Grammy Award Nominations: “American Pie” was nominated for Record and Album of the Year at the 14th Annual Grammy Awards (1972).
In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles. This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne.
Thirteen 13 years after Holly’s tragic death, American Pie sat at the top of the pop chart. Still, radio and fans took to it immediately. At over eight minutes the finished master was much longer than other Top 40 tracks, and the lyric content far more complex than the usual romantic fare. Now that he was a recording artist, Don returned to the day he found out about Holly’s fate while delivering papers one cold morning in New Rochelle, NY, and recast it as the opening image for American Pie. Two years later his debut album Tapestry appeared. In 1968 the New York State Council on the Arts named him Hudson River Troubadour. Soon, McLean was on his own musical path, and eventually found himself working with renowned folk artists. Chart Performance: Pop (#1 for 4 weeks) and Adult Contemporary ( #1 for 3 weeks) 1972 Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborneīuddy Holly was Don McLean’s idol one whose death on Februleft a deep impression on the teenaged boy.
