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Pop quiz:"The day the music died" refers to the death of whom?And prove it/use evidence to support your claim.
It's supposed to be Buddy Holly, but I think snopes says that is an urban legend, at least the American pie part anyway.
Agree with stumpfoot that it is referring to Buddy Holly and the others. One of the lyrics in American Pie “this'll be the day that I die” may be a direct reference to Buddy Holly's song “That'll Be The Day”Plus they died in February. From the lyrics again"But february made me shiverWith every paper I?d deliver.Bad news on the doorstep;I couldn?t take one more step."
Oh, good catch. I hadn't known about that particular reference before. Still, it seems like it could be coincidental. So how do you guys know that the song doesn't refer to Hendrix?
So how do you guys know that the song doesn't refer to Hendrix?
Some possibilities:American Pie was penned in 1971Another line from American Pie:"Now for ten years we've been on our own"Holly and Valens in 1959Hendrix died in 1970
Alright, I will concede that it refers to the deaths of Holly, Valens, and the Big Bopper. Perhaps that was too easy as a quick search could find that out. I remember arguing this point with some guys years ago and it was a little better since we weren't quite as sure.That said, I just read through some of the interpretations of what the lyrics mean. Even if they still debatable, it is still interesting to see all the possibilities of historical references in the song...almost feels like you've travelled into the mind of a guy who just went through the 1960s. There are many good parts to that article cited above, including this interesting tidbit about its influence on another song:
Singer Lori Lieberman attended a McLean concert; in describing the experience to songwriters Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox, she said he'd "killed her softly." Gimbel and Fox wrote Killing Me Softly about Lieberman's experience, and the song became a huge hit for Roberta Flack, and many years later for the Fugees. This created a unique Grammy situation: in 1973, Flack won Record of the Year, beating out American Pie, a song by McLean; in 1974, she won the same award for a song about McLean.
That song, Killling Me Softly, was then later released by the Fugees in the mid-1990s, so the American Pie influence did not stop.A great song all in all, but I should add that Madonna's 2000 quasi-dance cover of the song is still a disgrace. 😛
Pop quiz:"The day the music died" refers to the death of....
Okay can we name the future big timer that dodged this bang to leave us much later in a whimper?WallyBonus points if you can name the other late lamented that he was roommates with early in his career.W
You know I think I heard the answer once before to the first question but without looking it up I can't quite remember. Was it someone like Franki Valli?
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