Eight minutes and thirty-three seconds. That's how long Don McLean needed to turn a newspaper boy's memory into a national singalong. The album that held that song, American Pie, arrived on October 24, 1971, as the second studio record from the American singer-songwriter, released by United Artists Records.
Buddy Holly and the seed of the song
McLean was thirteen when Buddy Holly died, a kid delivering papers. That loss became the seed of the title track, and the phrase "The Day the Music Died" from the song eventually became the unofficial name for the tragedy itself. The album was dedicated to Holly, the childhood idol McLean never got to see grow old.
The song was not built quickly. Producer Ed Freeman refused to use session musicians he called "metronomes" and instead assembled an ensemble that rehearsed the title track for two weeks. McLean rarely repeated a vocal phrase the same way, so some vocal parts took up to twenty-four takes, while the rhythm tracks were mostly captured on the first try.
Studio A and the Rhythm and Noise Choir
The recording took place in Studio A of the Record Plant on West 44th Street in New York during May and June of 1971. For the final chorus, the album sleeve credits a "West Forty Fourth Street Rhythm and Noise Choir" for the multi-tracked overdubs. Freeman claimed that choir included Pete Seeger, James Taylor, Livingston Taylor, and Carly Simon.
McLean usually refused to explain his songs, but he did describe the title track as being about a "feeling of loss." That feeling spread fast. The album reached number one on the Billboard 200 and earned a gold record within six months. It also hit number one in Australia and Canada, and number two in the United Kingdom. The album also carried two number-one singles. "American Pie" appeared in November 1971, and "Vincent" followed in February 1972, giving McLean a double hit from the same record. In 1972 the album won the Australian King of Pop award as Most Popular Overseas L.P.
A unified record shaped by Sgt. Pepper
The record was conceived as a unified work, influenced by the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper. McLean played vocals, acoustic guitar, and banjo, joined by Warren Bernhardt on piano, Paul Griffin on piano, David Spinozza on electric guitar, and Mike Mainieri on marimba and vibraphone. Freeman also arranged the strings for the album.
American Pie stayed in the Billboard chart for nearly a year and later went double platinum in the United States. Its reach went further: the song "Empty Chairs" inspired the hit "Killing Me Softly with His Song." The album is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
The record's life after 1971 was complicated. In 1980, Liberty Records reissued it without the track "Sister Fatima." In 2003, Capitol Records restored the song and added two bonus tracks, bringing the running time from thirty-six minutes and twenty-four seconds to forty-five minutes and thirty-seven seconds. The album's quieter corners have had their own long afterlife. "Babylon" is a close retelling of the first verse of Psalm 137, built on Philip Hayes's 1786 canon "By the Waters of Babylon." McLean arranged "Crossroads" and "Babylon" with Lee Hays, and a cover of "Babylon" later appeared in a scene of the series Mad Men.
Fifty-five years after its release, the album still works because it balances control and accident. McLean rarely repeated a vocal phrase the same way, yet the most memorable moment is a room full of friends shouting the chorus together. A song born from one boy's grief became a record of how a whole country mourns.
A song born from one boy's grief became a record of how a whole country mourns.