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American Pie
Don McLean
1971

A true masterpiece.  There are some songs that are fun little ditties, some are happy, some are sad.  And then there are some that just transcend being little ditties and tell complete stories.  With American Pie, it tells the story of an entire generation.

Most people know that the classic chorus line, "the day the music died," is a direct reference to the 1959 plane crash that took Buddy Holly and Richie Valens.  The rest of the song has been subject to some interpretation and potentially covers the entire tumultuous 1960s.  Whatever the case, the song sounds both from a bygone era and yet also amazingly fresh 50 plus years later.  The storytelling here is so vivid that you completely forget that the song goes on for eight-plus minutes.  Like any other good story in any other medium, it leaves you, the listener, to sit there while Don paints the picture of the characters in your own mind.  And the interplay between the guitar and piano is magic.  Just brilliant stuff all the way around.

I don't have much more to offer about this one other than to say, have you ever thought about being in a group of people and just leading a massive sing-along to this song?  Yeah, me neither.

Other Songs Considered:
I honestly have never heard anything else Don McLean ever did in my life.