Saturday 9: American Pie

Saturday 9: American Pie (1971)

 ... because Country Dew suggested it
Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

One of my favorite songs! (I even know most of the words, and it's a long song.)

Thank you, Sam, for using my song!


1) In the lyrics, Don McLean refers to having once been a paper boy. When you were a kid, what job or household chores did you do for spending money?

A. I lived on a farm, so I had many chores, and I did not necessarily get an allowance as such for them. I looked after my brother, who was three years younger than I, I fed chickens, I bottle-fed calves, I carried in firewood, I started dinner, washed dishes  . . . but my favorite memory of making money has nothing to do with the farm. It was the summer we stayed my grandmother's house in Salem every day. One day I looked down the street and saw that they were getting ready to asphalt the road on a hot summer's day. I talked my grandmother into letting me, my brother, and my young uncle set up a lemonade stand, because I knew those men would spend money on something cold to drink. When the fellows got close, I held up a sign that said "ICE COLD LEMONADE" and the dimes flowed into our pockets. They drank all we could carry out to them.

2) Them good old boys were drinking whiskey and rye. What's the last drink you ordered?

A. A root beer. I don't drink alcohol, so I only have a boring answer for that one. 
 
3) He drove to the levee but it was dry. When is the last time it rained where you are?

A. Apparently it rained yesterday (Friday) while I was out, which only made things hot and muggy. We are a little low on moisture for the year and have concerns about our hay-making program.

4) When McLean was working on the song, he wrote the lyrics out in long hand. It took him 16 pages of lined notebook paper. Today it's a laptop/smartphone/tablet world, and Sam can't remember the last time she hand wrote anything longer than a sign on her front door that read, "Bell broken. Plz knock." What about you? What's the last thing you wrote with pen or pencil?

A. I keep a journal that I write in long hand. I also still take notes for newspaper articles in long hand, depending on the story. And I love to work on poetry in pencil.

But the very last thing I wrote was a telephone message for my husband.

5) McLean's most recent CD is called "Addicted to Black," in reference to Olivia in The Twelfth Night. Quick! Without looking it up, name another character from Shakespeare.

A. Othello. Macbeth. Hamlet.

6) Don was born in New Rochelle, New York, which was named one of The Best Walking Cities in America by the American Podiatric Medical Association (APMA). What about your neighborhood? Is it easily walkable?

A. Nope. We are rural and have no sidewalks. We don't even have a neighborhood, really. Uneven fields make for difficult walking. Plus there are cow pies.

7) In 1971, the year this song was popular, Walt Disney World officially opened. Have you ever been to DisneyLand or Disney World?

A. In 1993, to celebrate my graduation from college, my husband and I went to Disney in Orlando, Florida. Epcot had not been open long. We went in early June and it was incredibly hot.

8) Also in 1971, Mattel introduced Malibu Barbie. This doll was a "sun-loving California girl" and had a distinct tan. Have you ever used a tanning bed?

A. I tried it one time, and became so claustrophobic that I had to get out of there. I felt like a vampire in her coffin. 

9) American Pie is also the name of a 1999 movie. Have you seen it?

A. I have seen parts of it when my husband has had it on. But I've not watched the whole thing.