Don McLean etched a significant place in modern music history with big classic rock hits, like “American Pie,” “Crying” and “Vincent.” The songs were written more than a half-century ago, but have solidly stood the test of time.
McLean is still going strong at 78, with a string of live performances scheduled to start this month, plus on May 17 the release of a new, 13-track LP, “American Boys.” The LP contains the recently released single, “The Gypsy Road,” and is to be distributed by BFD Music/The Orchard.
“It’s all new songs and took about four years to write,” says McLean. “I worked on it during the pandemic with the help of songwriter Vip Vipperman. I love “American Boys” because it honors the early rockers who paved the way, reminds us that America invented rock n roll.”
We caught up with McLean, a recent Songwriter Hall Of Fame inductee, by phone this past week. Following are edited excerpts from a longer phone conversation.
Jim Clash: You’re 78 now. How will you know when it’s time to quit touring?
Don McLean: That’s an interesting question. Do you want the Don McLean that sounds exactly like he did in 1971? Or do you want the artist and the man Don McLean is who has decided to be on stage and sing for you, and who feels that what he’s offering will bring with it 50 years of life experience?
This is an art form. When I can’t hit the notes, and I can’t stand up and am drooling, then I have to go into the [nursing] home, have to stop [laughs]. But as long as I can hit the high notes in, “Crying,” I’ll be out there.
Clash: What differentiates your songs from other rock n roll tunes?
McLean: I write melodies. You have to sing every note. I’m not putting anybody down, because I love [Bob] Dylan and the Rolling Stones, but if you think about say, Dylan, “Once upon a time, you dressed so fine…blah blah, blah” – that’s not really a melody. It [“Like A Rolling Stone”] is a fantastic song, but it’s not a melody.
Take the Stones, “I can’t get no, da, da, da…and I’m watching my TV, and a man comes on and tells me…” That’s only one note. The tension is broken by, “Can’t get no, satisfaction…no no no, hey hey hey.” But then it goes back again to the one note. I don’t write songs like that, but I wish I could. I love them. It’s a brilliant thing to be able to do, bit it’s not in my vocabulary.
Clash: Okay, fair enough. But how do you pick say, a subject to write about?
McLean: I write every song for Don McLean. I do not do songs for others. I’ve told people many times that I have no idea how I do what I’m doing. I really don’t. I don’t know how I got this old, how I got all of this money and all of this respect from around the world. I just followed my muse and did whatever it told me.
I put albums out that say exactly what I want them to say. I didn’t have people looming over me, trying to control what I was singing – not one word that came out of my mouth. I’m so thankful for that. If you write for somebody else, you’re a hack.
Clash: Well, I write for Forbes [laughs].
McLean: That’s okay. One of the world’s great sculptors, Zenos Frudakis, is an dear old friend. He did that beautiful “Freedom” sculpture in Philadelphia, and many others. But he still has to sculpt people like Charles Schwab to make a living [laughs]. That’s often how it is. But it’s not that way for me. I was willing to live in a cave before I would let anybody tell me what to do. I didn’t care about wealth. My wealth was in the monuments I was creating, the s0ngs I was writing.
Clash: What did you think when you saw the final cut of the 2022 documentary, “The Day The Music Died: The Story Of Don McLean’s American Pie”?
McLean: I was shocked. I didn’t know they had footage of me at that fantastic weekend in 1969 at Newport [Jazz Festival]. There I was, with [Pete] Seeger. Oh my God, there I am, up there singing! Pete was always promoting me, helping me. He’s such a great person.
One day in the late sixties, I was up at his place before “American Pie” but around the time of “Tapestry,” the album that changed my life. Pete had had a little wine, was a little drunk – normally he didn’t drink, he was very stoic – and said, “You know, Don, you’re a genius. But you’re like a chef who only serves up a meal once.” All of my songs are different, and he knew that.
Clash: Okay, I think I already know the answer to this, but is there anything in the documentary that you didn’t reveal about the song “American Pie?” You really – and finally – covered the bases.
McLean: I don’t think so. There is probably some stuff, but I can’t recall. I’m not being disingenuous, but I can’t think of anything that I didn’t get across one way or another. There are serious things in that song, there are things that mean many things at once, there’s bullshit in there that means nothing. They’re words I created, but again, all for me.