Don McLean is a national treasure who has garnered more than 40 gold and platinum records worldwide. A Songwriters’ Hall of Fame inductee, McLean is best known for his 1971 mega-hit “American Pie” — named one of the top five songs of the 20th century by the Recording Industry Association of America and inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Additionally, the original working manuscript for “American Pie” sold for $1,205,000 through Christie’s auction house in 2015. I spoke via telephone with the maverick tunesmith about his formative influences, some early songs, and his most recent album, in advance of his upcoming Libbey Bowl concert.
How did Frank Sinatra, the Weavers, and Buddy Holly all influence you? Well … one is a great practitioner of popular music, the other is the greatest folk group that ever was, and the other is probably one of the greatest rock ’n’ roll singers and songwriters. I have a large repertoire and knowledge of popular music — show tunes, all kinds of stuff. And I’m well into folk music and early rock ’n’ roll. To me The Everly Brothers and Buddy Holly and Little Richard and Elvis Presley — they are rock ’n’ roll. But my songwriting really draws from those three areas of music.
I really love “Magdalene Lane,” your homage to the passing of Judy Garland, the death of old-school Hollywood, and America in tumult circa 1969. Can you tell me about its origin? I was an East Coast guy … going out to California for the first time … playing at the Troubadour … and I wrote that song [because of] the MGM auction. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer — the Harvard of movie studios — went out of business. All the others — Paramount, Columbia — they were way underneath. If you were a star at MGM, you were Clark Gable or Myrna Loy or William Powell. This is class! They made great movies; they were a great studio that had great people! So, after going to the auction, I wrote the song. It was in a style that, later, “American Pie” was written somewhat like that.