American Pie
Lyrics
A long long time ago I can still remember
How that music used to make me smile
And I knew that if I had my chance
I could make those people dance
And maybe they'd be happy for a while
Did you write the book of love
And do you have faith in God above
If the Bible tells you so
Now do you believe in rock 'n roll
And can music save your mortal soul
And can you teach me how to dance real slow
Well, I know that you're in love with him
Cause I saw you dancin in the gym
You both kicked off your shoes
Man, I dig those rhythm and blues
I was a lonely teenage broncin buck
With a pink carnation and a pickup truck
But I knew that I was out of luck
The day the music died
I started singing
Bye bye Miss American Pie
Drove my chevy to the levee
But the levee was dry
And good old boys were drinkin whiskey and rye
Singin this will be the day that I die
This will be the day that I die
I met a girl who sang the blues
And I asked her for some happy news
But she just smiled and turned away
Well, I went down to the sacred store
Where I'd heard the music years before
But the man there said the music wouldn't play
Well now 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 the most
The Father, Son and the Holy Ghost
They caught the last train for the coast
The day the music died
We started singing
Bye bye Miss American Pie
Drove my chevy to the levee
But the levee was dry
And good old boys were drinkin whiskey and rye
Singin this will be the day that I die
This will be the day that I die
Bye bye Miss American Pie
Drove my chevy to the levee
But the levee was dry
And good old boys were drinkin whiskey and rye
Singin this will be the day that I die
This will be the day that I die
We started singin'
We started singin'
We started singin'
Credits
Written by Don McLean
Produced by Madonna and William Orbit
Background vocals by Rupert Everett
Mixed by Mark -Spike- Stent
Guitars, drums and keyboards by William Orbit
Album
Single
In 2000 Madonna and Rupert Everett starred in The Next Best Thing, a comedy drama. Madonna's character is Abbey, a single woman in her early 30s who ends up having a child with her gay friend. The movie tries to handle issues as single parentship, child custody and homosexuality. At one point Abbey and her friends are at the funeral of a friend who died from aids and they start singing Don McLean's classic 'American Pie'. Rupert Everett convinced Madonna to cover the song and add it to the soundtrack.
Madonna and William Orbit reworked the song, making it shorter and more dancy. Released on March 3, 2000, American Pie reached #1 in a lot of countries, including the UK, Canada, Australia, Austria, Finland, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland. Ironically there was no commercial single release in the US, but the single still reached the #29 spot, just based on airplay.
The song was added as a bonus track on the Music album (outside the US). In an interview with BBC's Jo Whiley in November 2001, Madonna admits regretting this decision, which "a certain record company exec twisted her arm into doing". To 'punish' the song, it wasn't included in GHV2.
Video
The video pays tribute to the seventies in which the original song by Don McLean was recorded. They show several snaps of ordinary people; playing children, happy couples, a lonely woman in a store, etc. Director Philip Stolzl used a lot of splitscreens to show both those ordinary people and a rather extraordinary Madonna. Maddy is dressed in a blue shirt and a baggy jeans. On her dark blonde Raphael curls she's wearing a tiara. All through the video she's dancing in front of a large American flag. Rupert Everett - who did backing vocals - appears once in a while too, but there are no scenes from the movie. Funniest moments of the video are when Madonna turns around and shows the crack of her ass, and at the end, when she pulls up her trousers and then tears them when she sits down.