Conference mr1pst::music

    
    I guess there isn't much to think about ;-)
    
    He is a true American Pie though ...
    
    Lale
    The True Peach
    

    ...and may i add, if i ever hear that song again, i will probably run
    screaming into the night.....................;')......./k

    
    I didn't imagine this topic would stir too much activity, but he does
    have more that one tune to his credit.  I was trying to come up with
    a decent segue to my real reason for creating the basenote. 8)
    
    I'm looking for an album of his on CD format...  Having already set a
    fire in the CDSWAP Notefile, I figured I try here as well. 8) Unfortunately
    I don't know the title (Tapestry?), but it should contain two songs.  
    "On the Amazon" and "Onomatopoeia".  
     
    Anyone?
    
    Tim

    re .2, me, too!!  Definitely overplayed!  Plus, I never really liked it
    in the first place.
    
    Lorna
    

    
     The album with "Amazon" is titled simply "Don McLean"
    Onomatopoeia is a Todd Rundgren Song.
    
    

re: .5
    
>    Onomatopoeia is a Todd Rundgren Song.
    
John Prine also did a song by that name.

-Hal

    
    I have the album...  someone I work with here said it was called
    Tapestry.  Since I didn't know for sure, I couldn't dispute it.  
    Onomatopoeia may be a Todd Rundgren song, but it's on the Don McLean
    album I mentioned.  
    
    Problem is, I can count the number of times I've used my turn in the 
    past year on one hand and still have digits left. 8)  I want it on CD.
    
    Regards,
    
    Tim 

    ..your  right....american pie isn't the only song don mclean ever
    did...didn't he also do that other 'great' song "vincent"...or as i refer 
    to it as 'music to slash your wrists by'.........;'))............./k

    
    .8 - this "Vincent" song... If van Gogh had lived long enough 
         I'm sure he would have cut off his other ear as well :-)
    
    -maarten.
    

Re: McLean-bashing (lighthearted though it may be)

Personally, I think Don McLean is an extremely talented songwriter, who was
simply unlucky enough to have two songs which made the "play it until it's
dead" list. Both "Vincent" and "American Pie" have been overplayed to such a
degree that it almost demands a new word- I'd be tempted to run the offending
turntables with nothing on them and listen for a ghostly whisper of the words,
to see if their electrical patterns have become imprinted on the audio cables.

Still, when I hear these songs, I recognize the reaction which comes from
the "Oh no, not again!" side, and can with a bit 'o effort recapture the
pensive melancholy which is captured (IMHO) so well in both songs. "Vincent"
does a good job of putting into words a sense of utter isolation, the "stranger
in a strange land" syndrome. "American Pie" is a snapshot of the moment in time
(represented by different things to different people) when the US no longer
saw itself as pure and noble, and symbolically "lost its innocence."

The above paragraph is my own interpretation, your mileage may vary. I just
wanted to attempt to give Don his due as the excellent songwriter which I feel
he is. (If his voice hadn't been so durned mellow, he probably wouldn't have
fallen into the overplay pit!)

Bob

    Why blame the artists for radio stations overplaying their songs?
    What if "And I love you so" had been as overplayed? Then we'd
    really have a reason for cutting ears off! (What happened to the
    bashing topic anyway?)
    
    Henrik

    ...i dont' believe i was bashing him, i was just stating a fact..i will
    run screaming into the night if i ever hear that tune again...which
    says nothing about his talent, just the effect those tunes have on
    me......./k

    re .12, and you won't be alone as you run screaming into the night,
    either.   :-)
    
    Lorna
    

    
    Personally, I like his "Playin' Favorites" album of Bluegrass
    standards.
    
    -Ed
    

    Course the ultimate version of American Pie is on the re-issue 
    (I'm not kidding, its out) CD of the Brady Bunch 'Have a beautiful
    day' album. You wanna talk 'run screaming into the night', this puppy will
    do it.
    

    I liked his version of Roy Orbison's "Cryin'"
    
    S.

    >>>I liked his version of Roy Orbison's "Cryin'"
    
    what about k.d. lang's?
    
    sometimes a song is so good that it is difficult to
    do a bad version.
    
    oops, forgot about michael bolton and 'when a man loves a woman'
    ;-(
    
    willie

>    oops, forgot about michael bolton and 'when a man loves a woman'

    (as long as you brought it up) You mean the one with the NEEDLESS KEY
    MODULATION. Jeez, I hate that. Ever since Stevie Wonder did it in "My
    Cherie Amore", it's been copied. I can just see the guys in the studio
    control room the first time they hear the tune with the modulation in
    it. "Oh yeah. Yup. It's a hit. We're there."

    Talk about another contrivence...

>    oops, forgot about michael bolton and 'when a man loves a woman'


	Yeah, that was a real shame.  A timeless classic raped
	by "Get-a-haircut" Bolton.    

    I think it is too bad that because his two more popular songs were
    so overplayed that his other songs (which personally I like many of)
    suffer or aren't even concidered to be listened to. I find his other 
    songs on the American Pie tape rather relaxing and enjoyable....with
    the exception of Babylon (sp).....Empty Chairs and Winterwood are 
    my favorites...Does he have many more albulms or just Don McLean and
    American Pie???                               
    
                                                   mary

    
    RE: .21
    
    I think "Crossroad" is a classic and the most provoking, go back
    and replay the track tonight, hum, it's great beyond description.
    
    sl.
    

    Can anyone please supply me with the lyrics of "American Pie"?
    Thanks

    RE:23

    And while your at it, could someone explain what heck the lyrics mean ?
    
     Jim

    
    re: .24
    
    It means Don McLean took the death of Buddy Holly really hard.
    
    DFW

re: .24

>    And while your at it, could someone explain what heck the lyrics mean ?
    
Don Mclean has been quoted as saying something to the effect of "It means
I don't ever have to work again if I don't want to."

-Hal

Thank God for that.