When I was a teenager I used to sit at the piano and play Don McLean’s song AMERICAN PIE, memorizing the words to six verses and belting them out, wondering and marveling what they meant. The title of this 8:30 minute anthem of a generation didn’t hold allure for me, but the phrase “the day the music died” was one that played over and over in my head. As if that could ever happen, as if anyone would possibly let that happen. And why would McLean sing about this absurd possibility? Then one weekend last fall in Vermont, over 40 years later, I lived through ‘the day the music died.’ |
PARTIAL Verse 1 of AMERICAN PIE |
PARTIAL VERSE 2 Of AMERICAN PIE | Jim Fann wrote UNDERSTANDING AMERICAN PIE and says the above lyrics refer to a time when “faith in the music replaces faith in God” when the 1960’s are in full swing. Other religious imagery is referenced in the song in of “sacred store,” and “the church bells all were broken.” And you can read more about what some think the lyrics mean here: https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32196117. I don’t believe music can save your soul, but I do believe it’s a balm - a soothing, inspirational, educational, spiritual, evocative combination of vibrations moving through the air. I think music while not essential to a worship service, enhances it significantly, and well to me, is essential. But that’s a personal choice. Frank Fitzpatrick writes “Music is, at its essence, the sound of spirit. When created from the heart and with truth and pure intention, music is a spiritual expression of the most universal nature and the highest order.” I agree. |
PARTIAL VERSE 4 OF AMERICAN PIE | |
I finished playing FIRE AND ICE and quickly left to go meet the movers and Terry. In the space of that tune, a miracle happened. Terry and our friend Lisa were in our old neighborhood - five minutes from where the piano was being fostered - talking to the family who bought our old home (from the folks we sold it to). They have two young boys and when they heard the saga about the piano and that it was headed to the dump in half an hour, they said oh you can’t do that, we’ll take it! So when I returned to Terry to meet the movers, tears pouring down my face, Terry rushed to tell me the great news. Not only was the piano not going into the landfill, it was returning to its old home - now owned by Harmony, her husband and the two boys. (How poetic that this old weathered and loved instrument returned home where Harmony resides!) So in the end, while it really did feel like ‘the day the music died,’ the music came back to life and continues to live on. As it should and always will. | PARTIAL VERSE 6 OF AMERICAN PIE |