On Feb 3, 2008 11:45 PM, Moose <olymoose@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> John Hudson wrote:
> > .....
> >
> > Don McLean's 1971 tribute song "American Pie" labelled this day in 1959 as
> > "The Day The Music Died".
> >
> I won't argue the thesis or quality of the song, one way or the other.
>
> It's role in the making of Don McLean should be unquestioned.
One of those songs whose popularity and success you can't account for
when you consider what came after it -- "Vincent" and "Castles in the
Air" being examples. Being a very poor student at the time, I had to
be selective about albums I bought and skipped "American Pie" because
I'd heard it too much already. At some point later, I found McLean's
album "Playing Favorites" in a remaindered bin and it is still a
delight to me, it being a selection of old bluegrass tunes. But it
was a bit like a conscious attempt to ratchet his fame down a notch.
Others might even have called it commercial suicide.
"American Pie" was a phenomenon (i.e., a nine-day wonder) like Bobby
Gentry's "Ode to Billie Joe." Getting a hit like that is a little
like winning the lottery. McLean was/is a lot more interesting artist
than Bobby Gentry, though (IMHO).
As a guitarist, however, I always have found left-handed guitarists to
be pretentious for some odd reason (not because they are left-handed
but because they won't learn to play the guitar properly -- it's not
a tennis racket for godsakes!).
Running now from the wrath of the southpaws ...
Joel W.
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