Don McLean

American singer-songwriter

Donald "Don" McLean III (born 2 October 1945) is an American singer-songwriter most famous for his 1971 songs "American Pie" and "Vincent".

A long long time ago
I can still remember how that music used to make me smile
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And maybe they'd be happy for a while…

Quotes

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Song lyrics

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Every thread of creation is held in position
By still other strands of things living.
 
I guess they understand
How lonely life has been
But life began again
The day you took my hand.
  • And if she asks you why,
    You can tell her that I told you
    That I'm tired of castles in the air.
    I've got a dream I want the world to share,
    And castle walls just lead me to despair.

    Hills of forest green where the mountains touch the sky,
    A dream come true, I'll live there till I die.
    I'm asking you to say my last goodbye.
    The love we knew ain't worth another try.

    • "Castles in the Air"
  • Every thread of creation is held in position
    By still other strands of things living.

    In an earthly tapestry hung from the skyline
    Of smouldering cities so gray and so vulgar,
    As not to be satisfied with their own negativity
    But needing to touch all the living as well.
    • "Tapestry"
  • And I love you so
    The people ask me how
    How I've lived till now
    I tell them I don't know.

    I guess they understand
    How lonely life has been
    But life began again
    The day you took my hand.

 
I can't remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride
But something touched me deep inside
The Day the Music Died.
 
Do you recall what was revealed
The Day the Music Died?
 
Oh, and as I watched him on the stage
My hands were clenched in fists of rage
No angel born in hell
Could break that Satan's spell…
 
I saw Satan laughing with delight
The day the music died.
  • A long long time ago
    I can still remember how that music used to make me smile

    And I knew if I had my chance
    That I could make those people dance
    And maybe they'd be happy for a while.
    But February made me shiver
    With every paper I'd deliver
    Bad news on the doorstep
    I couldn't take one more step
    I can't remember if I cried
    When I read about his widowed bride
    But something touched me deep inside
    The Day the Music Died.
  • Do you recall what was revealed
    The day the music died?
  • So come on, Jack be nimble, Jack be quick
    Jack Flash sat on a candlestick
    'Cause fire is the Devil's only friend
    Oh, and as I watched him on the stage
    My hands were clenched in fists of rage
    No angel born in hell
    Could break that Satan's spell

    And as the flames climbed high into the night
    To light the sacrificial rite
    I saw Satan laughing with delight
    The day the music died.
  • I met a girl who sang the blues
    And I asked her for some happy news
    But she just smiled and turned away
    I went down to the sacred store
    Where I'd heard the music years before
    But the man there said the music woudn't play
    And in the streets the children screamed
    The lovers cried, and the poets dreamed
    But not a word was spoken
    The church bells all were broken
    And the three men I admire most
    The Father, Son and the Holy Ghost
    They caught the last train for the coast
    The day the music died.
A song inspired by Vincent van Gogh and his painting The Starry Night - YouTube video
 
Now I understand what you tried to say to me
How you suffered for your sanity How you tried to set them free
They would not listen they did not know how, perhaps they'll listen now...
 
I could have told you, Vincent,
This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you.
  • Starry starry night,
    Paint your palette blue and grey
    Look out on a summer's day with eyes that know the darkness in my soul
  • Now I understand what you tried to say to me
    How you suffered for your sanity
    How you tried to set them free
    They would not listen
    They did not know how,
    Perhaps they'll listen now.
  • Weathered faces lined in pain
    Are soothed beneath the artist's loving hand.
    For they could not love you,
    But still your love was true
    And when no hope was left in sight, on that starry starry night
    You took your life as lovers often do,
    But I could have told you, Vincent,
    This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you.
  • Now I think I know what you tried to say to me
    How you suffered for your sanity
    How you tried to set them free
    They would not listen
    They're not listening still...
    Perhaps they never will...
 
I feel like a spinning top or a Dreidel
The spinning don't stop when you leave the cradle
You just slow down
  • I feel like a spinning top or a Dreidel
    The spinning don't stop when you leave the cradle
    You just slow down

    Round and around this world you go
    Spinning through the lives of the people you know
    We all slow down.
    • Dreidel
  • No days you can borrow, no time you can buy.
    No trust in tomorrow. It's a lie.
    • Dreidel
  • Faces come and faces go in circular rotation.
    But something yearns within to grow beyond infatuation.
    • If We Try
  • Wonderful baby, nothin' to fear.
    Love whom you will, but doubt what you hear.
    They'll whisper sweet things to make untrue.
    So be good to yourself, that's all you can do.

    You're a wonderful baby livin' on love
    The sandman says maybe he'll take you above,
    Up where the girls fly on ribbons and bows,
    Where babies float by, just counting their toes.

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