Classics by Don McLean

Long long time ago, it was the last day of school. Summer vacation was shouting It's A Beautiful Life to my best friend Vinnie and me. "♫ Bye, bye Miss American Pie...Drove my Chevy to the levy but the levy was dry...and good old boys drinking whiskey and rye...singing this will be the day that I die... ♫," we sang, as Don McLean's Miss American Pie played on the radio of Vinnie's pickup truck.

It was our favorite song. "It has a steady beat," Vinnie used to say. I dug the surreal lyrics, but I had no clue what they meant. I also liked the catchy hooks of the piano, the strumming of the rhythm guitar, and the lilting tenor voice of Don McLean.

Vinnie dreamed of being an artist and I dreamed of being a singer/songwriter. When we talked about our dreams, our parents never listened. They thought we were silly. We told them we were gonna be famous someday. We just knew it!

Like colors changing hues, we were two teenage bronking bucks entering manhood.

One summer weekend, Vinnie and my other friend Edgar dressed up like ragged men in ragged clothes, and went on a hunting trip. I wanted to go too but I was ill, so I knew I was out of luck the day they went hunting.

That evening, it was a starry starry night as I listened to Don's voice and acoustic guitar capture the essence of the famous painter Vincent Van Gogh. Such a bittersweet ballad with lyrics that drew out my teenage angst every time it played.

"♫ They would not listen...they did not know how... ♫," Don sang, as if he could read my thoughts. My parents never listened to me. I felt they didn't understand me. Perhaps they did not know how.

Suddenly, the phone rang. I answered it. It was Vinnie's mom. She was Crying. Vinnie and Edgar had drove the Chevy over a cliff during the hunting trip. My best friend was dead and Edgar had two broken legs.

Whenever I hear the song Crying, the tragedy of Vinnie's death plays in my mind along with Don's high falsetto voice as he sings this tear-jerking Roy Orbison ballad.

At the funeral, weathered faces lined with pain sat in the pews. Vinnie's girlfriend Sherry dedicated the dreamy ballad And I Love You So to Vinnie. She sobbed profusely as Don's voice echoed in the chambered hall.

Vinnie's parents would not listen to Vinnie when he was alive. Perhaps they'll listen now, or perhaps they never will.

Whenever I hear Don sing songs like Jerusalem/It's In the Sun/It's A Beautiful Life/Since I Don't Have You, I think of all the good times Vinnie and I had. He was the devil and I was the jester, and we really dug the soft rock sounds of the acoustic guitars, orchestra, rhythm section and Don's cherry of a tenor voice on top.

As the years went by, I began to understand what Don tried to say to me. As I listened to his songs many times over, the lyrics began to make sense. You see, when Vinnie died, it was the day the music died. Since I Don't Have You, Vinnie, never again will we sing our off-key duets along with our favorite song American Pie.

But then again, Castles In the Air flies out of the speakers of my new Chevy pickup truck. The shuffling rhythm, Don's voice and orchestra lift my spirits, and I daydream that Vinnie is in his castle in the air painting great works of art along side Vincent Van Gogh.

Tracks

American Pie
Vincent
And I Love You So
Crying
Since I Don't Have You
Castles In the Air
It's Just the Sun
Jerusalem
It's A Beautiful Life
American Pie (New version but did not hear any differences from the old version that were noteworthy.)