What is your interpretation of Bye Bye Miss American Pie?”
And that’s all it would be is one person’s interpretation of the song, since singer/songwriter Don McLean has steadfastly refused to answer the question, “What’s it all about?” However, he has given some clues, such as stating that it was inspired by a childhood incident. Obviously, that incident was the Clear Lake, Iowa plane crash that took the lives of Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens (“The day the music died.”) So, the rest of it is pure speculation. I’m not going to bore you with putting the lyrics on here – you can read those on someone else’s answer, I’m sure. Basically, as I see it, the song is a musical journey through Don McLean’s formative years and into the years of his young adulthood, when he would ultimately write, record and make millions off of “American Pie.” You have references to ’60’s groups such as the Beatles, the Byrds, the Rolling Stones, singers such as Bob Dylan, Elvis, and Janis Joplin. The Beatles and Byrds are referenced in the line “Helter
