1970)Tapestry1970 American Pie (1971) Don McLean (1972)Don McLean1972
Singles from American Pie
"American Pie" Released: January 15, 1972 "Vincent" Released: June 17, 1972

American Pie is the second studio album by the American singer-songwriter Don McLean, released by United Artists Records on 24 October 1971. The folk/rock album reached number one on the Billboard 200, containing the chart-topping singles "American Pie" and "Vincent." Recorded in May and June 1971 at The Record Plant in New York City, the original 1971 LP is dedicated to Buddy Holly, and was reissued in 1980 minus the track "Sister Fatima". The album was released to much acclaim, later being included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Background

American Pie is McLean’s second album; his first, Tapestry, having been released to only moderate commercial success and acclaim in 1970. McLean was a protégé of Pete Seeger, having played with him in the 1960s. The album American Pie was intended as a unified work, as McLean has said that he was influenced by The Beatles' Sgt Pepper album and envisioned American Pie to be a similar album. Believing that an artist's work should stand by itself, McLean generally did not offer explanations for his work's themes or meaning, though he did describe the title song as involving "a sense of loss". The album was dedicated to Buddy Holly, a childhood icon of McLean's, and was released in 1971 on the heels of the '60s, the defining decade of McLean’s generation. It has a melancholy feel and rather sparse arrangements. At the time of the writing McLean’s first marriage was failing and the optimism and hopefulness of the 1960s was giving way to the nihilism and hedonism of the 1970s.

Production

The title track contains references to the death of Buddy Holly (McLean being a 13-year-old paper-boy at the time). The phrase "The Day the Music Died" was used by McLean on this song, and has now become an unofficial name for the tragedy.

The original United Artists Records inner sleeve featured a free verse poem written by McLean about William Boyd, also known as Hopalong Cassidy, along with a picture of Boyd in full Hopalong regalia. This sleeve was removed within a year of the album's release. The words to this poem appear on a plaque at the hospital where Boyd died. The Boyd poem and picture tribute do appear on a special remastered 2003 CD.

On the original release, the title of the song "Sister Fatima" is misspelled "Sister Faima"

"Babylon" is a close paraphrase of the 137th Psalm, based on the canon "By the Waters of Babylon" by Philip Hayes.

Controversies

There is an often repeated claim that the song "Empty Chairs" was the inspiration for the popular song "Killing Me Softly with His Song". Lori Lieberman, who first recorded the song, claims that she wrote a poem after seeing McLean perform "Empty Chairs" in concert and that co-authors Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel re-worked it into the song, which she later recorded on her debut album. Fox denies this, saying that the song’s lyrical genesis was found in a notebook of Gimbel’s that contained the phrase “Killing me softly with his blues”, which he had saved as a possible lyrical idea. They updated the phrase and wrote the song which, Fox contends, Lieberman liked and said reminded her of watching McLean perform. A contemporaneous newspaper article, has a third version of the story that sits somewhere between the two. In it, Gimbel asserts that Lieberman came to him and described her strong emotional reaction to hearing McLean sing. He thought this was a good song idea and went back to his notebooks for the phrase he liked, “killing me softly with his blues”. One of them suggested changing the last word to “song” and Fox and Gimbel, using this as inspiration, went on to write the hit.

Another controversy concerns the final chorus of "American Pie", and the "West Forty Fourth Street Rhythm and Noise Choir" who sang multi-tracked overdubs. The producer, Ed Freeman, claims that choir included Pete Seeger, James Taylor, Livingston Taylor and Carly Simon. On his website, Don McLean denies that this is true.

Production

The album was recorded in Studio A at The Record Plant on West 44th street in New York City. The producer, Ed Freeman, decided to use accomplished musicians who were not "studio musicians who could act like a metronome" because he wanted to capture the feel of a "band that was really cooking," so he rented a rehearsal studio and they rehearsed the title song for two weeks before they recorded it. Because McLean rarely phrased his singing the same way twice there were as many as 24 takes for some of the voice parts, but the rhythm tracks are mostly one take.

Release and reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Robert Christgau	D+

The Album reached number 1 within two weeks of release and was certified gold within 6 months, spending almost a year on the Billboard Album Charts. Its appeal cut across genres, in what was becoming a fragmented music scene.

Reissue

The album was reissued in 1980 without the song "Sister Fatima", and again on June 27, 2003 with the track restored, along with the addition of two bonus tracks.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Don McLean except where noted. 

No.	Title	Length
1.	"American Pie"	8:33
2.	"Till Tomorrow"	2:11
3.	"Vincent"	3:55
4.	"Crossroads"	3:34
5.	"Winterwood"	3:09
6.	"Empty Chairs"	3:24
7.	"Everybody Loves Me, Baby"	3:37
8.	"Sister Fatima"	2:31
9.	"The Grave"	3:08
10.	"Babylon" (Trad., arr. Hays and McLean)	1:40

2003 Capitol Records Reissue Bonus Tracks
No.	Title	Length
11.	"Mother Nature"	5:10
12.	"Aftermath"	4:03

Personnel

• Don McLean – vocals, acoustic guitar, banjo
• Warren Bernhardt – piano ("Crossroads")
• Ray Colcord – electric piano
• Tom Flye – drums ("The Grave"), engineering
• Ed Freeman – string arrangements
• Paul Griffin – piano ("American Pie")
• Lee Hays – arranger
• Mike Mainieri – marimba, vibraphone
• Roy Markowitz – drums, percussion
• Gene Orloff – concertmaster
• Bob Rothstein – bass, vocals
• David Spinozza – electric guitar ("American Pie")
• West Forty Fourth Street Rhythm and Noise Choir – chorus

Chart positions

Chart (1972)	Peak position
Billboard 200	1
Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart	1

References

Preceded by Music by Carole King	Billboard 200 number-one album January 22, 1972 – March 10, 1972	Succeeded by Harvest by Neil Young
Preceded by Imagine by John Lennon	Australian Kent Music Report number-one album April 3, 1972 – June 18, 1972	Succeeded by Harvest by Neil Young