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ELECTRIC GUITAR PLAYS
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# A long, long time ago
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# I can still remember
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# How that music used to make me smile... #
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Today is February 3rd,
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the day Buddy Holly's plane crashed, and for no particular...
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..we didn't plan it this way, no particular reason,
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we were in the studio looking at this album,
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um,
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which certainly has as its inspiration
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the things that happened on this day to Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper,
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and Ritchie Valens.
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# Bad news on the doorstep... #
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It was something that mattered to me a lot,
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and I kept it inside for years.
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# I can't remember if I cried
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# When I read about his widowed bride
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# But something touched me deep inside
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# The day the music died. #
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An album about America,
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an album about love
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and falling out of love, beautiful songwriting,
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beautiful songs.
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In 1971, when Don McLean came on the scene,
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he spoke about things that no other singer songwriter
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at that time was, I mean,
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no-one else was writing about - Vincent, American Pie.
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We all realised that this was a masterpiece.
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It was a very moving thing.
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We listened to that and we said, "Wow."
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# Starry, starry night
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# Flaming flowers that brightly blaze... #
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American Pie is classic American pop.
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Buddy Holly-influenced,
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but right down the middle of the heart of American pop.
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And he was taking the genre to a new place.
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# And for the first time I'm discovering
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# The things I used to treasure... #
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It's quite a lopsided record,
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because any album which contains two of the biggest, most iconic,
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not just songs, but hit singles of all time.
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And then a number of songs which most people,
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you wouldn't actually know what they were.
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But it is a masterpiece of record production.
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# And I wonder if you know
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# That I never understood
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# That although you said you'd go
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# Until you did I never thought you would. #
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A genius songwriter,
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a man with an amazing voice, amazing musician and amazing songs.
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# Bye-bye, Miss American Pie,
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# Drove my Chevy to the levee
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# But the levee was dry
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# Them good old boys were drinking whisky and rye
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# Singing this'll be the day that I die. #
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CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
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Right, here's my voice, starting the song Vincent.
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# Starry, starry night
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# Paint your palette blue and grey... #
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I think I must have sung this 30 or 40 times before the perfect take,
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with my vibrato, my pitch, and everything else,
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they didn't have the machines that would pitch your voice
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and put it in tune.
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They didn't have all this stuff that they do now
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to make lousy singers sound like they can sing.
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You know, the studio was a world of truth.
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You either were good or you weren't.
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It told the truth back to you. Like photography told you the truth.
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Now it's Photoshop.
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I'd read a number of books about Van Gogh in my life,
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but this particular one made me want to write a song about him.
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And then, once that occurred,
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the fun part was, you know, how to do it.
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You know...
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# There once was a painter... #
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You know, you've got to...
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There's a thousand ways to go about this, you know.
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And... So I looked at the Van Gogh painting,
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Starry Night, which is his most famous painting, I guess,
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and tried to get this swirling feeling going with the lyrics.
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# Starry, starry night
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# Flaming flowers that brightly blaze
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# Swirling clouds in violet haze
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# Reflecting Vincent's eyes of China blue
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# Colours changing hue... #
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When I was about 12 years old,
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I was just watching an episode of the Simpsons,
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and Vincent came on one day.
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And I was just like, "Wow, what is that song?"
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I had no interest in music before or anything like that.
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And so I went away and found out what it was,
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and I just couldn't stop playing it for some reason. I don't know why.
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And I didn't even start playing guitar at that point, I think.
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That kind of opened the door for me.
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# Starry, starry night... #
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CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
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# Paint your palette blue and grey
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# Look out on a summer's day
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# With eyes that know the darkness in my soul
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# Shadows on the hills
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# Sketch the trees and the daffodils
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# Catch the breeze and the winter chills
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# In colours on the snowy linen land... #
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And that song is written in the form,
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exactly like a popular song of the 1940s would be.
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It's two verses, a bridge, and a verse, with a chorus.
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When we did the album, I felt that Vincent was the diamond.
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I just thought it was just so beautiful, and it is.
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It is just a beautiful song. It's a beautiful poem.
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I was stunned by the beauty of that song.
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You know, by the standards of the day, it wasn't a single.
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It's a masterpiece.
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It deserves to be a hit, but it didn't sound like a hit.
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1971 was the year of Carole King's Tapestry.
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And Neil Young, Harvest.
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We are dealing with a point in time
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where the Beatles have just broken up,
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so we are starting to deal with solo Beatles very slowly.
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You had a series of deaths,
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Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin,
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Jim Morrison of The Doors, Brian Jones.
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James Taylor was very hot, you know,
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and was doing some beautiful work
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with those first two or three records that he made.
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Elton John became a huge star that year.
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And certainly Cat Stevens was emerging,
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and that whole idea of the singer songwriter
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where the performer not only performed the music,
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but also wrote the song and expressed themselves.
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Very folky kinds of music, I think.
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Very acoustic kinds of music.
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That is what I was drawn to,
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and that's where I believe Don came out of.
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I found an album called Bird On A Wire
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which was a Tim Hardin record,
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which was produced by a man named Ed Freeman,
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so I said, "I want Ed Freeman." Because I liked that.
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There was a certain elegant sound. I thought it was elegant.
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Ed Freeman would put a lot of things on a recording,
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and would blend some of those things very subtly.
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The album that changed my life was Rubber Soul,
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and I thought, "You know, OK, all restrictions are off.
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"You can put any instrument on any song and you can get away with it."
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This is what it sounded like when we recorded the whole...
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This is everything we put in the song.
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# Now I understand... #
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There's a harpsichord, there is a piano, there is an oboe,
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four tracks of marimba, strings, there is a harp.
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There is everything but the kitchen sink in there.
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So we recorded all that,
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and then we took it all back out.
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But the thing is, that we had to record all these things
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to find the few things that worked.
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# Now I understand... #
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See, everything about the record is dictated by the guitar.
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I was a guitarist. Um...
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And I was a good guitarist,
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and so I was very, very judgmental
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about other people's guitar playing.
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And I thought Don's finger picking was good.
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But I did not like his rhythm guitar playing.
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It was a big, major thing, you know,
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he was very condescending about my guitar playing.
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I had worked with other musicians at Columbia, and I just, you know,
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took the instrument out of their hands physically.
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Just walked into the studio
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and took the guitar out of their hand
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and said, "OK, you're not playing any more.
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"Go away."
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"We'll get a professional in here." I said, "You're looking at him."
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And that started right off on the wrong foot.
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This is where he fell down terribly as a producer.
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You are there to make things good.
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You know, "That was great, Don, you sang so great. Try one more time."
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You know? "See if we can do this. Everything was great."
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Rather than, "Yeah, I don't like that. That's not good."
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That's how you kill a groove right away.
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I wish I had been more supportive than I was. Um...
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I wish I had known how to deal with
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a delicate artist's ego
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a little bit better than I did.
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I don't think I was very good at doing that.
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There was a lot of artistry that went into this album,
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and a bunch of arguing also,
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but it turned out OK.
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But, see, the thing sounds complete with just the voice and guitar.
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And in my mind, when I hear the record, think about the record,
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it's basically voice and guitar until the bridge,
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when I hear the marimba,
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which was a brilliant idea to have that in there.
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One of the first songs that I played on was Vincent.
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I think we experimented with me playing vibraphone first,
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because I am mainly a vibraphonist.
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I thought that we should try it on marimba.
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The marimba is an ancient instrument, really.
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It is an African instrument, and, you know,
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it has a very, very low register.
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And the bars are made out of rosewood, African rosewood.
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And so it has this, like an ancient sound to it.
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This really beautiful sort of lush...
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# Now I understand
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# What you tried to say to me
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# How you suffered for your sanity
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# And how you tried to set them free
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# They would not listen
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# They did not know how
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# Perhaps they'll listen now... #
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Initially, I wrote an arrangement for strings
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that went through the entire song.
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What I wanted to get into the Vincent song
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and the record was wind, air, circling.
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This kind of, like the air flowing through a window
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when you see the curtains flutter.
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In mixing, Don insisted that we leave the strings out
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until the very end.
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And this was one of our...
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..one of our heated discussions,
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and I have to admit that he was right.
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He was absolutely right.
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It works perfectly that the strings come in at the very end.
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And that's what he did, with those strings at the end.
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It's like the wind suddenly comes through the window.
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You know, that's how I think about it when I hear it.
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You know, I'm singing the last part and it becomes just so beautiful.
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STRINGS PLAY # Now I think I know
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# What you tried to say to me
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# And how you suffered for your sanity
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# And how you tried to set them free
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# They would not listen
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# They're not listening still
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# Perhaps they never will. #
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If you are a good songwriter, every now and then
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you'll come across something that is alive. This is alive.
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For a long, long, time before my father died,
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I was sick at home with asthma.
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I would get this in the spring, I would get it in the fall,
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and I would be home for a month, way behind in school.
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Didn't have a lot of friends.
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Couldn't get along with people. I was used to doing things my own way.
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So I started to fall in love with records and music and radio.
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Because I had a lot of time on my hands when you are sick, you know.
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I think the big thing that happened was the guitar
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and the five-string banjo later on.
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My father basically had a heart attack right in front of me.
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Late at night, like, one in the morning,
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and I had to call the ambulance,
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call the police, and he didn't want me to do that.
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Basically, I took over.
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And he was always a very authoritarian, Scottish,
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you know, he ruled.
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All of a sudden, he said, "Don't call the police."
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I said, "I'm calling the police. I'm calling the ambulance right now."
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You know, I said, "You lay down on the bed." I was in charge.
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15 years old.
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00:15:17,320 --> 00:15:20,280
From that point on, I have been in charge.
256
00:15:20,280 --> 00:15:23,720
And... So he...
257
00:15:23,720 --> 00:15:25,480
Ha!
258
00:15:25,480 --> 00:15:27,680
He had a smile.
259
00:15:27,680 --> 00:15:31,200
He was all wrapped up... He was on his stretcher,
260
00:15:31,200 --> 00:15:32,520
and they were taking him out.
261
00:15:32,520 --> 00:15:34,520
He wasn't going to live but a few more hours,
262
00:15:34,520 --> 00:15:36,720
but he looked up at me and he smiled.
263
00:15:36,720 --> 00:15:38,080
And he said, "You are a man now."
264
00:15:38,080 --> 00:15:39,920
HE LAUGHS
265
00:15:39,920 --> 00:15:43,960
# The grave that they dug him had flowers
266
00:15:43,960 --> 00:15:48,560
# Gathered from the hillsides in bright summer colours
267
00:15:48,560 --> 00:15:51,680
# And the brown earth bleached white
268
00:15:51,680 --> 00:15:54,200
# At the edge of his gravestone
269
00:15:54,200 --> 00:15:56,960
# He's gone
270
00:15:56,960 --> 00:15:59,600
# But eternity knows him
271
00:15:59,600 --> 00:16:03,640
# And it knows what we've done... #
272
00:16:04,680 --> 00:16:06,160
The Grave was a dream.
273
00:16:07,880 --> 00:16:10,200
You know, I mean, I had the...
274
00:16:10,200 --> 00:16:12,480
I, along with millions of other young men,
275
00:16:12,480 --> 00:16:16,680
I had the war in Vietnam nipping at our heels all through the '60s.
276
00:16:16,680 --> 00:16:23,280
By 1971, it was absolutely clear that the Vietnam War was a disaster.
277
00:16:23,280 --> 00:16:25,640
And all America could do was to try
278
00:16:25,640 --> 00:16:29,000
to get out. As their President said, "Peace with honour."
279
00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:31,480
Which basically meant we need to extricate ourselves
280
00:16:31,480 --> 00:16:33,600
without looking too bad about it.
281
00:16:33,600 --> 00:16:36,240
I just lucked out. I was the only guy to come back on the bus
282
00:16:36,240 --> 00:16:38,640
that day from New York.
283
00:16:38,640 --> 00:16:40,280
Everybody else went in the army.
284
00:16:43,080 --> 00:16:45,920
Because I had this asthma, you know, they kept me away from school
285
00:16:45,920 --> 00:16:48,440
all those years and doctors' letters,
286
00:16:48,440 --> 00:16:50,680
and the guy said, "You're out."
287
00:16:50,680 --> 00:16:53,160
I said, "Huh? What? I'm out?"
288
00:16:53,160 --> 00:16:57,600
He dreamt about a soldier and his experience at the front line.
289
00:16:57,600 --> 00:17:00,240
This soldier lost his life.
290
00:17:00,240 --> 00:17:03,280
A kid that I had gone to high school with,
291
00:17:03,280 --> 00:17:07,280
a young Irish kid, nice boy, came into the bar that night,
292
00:17:07,280 --> 00:17:09,760
and said, "Yay, boy, we are going over to Vietnam."
293
00:17:09,760 --> 00:17:11,520
And he got killed, like, right away.
294
00:17:11,520 --> 00:17:15,640
# When the wars of our nation did beckon
295
00:17:15,640 --> 00:17:19,960
# A lad barely 20 did answer the calling
296
00:17:19,960 --> 00:17:23,640
# Proud of the trust that he placed in our nation
297
00:17:23,640 --> 00:17:24,920
# He's gone.
298
00:17:26,680 --> 00:17:32,440
# I'll cover myself with the mud and the earth
299
00:17:32,440 --> 00:17:35,400
# I'll cover myself
300
00:17:35,400 --> 00:17:38,240
# I know I'm not brave
301
00:17:38,240 --> 00:17:41,960
# The earth, the earth
302
00:17:41,960 --> 00:17:45,240
# The earth is my grave... #
303
00:17:45,240 --> 00:17:46,280
Now the guitar...
304
00:17:46,280 --> 00:17:50,360
ACOUSTIC GUITAR PLAYS
305
00:17:53,600 --> 00:17:55,400
You must have release, you know,
306
00:17:55,400 --> 00:17:58,680
you have tension and release in music.
307
00:17:58,680 --> 00:18:02,560
You also have to start quiet in order to get loud.
308
00:18:02,560 --> 00:18:05,440
That is something I had to learn. You can't be loud all the time.
309
00:18:05,440 --> 00:18:09,480
If you start quiet, and then you build, you have dynamics.
310
00:18:09,480 --> 00:18:14,800
The Grave didn't become the anthem for the anti-Vietnam protest.
311
00:18:14,800 --> 00:18:18,280
The song's time certainly came in 2003.
312
00:18:18,280 --> 00:18:21,920
George Michael wanted to record that song as a protest
313
00:18:21,920 --> 00:18:24,680
for the American-led invasion of Iraq.
314
00:18:24,680 --> 00:18:26,600
He was the only one that did.
315
00:18:26,600 --> 00:18:29,040
You know, nobody else did anything.
316
00:18:29,040 --> 00:18:33,600
They had us so completely cowered by that Patriot Act,
317
00:18:33,600 --> 00:18:39,200
and fearing that if anybody really was vocal and protested,
318
00:18:39,200 --> 00:18:42,120
they could end up in some, you know,
319
00:18:42,120 --> 00:18:45,600
maximum security prison, and you would never hear from them again.
320
00:18:45,600 --> 00:18:47,400
Don phoned me up and he said,
321
00:18:47,400 --> 00:18:50,200
"Alan, you've got to watch Top Of The Pops tonight.
322
00:18:50,200 --> 00:18:53,240
"George Michael is going to sing my song, The Grave."
323
00:18:53,240 --> 00:18:59,480
# But the silence of night was shattered by fire
324
00:18:59,480 --> 00:19:01,960
# As guns and grenades
325
00:19:01,960 --> 00:19:04,360
# Blasted sharp through the air
326
00:19:05,760 --> 00:19:11,080
# One after another his comrades were slaughtered
327
00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:14,600
# In a morgue of marines
328
00:19:14,600 --> 00:19:17,800
# Alone, standing there
329
00:19:17,800 --> 00:19:19,720
# He crouched ever lower
330
00:19:19,720 --> 00:19:22,880
# Ever lower with fear
331
00:19:22,880 --> 00:19:25,360
# They can't let me die
332
00:19:25,360 --> 00:19:28,240
# They can't let me die here
333
00:19:28,240 --> 00:19:33,160
# I'll cover myself with the mud and the earth
334
00:19:33,160 --> 00:19:35,520
# I'll cover myself
335
00:19:35,520 --> 00:19:40,600
# I know I'm not brave
336
00:19:40,600 --> 00:19:44,760
# The earth, the earth
337
00:19:44,760 --> 00:19:50,400
# The earth is my grave. #
338
00:19:50,400 --> 00:19:54,360
Don's always been really impressed by George Michael.
339
00:19:54,360 --> 00:19:58,160
So The Grave, perhaps one of the smallest songs in reputation
340
00:19:58,160 --> 00:20:00,720
to begin with on American Pie,
341
00:20:00,720 --> 00:20:04,560
got its own life, thanks to another major music star.
342
00:20:07,520 --> 00:20:11,200
When I was 14, I was in love with The Weavers.
343
00:20:11,200 --> 00:20:14,560
The Weavers were Pete Seeger, Fred Hellerman, and Ronnie Gilbert,
344
00:20:14,560 --> 00:20:16,160
and Lee Hays.
345
00:20:16,160 --> 00:20:20,160
The sound of the four of them was just stunning.
346
00:20:20,160 --> 00:20:23,160
I mean, it was just thrilling to hear.
347
00:20:23,160 --> 00:20:28,120
One day, I must have been 14, maybe, 15, I said,
348
00:20:28,120 --> 00:20:30,520
"I wonder if their names are in the phone book."
349
00:20:30,520 --> 00:20:34,640
I called the operator, you know, in Manhattan Directory, and said,
350
00:20:34,640 --> 00:20:37,360
"Do you have a number for Fred Hellerman in Manhattan?"
351
00:20:37,360 --> 00:20:38,760
"Yes, we do."
352
00:20:38,760 --> 00:20:41,440
And they gave me the number. I called it, you know?
353
00:20:41,440 --> 00:20:44,280
And one by one, I guess he told The Weavers about me
354
00:20:44,280 --> 00:20:48,520
and I would call them and got to know them and then
355
00:20:48,520 --> 00:20:52,840
Erik Darling said, "Why don't you come to the house and we can play?"
356
00:20:52,840 --> 00:20:57,200
Erik became an influence, helped refine Don's musical style,
357
00:20:57,200 --> 00:21:02,400
the clarity of his singing and the quality of his guitar playing
358
00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:06,720
and then, later, he wrote to Pete Seeger and asked him
359
00:21:06,720 --> 00:21:08,880
why he believes in Communism.
360
00:21:08,880 --> 00:21:12,360
This immediately grabbed Pete Seeger's attention
361
00:21:12,360 --> 00:21:15,120
and they struck up a friendship.
362
00:21:15,120 --> 00:21:19,080
He was very much..."do it yourself and learn about everything".
363
00:21:19,080 --> 00:21:21,240
So that rubbed off on me, I mean, certainly,
364
00:21:21,240 --> 00:21:24,080
and it was a tremendous experience.
365
00:21:24,080 --> 00:21:27,240
You know, I wasn't always in agreement with him politically,
366
00:21:27,240 --> 00:21:33,360
but I was in agreement with him about the value of human life and
367
00:21:33,360 --> 00:21:38,960
the value of culture and the value of diversity and the value of love.
368
00:21:38,960 --> 00:21:44,080
This is something that so many poor people, poor kids, black,
369
00:21:44,080 --> 00:21:48,080
white, whatever you want to say, in this country have not had
370
00:21:48,080 --> 00:21:52,760
this realisation that you can do anything.
371
00:21:52,760 --> 00:21:55,840
They're taught that they're stupid, not worthy.
372
00:21:55,840 --> 00:21:59,200
They don't realise that they can do anything.
373
00:21:59,200 --> 00:22:02,600
The only reason I got as far as I did was
374
00:22:02,600 --> 00:22:06,560
because I was just a powerhouse back in 1969.
375
00:22:06,560 --> 00:22:10,360
I ended up being in debt for 20,000, which was a lot of money,
376
00:22:10,360 --> 00:22:13,360
in order to finance the first album, Tapestry,
377
00:22:13,360 --> 00:22:18,000
and had no solid indication that it was going to come out any place.
378
00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:23,960
Alan Livingston was the president of the newly-formed
379
00:22:23,960 --> 00:22:26,480
Media Arts Label.
380
00:22:26,480 --> 00:22:28,920
Livingston had previously worked as chief executive
381
00:22:28,920 --> 00:22:31,520
at Capitol Records and he signed Don McLean
382
00:22:31,520 --> 00:22:34,400
and as an initial advance,
383
00:22:34,400 --> 00:22:39,840
Don received 25,000 and financing for the production of the album,
384
00:22:39,840 --> 00:22:42,520
which wiped out his debts and put him
385
00:22:42,520 --> 00:22:45,000
in a much more comfortable position.
386
00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:47,600
So I was able to give my mother money every week for three
387
00:22:47,600 --> 00:22:51,880
years and move her back into the house that she had had to leave
388
00:22:51,880 --> 00:22:53,640
seven years before.
389
00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:58,680
I remember listening to his first album and thinking, erm...
390
00:22:58,680 --> 00:23:02,920
This was quite unusual for a singer-songwriter at that time.
391
00:23:02,920 --> 00:23:07,000
And I Love You So and Castles In The Air, those were terrific songs.
392
00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:11,080
But I don't think in any way Don was a household name.
393
00:23:11,080 --> 00:23:15,400
# And if she asks you why, you can tell her that I told you
394
00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:19,040
# That I'm tired of castles in the air
395
00:23:19,040 --> 00:23:22,240
# I've got a dream I want the world to share
396
00:23:22,240 --> 00:23:26,360
# And castle walls just lead me to despair... #
397
00:23:26,360 --> 00:23:30,400
I love Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, and I would try
398
00:23:30,400 --> 00:23:35,080
to learn to sing some of the slow songs that Sinatra would sing.
399
00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:39,000
It's not so hard to sing a fast one, you know. Just connect the dots.
400
00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:41,880
But a slow song, we really
401
00:23:41,880 --> 00:23:44,640
understand...
402
00:23:44,640 --> 00:23:48,080
..every millisecond
403
00:23:48,080 --> 00:23:50,240
of time
404
00:23:50,240 --> 00:23:52,400
is important.
405
00:23:52,400 --> 00:23:55,480
And that's a wonderful thing to work on.
406
00:23:55,480 --> 00:24:00,480
# And I love you so
407
00:24:02,080 --> 00:24:06,520
# People ask me how
408
00:24:06,520 --> 00:24:10,280
# How I've lived till now
409
00:24:12,080 --> 00:24:16,400
# I tell them I don't know... #
410
00:24:16,400 --> 00:24:22,080
I was always very dark. I'm a dark... I'm a blue person.
411
00:24:22,080 --> 00:24:26,680
You know, there's just kind of a blue tinge to things, you know.
412
00:24:26,680 --> 00:24:31,880
And it's really kind of a pointless way to be, you know,
413
00:24:31,880 --> 00:24:35,880
when you have so much good fortune as I've had,
414
00:24:35,880 --> 00:24:39,640
and I'm aware of that, but I guess it's the Scottish in me
415
00:24:39,640 --> 00:24:42,160
or something, I don't know what it is.
416
00:24:42,160 --> 00:24:44,520
But it's hard to shake.
417
00:24:44,520 --> 00:24:47,760
You know, I'm always waiting for the other shoe to drop or looking
418
00:24:47,760 --> 00:24:50,800
around the corner and thinking, "What's going to go wrong?"
419
00:24:53,680 --> 00:24:59,840
# Yes, I know
420
00:24:59,840 --> 00:25:04,400
# How loveless life can be
421
00:25:06,760 --> 00:25:10,440
# The shadows follow me
422
00:25:10,440 --> 00:25:14,560
# And night won't set me free... #
423
00:25:14,560 --> 00:25:17,760
And I Love You So went on to be a hit record
424
00:25:17,760 --> 00:25:23,520
for Perry Como in 1974, and was recorded by Elvis Presley.
425
00:25:23,520 --> 00:25:28,440
In fact, featured on Elvis Presley's last live album.
426
00:25:28,440 --> 00:25:33,160
I also got married in 1969.
427
00:25:33,160 --> 00:25:36,240
I was very needy.
428
00:25:36,240 --> 00:25:42,440
I needed someone and I really didn't know anything about marriage,
429
00:25:42,440 --> 00:25:45,600
I didn't know anything about relationships,
430
00:25:45,600 --> 00:25:47,920
but I was desperately lonely.
431
00:25:47,920 --> 00:25:52,360
And I married a girl, a very smart girl,
432
00:25:52,360 --> 00:25:56,720
who was supportive of my music,
433
00:25:56,720 --> 00:26:00,960
but it wasn't a good marriage.
434
00:26:00,960 --> 00:26:05,680
# Morning comes and morning goes with no regret
435
00:26:07,760 --> 00:26:11,160
# And evening brings the memories I can't forget
436
00:26:12,960 --> 00:26:17,320
# Empty rooms that echo as I climb the stairs
437
00:26:18,840 --> 00:26:23,320
# Empty clothes that drape and fall on empty chairs... #
438
00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:30,440
Empty Chairs is the song of someone leaving someone and loneliness,
439
00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:33,400
and you can't get lonelier than, you know,
440
00:26:33,400 --> 00:26:38,440
empty clothes hanging on empty chairs.
441
00:26:39,480 --> 00:26:43,200
Well, Empty Chairs is a sort of distance cousin of Vincent.
442
00:26:43,200 --> 00:26:46,760
And I never really wrote any song that was similar to another one in
443
00:26:46,760 --> 00:26:51,320
my whole life, but for some reason, this song came out and it's the same
444
00:26:51,320 --> 00:26:57,360
thing, two verses, a bridge, and a verse, with a sort of a chorus.
445
00:26:57,360 --> 00:26:59,040
That's the harpsichord.
446
00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:01,600
HARPSICHORD PLAYS
447
00:27:01,600 --> 00:27:03,720
That's neat.
448
00:27:03,720 --> 00:27:06,120
I like that.
449
00:27:08,120 --> 00:27:10,200
That's pretty.
450
00:27:10,200 --> 00:27:12,360
How'd that get left out?!
451
00:27:12,360 --> 00:27:15,640
And one thing, you know, these records were handmade.
452
00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:17,040
All records were handmade.
453
00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:20,640
That is to say a lot of times, we'd have to go and find hands,
454
00:27:20,640 --> 00:27:23,800
you know, in the studio to pull,
455
00:27:23,800 --> 00:27:27,600
to push parts up to certain marks that were made on tape,
456
00:27:27,600 --> 00:27:29,480
at key moments.
457
00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:32,440
So, all right, raise the strings now, slowly, to that,
458
00:27:32,440 --> 00:27:34,800
and it was exciting.
459
00:27:34,800 --> 00:27:38,400
It was my girlfriend who called me on the phone and said,
460
00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:40,720
"You've got to come to the Troubadour,
461
00:27:40,720 --> 00:27:45,600
"you've got to see this amazing singer that I love," she said.
462
00:27:45,600 --> 00:27:47,160
"Named Don McLean."
463
00:27:47,160 --> 00:27:52,400
And I didn't want to go, I was going through a break-up,
464
00:27:52,400 --> 00:27:56,560
I just wanted to stay in my apartment, I was 19 years old,
465
00:27:56,560 --> 00:28:01,120
and reluctantly, I went to see him.
466
00:28:01,120 --> 00:28:05,880
I had not heard of him before, and sitting in the club,
467
00:28:05,880 --> 00:28:12,760
I just felt like all of a sudden, he was singing about me and my life,
468
00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:15,800
especially when he started to sing this particular song.
469
00:28:15,800 --> 00:28:20,320
The effect that I had and the song had on her caused her to
470
00:28:20,320 --> 00:28:24,240
include me and the whole experience that she had in this poem.
471
00:28:24,240 --> 00:28:27,280
What really got to me in the song was,
472
00:28:27,280 --> 00:28:32,680
"And I wonder if you know that I never understood."
473
00:28:32,680 --> 00:28:36,440
# And I wonder if you know
474
00:28:38,600 --> 00:28:41,240
# That I never understood
475
00:28:44,480 --> 00:28:48,160
# That although you said you'd go
476
00:28:48,160 --> 00:28:51,120
# Until you did
477
00:28:51,120 --> 00:28:54,400
# I never thought you would... #
478
00:28:56,160 --> 00:28:58,480
And so when everybody filtered out of the club,
479
00:28:58,480 --> 00:29:01,560
my girlfriend as well, I stayed there and I wrote a poem
480
00:29:01,560 --> 00:29:04,080
on a napkin that was there,
481
00:29:04,080 --> 00:29:08,480
and that poem became Killing Me Softly.
482
00:29:08,480 --> 00:29:11,280
And the "him" is Don McLean.
483
00:29:12,680 --> 00:29:16,320
# I felt all flushed with fever
484
00:29:16,320 --> 00:29:19,840
# Embarrassed by the crowd
485
00:29:21,240 --> 00:29:27,640
# I felt he found my letters and read each one out loud
486
00:29:29,760 --> 00:29:33,960
# I prayed that he would finish
487
00:29:33,960 --> 00:29:38,080
# But he just kept right on
488
00:29:38,080 --> 00:29:41,520
# Strumming my pain with his fingers
489
00:29:42,720 --> 00:29:45,520
# Singing my life with his words
490
00:29:47,400 --> 00:29:50,480
# Killing me softly with his song
491
00:29:50,480 --> 00:29:54,920
# Killing me softly with his song
492
00:29:54,920 --> 00:29:59,360
# Telling my whole life with his words
493
00:29:59,360 --> 00:30:02,280
# Killing me softly
494
00:30:04,360 --> 00:30:07,200
# With his song. #
495
00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:13,640
I remember when I first heard Roberta Flack singing it.
496
00:30:13,640 --> 00:30:16,640
My version had started to go up the charts
497
00:30:16,640 --> 00:30:21,240
and then she heard it on an airplane and she loved it, and by the time
498
00:30:21,240 --> 00:30:26,840
she landed, she had contacted Quincy Jones and Joel Dorn, her producer.
499
00:30:26,840 --> 00:30:30,000
# Killing me softly with his song
500
00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:33,560
# Telling my whole life with his words
501
00:30:33,560 --> 00:30:37,440
# Killing me softly
502
00:30:37,440 --> 00:30:40,080
# With his song
503
00:30:42,760 --> 00:30:45,120
# Oh
504
00:30:45,120 --> 00:30:49,200
# Oh-oh-oh... #
505
00:30:49,200 --> 00:30:54,000
You could see, mine is a very simple folk song, but hers,
506
00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:57,160
she added these elements that I never would have imagined,
507
00:30:57,160 --> 00:31:00,760
and she made it something that I could never have imagined
508
00:31:00,760 --> 00:31:03,880
the song holding. And yet it did.
509
00:31:03,880 --> 00:31:08,120
And I think I was so surprised that it resonated with so many people.
510
00:31:08,120 --> 00:31:10,400
I'm not an entertainer.
511
00:31:10,400 --> 00:31:13,120
There are aspects of entertainment to what I do
512
00:31:13,120 --> 00:31:16,360
and I will entertain you, in order to get your attention,
513
00:31:16,360 --> 00:31:18,280
maybe then to do something else.
514
00:31:18,280 --> 00:31:23,000
Crossroads, I think, is a masterpiece.
515
00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:24,680
It's a gorgeous piece of writing.
516
00:31:24,680 --> 00:31:28,200
Crossroads, when I was playing it, seemed to be repetitive.
517
00:31:28,200 --> 00:31:31,600
I was going from the G to the E minor to the A minor.
518
00:31:31,600 --> 00:31:33,120
And then Ed said,
519
00:31:33,120 --> 00:31:36,680
"We can get this really good piano player to play it,"
520
00:31:36,680 --> 00:31:41,360
and so they got Warren Bernhardt, a very sensitive player,
521
00:31:41,360 --> 00:31:47,000
and so Ed created with Warren this track, and then I sang to it.
522
00:31:47,000 --> 00:31:48,640
Turned out very well.
523
00:31:48,640 --> 00:31:54,440
When I hear the opening strings, it's still very memorable.
524
00:31:54,440 --> 00:31:57,920
# I've got nothing on my mind
525
00:31:57,920 --> 00:32:00,240
# Nothing to remember
526
00:32:03,240 --> 00:32:06,440
# Nothing to forget... #
527
00:32:06,440 --> 00:32:08,440
See how beautiful it is.
528
00:32:08,440 --> 00:32:11,600
# And I know that on the outside... #
529
00:32:11,600 --> 00:32:15,360
All that stuff I was talking about, dynamics.
530
00:32:15,360 --> 00:32:17,320
Quiet.
531
00:32:17,320 --> 00:32:18,360
Loud.
532
00:32:20,760 --> 00:32:22,480
Very liquid.
533
00:32:22,480 --> 00:32:23,800
Fluid.
534
00:32:23,800 --> 00:32:28,760
The melody is just so beautiful that it resonates with me, certainly,
535
00:32:28,760 --> 00:32:30,320
and I think with a lot of people.
536
00:32:30,320 --> 00:32:34,160
I think, when music is written in such a beautiful way,
537
00:32:34,160 --> 00:32:36,200
there's no escaping it, really.
538
00:32:36,200 --> 00:32:40,600
# So there's no need for turning back
539
00:32:43,040 --> 00:32:46,360
# Cos all roads lead to where we stand... #
540
00:32:48,040 --> 00:32:50,880
A lot of Don's music is sad.
541
00:32:50,880 --> 00:32:52,960
I probably pushed for something -
542
00:32:52,960 --> 00:32:58,560
do we have anything else that's a little bit more hit-like, please?
543
00:32:58,560 --> 00:33:03,480
But in the end, you just have to say, well, that's what he writes.
544
00:33:03,480 --> 00:33:08,160
Everybody Loves Me, Baby, which is about the egotistical,
545
00:33:08,160 --> 00:33:11,800
rich leader, who everybody is supposed to love,
546
00:33:11,800 --> 00:33:15,120
except this one person who thinks he's a jerk.
547
00:33:15,120 --> 00:33:18,120
It was during the Nixonian time period.
548
00:33:18,120 --> 00:33:21,640
He was a wonderful catalyst for creativity.
549
00:33:21,640 --> 00:33:24,000
This is Everybody Loves Me, Baby.
550
00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:26,800
It's the only other upbeat song on the album.
551
00:33:26,800 --> 00:33:29,640
And we wanted it to sound like a party.
552
00:33:29,640 --> 00:33:32,680
And so it's a sloppy mess, on purpose.
553
00:33:34,520 --> 00:33:38,760
- It sounds like this.
- One, two, three, four!
554
00:33:44,800 --> 00:33:47,000
# Fortune has... #
555
00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:51,600
What's unusual about this is that we have a track of people,
556
00:33:51,600 --> 00:33:54,920
I think there must have been a dozen people in the studio,
557
00:33:54,920 --> 00:34:00,640
just carrying on, having a great drunken time, banging on every
558
00:34:00,640 --> 00:34:04,240
percussion instrument they could find and yelling and screaming.
559
00:34:04,240 --> 00:34:06,680
And this is what that track sounds like, solo.
560
00:34:06,680 --> 00:34:11,160
VARIOUS PERCUSSION
561
00:34:12,600 --> 00:34:15,800
Everybody Loves Me, Baby, I thought could have been a lot better.
562
00:34:15,800 --> 00:34:18,760
That was one of the things where I think we dropped the ball.
563
00:34:18,760 --> 00:34:22,840
Lyrically, it's OK, but I don't like the melody all that much.
564
00:34:22,840 --> 00:34:26,120
I could have done a better job on that.
565
00:34:26,120 --> 00:34:31,080
I didn't have the ideas to help the producer, but one thing,
566
00:34:31,080 --> 00:34:34,040
I would have put voices on the chorus.
567
00:34:34,040 --> 00:34:36,840
I think that could have made it a very catchy chorus.
568
00:34:36,840 --> 00:34:41,040
He has got a really playful, acrobatic voice when he likes,
569
00:34:41,040 --> 00:34:43,600
full of humour and kind of vigour
570
00:34:43,600 --> 00:34:46,800
and effervescence, and that is to the fore on this song.
571
00:34:46,800 --> 00:34:50,960
# You're all enslaved My own flag is forever waved by... #
572
00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:55,240
This must have been a lot of fun to record.
573
00:34:55,240 --> 00:35:01,320
I don't remember the session, exactly, but listening to
574
00:35:01,320 --> 00:35:06,720
the multitrack now, I think we must have had a really good time.
575
00:35:06,720 --> 00:35:09,440
It comes, I think, at a great moment in the album,
576
00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:12,680
as far as the running order is concerned, when it really needs
577
00:35:12,680 --> 00:35:15,880
a sort of energy lift and a kind of a humour lift.
578
00:35:15,880 --> 00:35:18,960
And I would have it as a personal highlight.
579
00:35:18,960 --> 00:35:20,600
This is the song, Babylon,
580
00:35:20,600 --> 00:35:23,640
sometimes it's called By The Waters Of Babylon.
581
00:35:23,640 --> 00:35:28,000
Babylon is an arrangement of Psalm 1:37.
582
00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:30,520
I maintained a relationship with Lee Hays, who was
583
00:35:30,520 --> 00:35:37,040
a member of The Weavers and he said, "Oh, hey, sing this song with me.
584
00:35:37,040 --> 00:35:38,960
"And I'll sing it for you...
585
00:35:38,960 --> 00:35:42,480
# By the waters... #"
586
00:35:42,480 --> 00:35:45,680
He started to sing it. And he said, "Now..."
587
00:35:45,680 --> 00:35:47,280
He sang the whole thing and said,
588
00:35:47,280 --> 00:35:49,400
"See if you can remember how that goes."
589
00:35:49,400 --> 00:35:52,040
So I remembered it, then he sang it against me.
590
00:35:52,040 --> 00:35:56,680
He said, "Imagine a third part to that." So, I thought...
591
00:35:56,680 --> 00:36:00,120
I heard it right away and I thought, "Oh, that's perfect," you know?
592
00:36:00,120 --> 00:36:04,720
"And I know what I'll do with it. I'll make up a banjo part."
593
00:36:04,720 --> 00:36:07,920
And although it's co-credited with Lee Hays,
594
00:36:07,920 --> 00:36:11,680
in practice, Don McLean made the arrangement,
595
00:36:11,680 --> 00:36:17,760
and insisted on giving 50% of the royalties from that
596
00:36:17,760 --> 00:36:21,680
particular song to Lee Hays to thank him
597
00:36:21,680 --> 00:36:26,720
for all he'd done in supporting his development in the 1960s.
598
00:36:26,720 --> 00:36:30,960
# We lay down and wept
599
00:36:30,960 --> 00:36:33,080
# And wept
600
00:36:33,080 --> 00:36:36,280
# For thee Zion... #
601
00:36:36,280 --> 00:36:40,000
It was one of the few times where Don actually sang more
602
00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:41,160
than one part.
603
00:36:41,160 --> 00:36:45,120
Ed wanted him to enhance it, but he didn't want to have
604
00:36:45,120 --> 00:36:48,720
professional background singers come in and sing along with him.
605
00:36:48,720 --> 00:36:52,000
He just wanted to use Don's voice.
606
00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:55,360
# We lay down and wept
607
00:36:55,360 --> 00:36:57,920
# And wept
608
00:36:57,920 --> 00:37:00,160
# For thee Zion... #
609
00:37:00,160 --> 00:37:02,120
It is a beautifully sung song.
610
00:37:02,120 --> 00:37:05,600
We underrate how good a singer Don McLean is.
611
00:37:05,600 --> 00:37:11,600
He has a very clear, beautiful, precise voice, but not a cold voice.
612
00:37:11,600 --> 00:37:14,480
It's a voice which is, you know, full of feeling and emotion.
613
00:37:14,480 --> 00:37:18,920
But he heard it and he said, "You sang it wrong." Cos it's...
614
00:37:18,920 --> 00:37:20,960
# We lay down and wept
615
00:37:20,960 --> 00:37:23,080
# And wept... #
616
00:37:23,080 --> 00:37:25,000
I sang... # We lay down and wept... #
617
00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:26,480
NOTE HIGHER: # And wept. #
618
00:37:26,480 --> 00:37:29,560
Just a little note change. Instead of... # And wept... #
619
00:37:29,560 --> 00:37:31,360
It's... # And wept. #
620
00:37:31,360 --> 00:37:34,960
One note difference. But it makes a big difference.
621
00:37:34,960 --> 00:37:37,800
BANJO PLAYS This is the banjo part
622
00:37:37,800 --> 00:37:40,160
that I came up with.
623
00:37:42,120 --> 00:37:43,920
It's in a funny tuning.
624
00:37:43,920 --> 00:37:45,240
I think it's a G minor.
625
00:37:46,680 --> 00:37:50,800
# Waters, the waters of Babylon
626
00:37:51,920 --> 00:37:55,440
# We lay down and wept
627
00:37:55,440 --> 00:37:57,640
# And wept... #
628
00:37:57,640 --> 00:38:00,640
I DID sing it right.
629
00:38:00,640 --> 00:38:04,160
# We lay down and wept
630
00:38:04,160 --> 00:38:06,280
# And wept... # Yeah, I sang it wrong.
631
00:38:06,280 --> 00:38:10,880
Sang it right the first time and wrong the second time.
632
00:38:10,880 --> 00:38:12,960
That's funny.
633
00:38:15,800 --> 00:38:19,120
# For thee Zion... #
634
00:38:19,120 --> 00:38:24,000
So this was like a little finish to the whole album.
635
00:38:24,000 --> 00:38:26,600
Just a period
636
00:38:26,600 --> 00:38:28,800
put at the end of this whole experience.
637
00:38:28,800 --> 00:38:32,920
With Babylon, you could end on a sense of mystery and beauty.
638
00:38:32,920 --> 00:38:38,240
It kid of leaves it open and it gives you this kind of warm feeling.
639
00:38:38,240 --> 00:38:43,240
And that's what albums at their best really did is that they take
640
00:38:43,240 --> 00:38:44,920
you on a sort of an emotional
641
00:38:44,920 --> 00:38:48,160
and intellectual journey over 40 minutes,
642
00:38:48,160 --> 00:38:51,160
where it's not just a variety of song,
643
00:38:51,160 --> 00:38:56,200
but a sort of thread of feeling, which kind of changes and weaves
644
00:38:56,200 --> 00:38:59,840
around, that where you are at the end of it,
645
00:38:59,840 --> 00:39:05,280
when you've finished side two of the album is different from where
646
00:39:05,280 --> 00:39:07,240
you were at the beginning of it,
647
00:39:07,240 --> 00:39:10,600
when you first put the needle on the beginning of side one.
648
00:39:10,600 --> 00:39:14,320
# We remember thee
649
00:39:14,320 --> 00:39:16,720
# Remember thee
650
00:39:16,720 --> 00:39:20,480
# Remember thee Zion. #
651
00:39:30,680 --> 00:39:35,960
I had most of the album written without American Pie.
652
00:39:35,960 --> 00:39:40,360
In fact, they were going to call the album Empty Chairs or
653
00:39:40,360 --> 00:39:42,160
something like that.
654
00:39:42,160 --> 00:39:46,360
You know, American Pie hadn't been written.
655
00:39:46,360 --> 00:39:48,280
But I wasn't happy with that.
656
00:39:48,280 --> 00:39:50,840
You know, it's not right. I said, "It's not finished yet.
657
00:39:50,840 --> 00:39:53,560
"I've got more to do. Something else I want to say."
658
00:39:53,560 --> 00:39:56,840
A really big song I had in me, I knew I had this.
659
00:39:56,840 --> 00:39:59,360
It's like a pregnancy.
660
00:39:59,360 --> 00:40:01,400
And I knew it.
661
00:40:01,400 --> 00:40:05,480
I was in this little gatehouse that I lived in
662
00:40:05,480 --> 00:40:08,120
in Cold Spring on the Hudson,
663
00:40:08,120 --> 00:40:12,000
and I shared that house with my first wife.
664
00:40:12,000 --> 00:40:15,800
It was a happy life, because we had all these singers around and artists
665
00:40:15,800 --> 00:40:18,120
and there were actors and there were poets
666
00:40:18,120 --> 00:40:20,840
and there were biographers and there were painters.
667
00:40:20,840 --> 00:40:22,920
It was a wonderful experience, very rich.
668
00:40:22,920 --> 00:40:27,760
I just wanted to find this way of talking about America
669
00:40:27,760 --> 00:40:30,720
that was big and that was dramatic,
670
00:40:30,720 --> 00:40:33,760
but dramatic in a whole new way.
671
00:40:33,760 --> 00:40:38,040
What happened to me is I had this little room in this gatehouse,
672
00:40:38,040 --> 00:40:40,560
and I would sit up there with my guitar
673
00:40:40,560 --> 00:40:43,320
and I had this old carpeting on the floor.
674
00:40:43,320 --> 00:40:47,720
And I had a little bed in the corner.
675
00:40:47,720 --> 00:40:52,920
That seclusion in the gatehouse in that small, rural community
676
00:40:52,920 --> 00:40:55,240
was just what he needed.
677
00:40:55,240 --> 00:40:58,840
So I was rocking in my little chair and all of a sudden,
678
00:40:58,840 --> 00:41:02,520
I went over to the guitar, I had a little tape recorder.
679
00:41:02,520 --> 00:41:05,120
And I just sang, "A long, long time ago,"
680
00:41:05,120 --> 00:41:08,520
to this whole thing, right through "the day the music died".
681
00:41:10,560 --> 00:41:14,240
ACOUSTIC: # A long, long time ago I can still remember how
682
00:41:14,240 --> 00:41:17,520
# That music used to make me smile
683
00:41:19,160 --> 00:41:23,720
# And I knew if I had my chance That I could make those people dance
684
00:41:23,720 --> 00:41:27,000
# And maybe they'd be happy for a while
685
00:41:28,640 --> 00:41:31,080
# But February made me shiver
686
00:41:31,080 --> 00:41:34,120
# With every paper I'd deliver
687
00:41:34,120 --> 00:41:36,640
# Bad news on the doorstep
688
00:41:36,640 --> 00:41:39,360
# I couldn't take one more step
689
00:41:40,840 --> 00:41:45,560
# I can't remember if I cried When I read about his widowed bride
690
00:41:45,560 --> 00:41:49,440
# But something touched me deep inside
691
00:41:49,440 --> 00:41:54,520
# The day the music died... #
692
00:41:56,000 --> 00:41:58,280
I said, "Oh, wow, this is really great.
693
00:41:58,280 --> 00:42:00,640
"I don't know what it is, but it's really neat."
694
00:42:00,640 --> 00:42:04,960
You know, and it spoke to me, like this was going someplace,
695
00:42:04,960 --> 00:42:07,400
and I had to figure out where it was going.
696
00:42:07,400 --> 00:42:09,680
Buddy Holly is the singer-songwriter
697
00:42:09,680 --> 00:42:12,920
who remains by far the most influential on Don McLean.
698
00:42:12,920 --> 00:42:17,680
For everything he did. You know, his gifts as a melodist, as a lyricist.
699
00:42:17,680 --> 00:42:19,560
And as a sort of an outsider,
700
00:42:19,560 --> 00:42:22,800
a rock star who didn't look like a rock star.
701
00:42:22,800 --> 00:42:28,080
It was that moment of Don in his mid-20s, harking back to childhood,
702
00:42:28,080 --> 00:42:30,480
to that moment of innocence,
703
00:42:30,480 --> 00:42:35,640
before everything got complicated and adult and conflicted.
704
00:42:35,640 --> 00:42:37,960
A month or two went by, and I just had it,
705
00:42:37,960 --> 00:42:40,040
and didn't know what to do with it.
706
00:42:40,040 --> 00:42:44,600
And then I said, "I want it to be a fast song, a rock and roll song."
707
00:42:44,600 --> 00:42:49,520
So I came up with this crazy chorus.
708
00:42:49,520 --> 00:42:53,160
"Bye-bye, Miss American Pie, drove my Chevy to the levee,
709
00:42:53,160 --> 00:42:54,600
"but the levee was dry."
710
00:42:54,600 --> 00:43:00,640
# Them good ole boys were drinking whisky and rye
711
00:43:00,640 --> 00:43:02,920
# Singin' this'll be the day that I die
712
00:43:02,920 --> 00:43:05,760
# This'll be the day that I die... #
713
00:43:05,760 --> 00:43:08,480
I was in the shower a couple of months later,
714
00:43:08,480 --> 00:43:10,640
and I got out of the shower all wet,
715
00:43:10,640 --> 00:43:12,520
and I grabbed paper and I started writing.
716
00:43:12,520 --> 00:43:15,640
"Did you write the book of love..." I just...
717
00:43:15,640 --> 00:43:19,120
I just had this...this thing that came to me.
718
00:43:19,120 --> 00:43:20,480
And then it goes...
719
00:43:23,440 --> 00:43:26,440
# Did you write the book of love
720
00:43:26,440 --> 00:43:30,280
# And do you have faith in God above
721
00:43:30,280 --> 00:43:33,240
# If the Bible tells you so?
722
00:43:35,080 --> 00:43:38,240
# Now do you believe in rock and roll?
723
00:43:38,240 --> 00:43:41,680
# Can music save your mortal soul?
724
00:43:41,680 --> 00:43:47,600
# And can you teach me how to dance real slow? #
725
00:43:47,600 --> 00:43:52,800
And the four middle verses would be growing dissatisfaction,
726
00:43:52,800 --> 00:43:57,120
growing anger, growing public unrest, if you will.
727
00:43:57,120 --> 00:43:58,760
I don't know how to describe it.
728
00:43:58,760 --> 00:44:02,320
I'd been to the March on Washington.
729
00:44:02,320 --> 00:44:05,600
They tear-gassed a lot of people.
730
00:44:05,600 --> 00:44:09,360
There was all that activity all day, but then the tear-gas dispersed
731
00:44:09,360 --> 00:44:11,480
everybody and the streets were all empty.
732
00:44:11,480 --> 00:44:14,240
And all that activity and, you know,
733
00:44:14,240 --> 00:44:18,680
political anger and everything else had been dispersed.
734
00:44:18,680 --> 00:44:22,080
I think I captured that in my head, and that was the last verse.
735
00:44:22,080 --> 00:44:25,480
"I met a girl who sang the blues, I asked her for some happy news..."
736
00:44:25,480 --> 00:44:27,040
She was, like, the only one left.
737
00:44:27,040 --> 00:44:29,520
Everything else, all this other stuff that had happened
738
00:44:29,520 --> 00:44:30,720
in the four verses before,
739
00:44:30,720 --> 00:44:36,280
all this energy and activity had just dispersed,
740
00:44:36,280 --> 00:44:38,320
and now it was just...the...
741
00:44:38,320 --> 00:44:39,880
..the end.
742
00:44:39,880 --> 00:44:42,640
# And in the streets the children screamed
743
00:44:42,640 --> 00:44:46,280
# The lovers cried, and the poets dreamed
744
00:44:46,280 --> 00:44:48,600
# But not a word was spoken
745
00:44:49,840 --> 00:44:53,320
# The church bells all were broken
746
00:44:53,320 --> 00:44:56,720
# And the three men I admire most
747
00:44:56,720 --> 00:45:00,440
# The Father, Son and the Holy Ghost
748
00:45:00,440 --> 00:45:03,800
# They caught the last train for the coast
749
00:45:03,800 --> 00:45:09,760
# The day the music died
750
00:45:09,760 --> 00:45:12,280
# And they were singin'
751
00:45:12,280 --> 00:45:18,040
# Bye-bye, Miss American Pie... #
752
00:45:18,040 --> 00:45:21,400
It came as a major shock and a major blow
753
00:45:21,400 --> 00:45:26,560
to hear that Mediarts as a label were going out of business.
754
00:45:26,560 --> 00:45:28,680
And this immediately threw into jeopardy
755
00:45:28,680 --> 00:45:30,920
the future of the American Pie project.
756
00:45:30,920 --> 00:45:34,440
One week, I was without a record company and the next week,
757
00:45:34,440 --> 00:45:36,200
I was on United Artists,
758
00:45:36,200 --> 00:45:40,120
which was a terrible record company at the time.
759
00:45:40,120 --> 00:45:42,880
United Artists took over the business
760
00:45:42,880 --> 00:45:46,080
and for Don McLean, took over the contract.
761
00:45:46,080 --> 00:45:49,120
They were not a record label for a young guy like me,
762
00:45:49,120 --> 00:45:50,520
doing what I was doing.
763
00:45:52,600 --> 00:45:54,560
But they were trying to remake themselves
764
00:45:54,560 --> 00:45:56,640
into something much better, which they did.
765
00:45:56,640 --> 00:46:01,960
United Artists taking over Mediarts was perhaps a stroke of luck,
766
00:46:01,960 --> 00:46:05,800
but gave Don McLean further momentum
767
00:46:05,800 --> 00:46:10,320
in his development as a mainstream music star.
768
00:46:10,320 --> 00:46:13,760
Then there were some practice sessions,
769
00:46:13,760 --> 00:46:18,600
which I kind of liked how they felt, they felt pretty good.
770
00:46:18,600 --> 00:46:21,240
Don was not used to working with other musicians,
771
00:46:21,240 --> 00:46:25,720
so I put him together with a couple of players,
772
00:46:25,720 --> 00:46:28,920
bass and drums, who were very good players.
773
00:46:28,920 --> 00:46:33,680
But they were also not slick studio players,
774
00:46:33,680 --> 00:46:37,560
who had done thousands of sessions.
775
00:46:37,560 --> 00:46:43,080
Rehearsals consisted of Rob Stoner playing bass,
776
00:46:43,080 --> 00:46:44,800
Don on acoustic,
777
00:46:44,800 --> 00:46:49,480
and I think occasionally also Ed on acoustic.
778
00:46:50,400 --> 00:46:52,000
And me on drums.
779
00:46:52,000 --> 00:46:58,080
So there was...there was no piano, no guitar, electric guitar.
780
00:46:58,080 --> 00:47:04,520
The sort of ingredient X which makes it such a stunning record,
781
00:47:04,520 --> 00:47:07,760
is a piano, by a guy called Paul Griffin,
782
00:47:07,760 --> 00:47:11,040
who played with Bob Dylan, Dionne Warwick.
783
00:47:11,040 --> 00:47:13,680
When we were about to record,
784
00:47:13,680 --> 00:47:18,040
Ed told us that we needn't go into the room yet,
785
00:47:18,040 --> 00:47:21,240
because he wanted to do a piece with the piano player,
786
00:47:21,240 --> 00:47:22,600
who'd just showed up.
787
00:47:22,600 --> 00:47:24,760
He came to me and said, "What am I supposed to do?
788
00:47:24,760 --> 00:47:27,320
"I don't know how to do... I don't know how to play this."
789
00:47:27,320 --> 00:47:30,160
I said, "Paul, don't worry about it, you'll figure it out."
790
00:47:30,160 --> 00:47:34,120
What he did was that he free-associated the, as it were,
791
00:47:34,120 --> 00:47:35,840
the emotion of the song,
792
00:47:35,840 --> 00:47:40,120
but also he listened very clearly to the lyrics of the song.
793
00:47:40,120 --> 00:47:43,440
And, yeah, the song is called American Pie,
794
00:47:43,440 --> 00:47:47,720
because his piano playing is full of what you might call Americana.
795
00:47:47,720 --> 00:47:49,280
When he came in and got it,
796
00:47:49,280 --> 00:47:52,920
he just said, "Man, that was so great." He was pounding the piano.
797
00:47:52,920 --> 00:47:56,640
But, you know, Ed Freeman found him, thank God.
798
00:47:56,640 --> 00:48:01,600
It's a music which reaches to the Church, to the backwoods,
799
00:48:01,600 --> 00:48:06,200
to the honky-tonks, to the Great White Way of Broadway.
800
00:48:06,200 --> 00:48:07,600
It's all in there.
801
00:48:07,600 --> 00:48:11,680
When Paul Griffin played the part that he did, it was such a relief
802
00:48:11,680 --> 00:48:14,360
to me, because finally, I was in the pocket,
803
00:48:14,360 --> 00:48:16,440
I was in the groove that I wanted.
804
00:48:16,440 --> 00:48:19,520
I could feel this thing lift up and it was flying,
805
00:48:19,520 --> 00:48:23,240
like I had imagined it would and how I had heard it in my head.
806
00:48:23,240 --> 00:48:27,800
WITH PIANO: # Do you believe in rock and roll?
807
00:48:27,800 --> 00:48:31,440
# Can music save your mortal soul? #
808
00:48:31,440 --> 00:48:35,080
PIANO AND GUITAR ONLY
809
00:48:37,640 --> 00:48:41,240
This is just acoustic guitar and Paul playing along.
810
00:48:44,600 --> 00:48:51,160
And you can hear...this is the kind of miracle that happens in sessions
811
00:48:51,160 --> 00:48:55,040
that you hope for, but doesn't always happen, obviously.
812
00:48:55,040 --> 00:48:59,440
The combination just works perfectly,
813
00:48:59,440 --> 00:49:02,880
and this kind of style that he came up with,
814
00:49:02,880 --> 00:49:06,680
it's the perfect American Pie piano playing.
815
00:49:08,320 --> 00:49:13,600
It blew me away, because I had long been a fan of Paul Griffin,
816
00:49:13,600 --> 00:49:14,920
the pianist.
817
00:49:14,920 --> 00:49:18,000
He was a great piano player.
818
00:49:18,000 --> 00:49:21,040
And he shows up and he just plays the hell out of it.
819
00:49:23,720 --> 00:49:26,360
The piano is the whole game.
820
00:49:26,360 --> 00:49:27,600
He's all over this thing.
821
00:49:27,600 --> 00:49:31,000
Very Ray Charles.
822
00:49:31,000 --> 00:49:34,200
# ..the music died
823
00:49:34,200 --> 00:49:36,080
# He was singing
824
00:49:36,080 --> 00:49:39,320
VOCALS ONLY: # Bye-bye, Miss American Pie... #
825
00:49:39,320 --> 00:49:42,960
In the body of the song, everybody is playing live.
826
00:49:42,960 --> 00:49:46,480
And there are no splices.
827
00:49:46,480 --> 00:49:50,360
The rhythm guitar, Don's rhythm guitar, piano, bass, drums,
828
00:49:50,360 --> 00:49:53,240
electric guitar, they're all playing live.
829
00:49:53,240 --> 00:49:56,800
There are no splices, there are no overdubs, that's the way it is.
830
00:49:56,800 --> 00:50:01,080
Now, the beginning of the song, where there's just the piano,
831
00:50:01,080 --> 00:50:03,360
I think the first verse had 12 splices.
832
00:50:03,360 --> 00:50:06,000
Don is a free-form kind of performer.
833
00:50:06,000 --> 00:50:09,720
He doesn't... You can't put a metronome to him.
834
00:50:09,720 --> 00:50:16,160
So to get the piano and Don, which are both playing in free-form,
835
00:50:16,160 --> 00:50:20,720
both together perfectly, at the same time,
836
00:50:20,720 --> 00:50:25,160
we did a few takes and then cut it together
837
00:50:25,160 --> 00:50:28,720
to make it a single flow.
838
00:50:28,720 --> 00:50:32,760
Don is a wonderful singer, he was perfectly capable
839
00:50:32,760 --> 00:50:37,400
of singing it perfectly all the way through the first time.
840
00:50:37,400 --> 00:50:41,680
If he had wanted to sing it that way, he could have,
841
00:50:41,680 --> 00:50:44,840
but he didn't want to. He wanted to improvise.
842
00:50:44,840 --> 00:50:50,240
One of the things that I was doing a lot, when I made American Pie,
843
00:50:50,240 --> 00:50:55,080
was singing, sort of way out there, sometimes.
844
00:50:55,080 --> 00:50:57,560
And Ed didn't like that.
845
00:50:57,560 --> 00:51:01,400
And he was probably right about that.
846
00:51:01,400 --> 00:51:04,040
VOCAL AND ACOUSTIC GUITAR: # We were singin'
847
00:51:04,040 --> 00:51:05,760
# Bye-bye, Miss American Pie
848
00:51:05,760 --> 00:51:09,280
# Drove my Chevy to the levee But the levee was dry
849
00:51:09,280 --> 00:51:12,600
# And them good old boys were drinkin' whisky and rye
850
00:51:12,600 --> 00:51:16,920
# Singin' this'll be the day that I di-i-i-i-ie
851
00:51:16,920 --> 00:51:19,920
# This'll be the day that I die... #
852
00:51:19,920 --> 00:51:22,600
So I just edited out all his improvisations...er...
853
00:51:22,600 --> 00:51:28,880
And I think eventually, we sort of arrived at some kind of an agreement
854
00:51:28,880 --> 00:51:32,720
that that's the way it was going to be done,
855
00:51:32,720 --> 00:51:37,600
is that he was going to sing it any way he wanted and that was fine,
856
00:51:37,600 --> 00:51:41,880
and I was going to do anything I wanted to in editing his vocals,
857
00:51:41,880 --> 00:51:43,240
and that was fine.
858
00:51:43,240 --> 00:51:46,200
# I was a lonely, teenage broncin' buck
859
00:51:46,200 --> 00:51:49,600
# With a pink carnation and a pick-up truck
860
00:51:49,600 --> 00:51:52,640
# But I knew I was out of luck
861
00:51:52,640 --> 00:51:56,720
# The day the music died... #
862
00:51:58,320 --> 00:52:00,720
Each time you'd get to the end of "the day the music died",
863
00:52:00,720 --> 00:52:02,880
that was a different thing that happened that day,
864
00:52:02,880 --> 00:52:07,920
so that when you got to the chorus, each time, the chorus is enhanced
865
00:52:07,920 --> 00:52:12,000
by the new information that you've had, by the last verse.
866
00:52:12,000 --> 00:52:15,240
# And while Lenin read a book on Marx
867
00:52:15,240 --> 00:52:18,520
# The quartet practised in the park
868
00:52:18,520 --> 00:52:21,480
# And we sang dirges in the dark
869
00:52:21,480 --> 00:52:26,200
# The day the music died... #
870
00:52:27,320 --> 00:52:30,520
And then the next verse does it again, so it builds that way.
871
00:52:30,520 --> 00:52:34,040
But the group had to play like that also.
872
00:52:34,040 --> 00:52:37,200
The band had to play and build, and it had to be mixed that way,
873
00:52:37,200 --> 00:52:40,520
so that it would build. And then it drops down...
874
00:52:40,520 --> 00:52:43,080
..you know, to this end, which is a dirge,
875
00:52:43,080 --> 00:52:46,920
it's like, you're standing in an empty street, or standing over,
876
00:52:46,920 --> 00:52:49,880
you know, someone's gravestone or something
877
00:52:49,880 --> 00:52:52,880
in some graveyard somewhere quiet,
878
00:52:52,880 --> 00:52:56,680
thinking about all this stuff that happened.
879
00:52:56,680 --> 00:52:58,840
So it's a complete, you know, circle.
880
00:52:58,840 --> 00:53:03,000
When the whole album was finished, I turned to Don's manager and said,
881
00:53:03,000 --> 00:53:05,360
"That's all very well and good for an album,
882
00:53:05,360 --> 00:53:07,560
"but what are we going to do for a single?"
883
00:53:07,560 --> 00:53:10,360
And he said, "Oh, we're going to release American Pie."
884
00:53:10,360 --> 00:53:12,240
And I said, "You've got to be kidding!"
885
00:53:12,240 --> 00:53:15,320
There had been long singles before.
886
00:53:15,320 --> 00:53:18,720
Like A Rolling Stone by Bob Dylan in 1965
887
00:53:18,720 --> 00:53:21,920
was, I think, about seven minutes long.
888
00:53:21,920 --> 00:53:25,120
Hey Jude by the Beatles in 1968, much the same.
889
00:53:25,120 --> 00:53:29,440
It was 8 and a half minutes long, you just don't, not in those days.
890
00:53:29,440 --> 00:53:31,600
In those days, if you had a record
891
00:53:31,600 --> 00:53:34,640
that was three minutes and four seconds long,
892
00:53:34,640 --> 00:53:36,960
you put 2 minutes 57 on the label,
893
00:53:36,960 --> 00:53:39,280
so that DJs would actually play it,
894
00:53:39,280 --> 00:53:43,600
because they wouldn't play anything longer than three minutes.
895
00:53:43,600 --> 00:53:48,280
We had to break it up and put it on two sides of a 45,
896
00:53:48,280 --> 00:53:50,640
which was an awful idea.
897
00:53:50,640 --> 00:53:51,800
It was just awful.
898
00:53:51,800 --> 00:53:57,440
It sort of faded out halfway through the middle of a verse,
899
00:53:57,440 --> 00:54:02,080
and then reprised on the second side of the 45. It was terrible.
900
00:54:02,080 --> 00:54:09,080
We actually did get it all on a 45rpm record on one side.
901
00:54:09,080 --> 00:54:15,200
We did a technical thing called half-speed cutting.
902
00:54:15,200 --> 00:54:17,680
Then the record company rejected it,
903
00:54:17,680 --> 00:54:21,240
because the jukeboxes wouldn't play the whole thing -
904
00:54:21,240 --> 00:54:24,520
they were set to lift the needle out of the record
905
00:54:24,520 --> 00:54:26,360
at a certain point in time,
906
00:54:26,360 --> 00:54:32,200
so that the needle wouldn't go into the paper of the record
907
00:54:32,200 --> 00:54:34,200
and hurt the needle.
908
00:54:34,200 --> 00:54:37,640
And then, everybody of course went and bought the album,
909
00:54:37,640 --> 00:54:41,960
so they could hear the song without having to turn the record over.
910
00:54:41,960 --> 00:54:46,760
I was shocked when it came out and it hit number one instantly.
911
00:54:46,760 --> 00:54:49,040
The thing about American Pie the single,
912
00:54:49,040 --> 00:54:52,000
it wasn't just a big hit single, it was a phenomenon.
913
00:54:52,000 --> 00:54:54,560
I remember in the fall of 1971,
914
00:54:54,560 --> 00:54:58,280
just the song literally seemed to explode.
915
00:54:58,280 --> 00:55:03,000
Give people something with tunes and imagination,
916
00:55:03,000 --> 00:55:05,040
and they will go for it and they will love it.
917
00:55:05,040 --> 00:55:09,520
American Pie, and American Pie the single specifically,
918
00:55:09,520 --> 00:55:13,320
propelled him to instant superstardom in 1972.
919
00:55:13,320 --> 00:55:18,560
Newspapers running stories about the song, about Don McLean.
920
00:55:18,560 --> 00:55:23,000
Investigative reporters were going out of their way
921
00:55:23,000 --> 00:55:25,960
to find stories about Don McLean.
922
00:55:25,960 --> 00:55:30,120
There's stories of them searching his trash, planting women
923
00:55:30,120 --> 00:55:35,040
in his dressing room - perhaps all the trappings of superstardom.
924
00:55:35,040 --> 00:55:37,400
If I were to go to a town, I was always on the news,
925
00:55:37,400 --> 00:55:39,280
I was always on the CBS Evening News.
926
00:55:39,280 --> 00:55:41,640
I was always... Anything I did was news.
927
00:55:41,640 --> 00:55:45,440
Um...which was a lot for me to handle.
928
00:55:45,440 --> 00:55:53,040
When my kids were in grade school, it was part of their English lesson.
929
00:55:53,040 --> 00:56:00,000
It was actually in the textbooks of the schools in this country.
930
00:56:00,000 --> 00:56:03,200
The lyrics are fascinating. They are fantastic.
931
00:56:03,200 --> 00:56:05,000
You know, they are full of sort of culture,
932
00:56:05,000 --> 00:56:07,840
but also there's a mystery involved. Everybody loves a mystery.
933
00:56:07,840 --> 00:56:12,720
Who is the jester? What does "eight miles high" mean?
934
00:56:12,720 --> 00:56:15,680
That particular song was just so historic,
935
00:56:15,680 --> 00:56:16,760
and all of us, you know,
936
00:56:16,760 --> 00:56:19,360
paused and wondered what the heck he was talking about.
937
00:56:19,360 --> 00:56:21,200
We all had our own theories about it.
938
00:56:21,200 --> 00:56:24,840
And I love that he has never actually said what it was about.
939
00:56:24,840 --> 00:56:28,680
Don himself has said, "If I actually have to start explaining
940
00:56:28,680 --> 00:56:30,720
"what a song means, line by line,
941
00:56:30,720 --> 00:56:32,880
"then it has kind of failed as a song."
942
00:56:32,880 --> 00:56:37,880
Sometimes just let the mystery resonate, you know?
943
00:56:37,880 --> 00:56:41,480
American Pie does mean a lot of different things
944
00:56:41,480 --> 00:56:43,640
to a lot of different people,
945
00:56:43,640 --> 00:56:48,160
and that's part of the genius of writing what is a hit song.
946
00:56:48,160 --> 00:56:52,400
You know, people can listen to it and they can get whatever meaning
947
00:56:52,400 --> 00:56:55,040
out of it they want, whatever suits them.
948
00:56:55,040 --> 00:56:59,680
The producer Ed Freeman thinks the song told the story
949
00:56:59,680 --> 00:57:01,800
of America in the 1960s.
950
00:57:01,800 --> 00:57:05,720
It's like a funeral oration for America
951
00:57:05,720 --> 00:57:10,520
that allowed the Americans to grieve and to move forward.
952
00:57:10,520 --> 00:57:13,160
After American Pie came out,
953
00:57:13,160 --> 00:57:17,440
there was an article about it in Life magazine,
954
00:57:17,440 --> 00:57:19,640
and two weeks after the article came out,
955
00:57:19,640 --> 00:57:22,320
there were some letters to the editors about it.
956
00:57:22,320 --> 00:57:24,960
And one of them came from a woman
957
00:57:24,960 --> 00:57:30,000
who said that her husband was missing in action in Vietnam,
958
00:57:30,000 --> 00:57:32,600
- and...
- HIS VOICE BREAKS
959
00:57:34,360 --> 00:57:39,840
..that she used to cry and feel sorry for herself a lot,
960
00:57:39,840 --> 00:57:44,800
until she heard the full version of American Pie,
961
00:57:44,800 --> 00:57:49,560
and it made her realise how much we had all lost.
962
00:57:50,720 --> 00:57:52,960
And, um...
963
00:57:52,960 --> 00:57:57,440
I think that says it about as well as I've ever heard it said.
964
00:57:57,440 --> 00:58:00,160
It's the loss of that innocence,
965
00:58:00,160 --> 00:58:05,320
and the innocence is what died in 1959, when Buddy Holly died.
966
00:58:05,320 --> 00:58:11,440
Not the music, as such, but what the music meant to him,
967
00:58:11,440 --> 00:58:17,000
as a sort of idealised innocence of happiness and joy.
968
00:58:17,000 --> 00:58:19,040
That went.
969
00:58:19,040 --> 00:58:22,840
Don wanted to do his version of Sgt Pepper,
970
00:58:22,840 --> 00:58:26,480
and it was supposed to be a concept album.
971
00:58:26,480 --> 00:58:30,480
And for the life of me, I didn't understand the concept,
972
00:58:30,480 --> 00:58:34,760
but then, eventually, I did.
973
00:58:34,760 --> 00:58:38,000
If you look at the lyrics in the songs, it's all about loss.
974
00:58:38,000 --> 00:58:43,040
It just really made me feel good, and it was just beautiful.
975
00:58:43,040 --> 00:58:44,760
It's like a symphony.
976
00:58:44,760 --> 00:58:46,920
That is where I think he's rated,
977
00:58:46,920 --> 00:58:50,960
I think he is rated along with the greatest songwriters of all time.
978
00:58:50,960 --> 00:58:54,040
My songs will be around a long, long time from now.
979
00:58:54,040 --> 00:58:56,480
Because they already have been around almost 50 years.
980
00:58:56,480 --> 00:59:01,480
And I've been alive for that, so who knows what will happen when I die?
981
00:59:01,480 --> 00:59:03,560
# And they were singin', what? #
982
00:59:03,560 --> 00:59:08,080
AUDIENCE SINGS AND CLAPS ALONG: # Bye-bye, Miss American Pie
983
00:59:08,080 --> 00:59:13,440
# Drove my Chevy to the levee But the levee was dry
984
00:59:13,440 --> 00:59:17,160
# And them good old boys were drinking whisky and rye
985
00:59:17,160 --> 00:59:25,280
# Singing this'll be the day that I di-i-i-ie. #
986
00:59:25,280 --> 00:59:28,760
RAPTUROUS APPLAUSE
80822
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