Sensible Erection | The Legend and Legacy of American Pie

Friday, 20 July 2012

quote [ Guessing at the lyrics of “American Pie” has been an indulgence of musical scholars and dilettantes for forty years now, and will be going on as long as a radio station, TV show, website, or movie plays the unforgettable tune. ]

Attempting to dissect the lyrics of American Pie was a project of my Grade 11 English class.

[music] [by drd69@9:52pmGMT] [+4]

Comments

drd69 said @ 9:54pm GMT on 20th Jul

radioelectric said @ 10:14pm GMT on 20th Jul [Score:1 Interesting]
This song always reminded me of 9/11 because I was a paperboy back when that happened and the "bad news on the doorstep line" (and a few others in the song if you take them metaphorically, even "bye bye miss american pie" could be) resonate with that memory for me.

radioelectric said @ 10:15pm GMT on 20th Jul
It was finding that personal interpretation that allowed me to feel like I "could" play the song.

radioelectric said @ 10:17pm GMT on 20th Jul
(I did cut out about half of the song though.)

lalanda said @ 12:09am GMT on 21st Jul
Hi Madonna.

drewski3420 said @ 12:50am GMT on 21st Jul
Paperboys in 2001?

Excited Corpse said @ 10:19pm GMT on 20th Jul

Excited Corpse said @ 10:19pm GMT on 20th Jul
I came

radioelectric said @ 10:20pm GMT on 20th Jul
Very nice. The version without the music is better though for the commentator chatter:

Excited Corpse said @ 10:34pm GMT on 20th Jul
I am moving to Australia. Who has a couch for me?

pleaides said @ 11:40pm GMT on 20th Jul [Score:1 Underrated]
ol

tsujaelttilsane said @ 1:02am GMT on 21st Jul
Got to run fast to stay ahead of wang.

EPT said @ 3:55am GMT on 21st Jul
Is it a requirement for hurdlers to have ponytails?

arrowhen said @ 4:40am GMT on 21st Jul
Athletically-built women (full disclosure: I am not a woman and the only sport I'm built for is marathon drinking, but I did have long hair back in the day), especially tall ones, often seem to favor long hair, possibly as a way to "feminize" an otherwise masculine appearance. At the same time, when you're engaged in strenuous physical activity, you don't want your hair sticking all over your sweaty face -- especially when the brief distraction of your hair sticking all over your sweaty face could mean the difference between winning and losing a competition you've been training for your entire life. Shoving your hair back into a ponytail is a quick and efficient way of getting long hair out of your face when you'd rather not be bothered with it.

cb361 said @ 12:58pm GMT on 21st Jul
My major problem with long hair was that it insulated and warmed up my head at night, which seemed to lead to very vivid dreams. So I had to tie it back even at night.

Kat said @ 10:21pm GMT on 20th Jul [Score:5 Funny]
I had to do lights for him once in the late 90's. He tried to hit on me in the green room before the show (much to his band's chagrin). Given that he had been less than nice to everyone else and that I was all of 19 at the time...it was all I could do not to look up at him, admiringly, and say in a breathless voice:

"You know, my father just loves your work!"

incpenners said @ 7:09pm GMT on 21st Jul
You're not the only one who thinks he's an asshole (Real File).

'the feud'

Kat said @ 7:50am GMT on 22nd Jul
Meh. I tend to give people the benefit of a doubt. After all, I tend to only see them one day out of the year.

radioelectric said @ 10:34pm GMT on 20th Jul [Score:1 WTF]

radioelectric said @ 10:34pm GMT on 20th Jul
I'm not 100% sure what happens at the end of this video. If it is what I think it is then it's actually pretty filthy.

radioelectric said @ 10:40pm GMT on 20th Jul [Score:2 Good]
Acoustic guitar level relevance. These are some guys I know. They are good at folk music:

pleaides said @ 11:45pm GMT on 20th Jul [Score:1 Interesting]
The masters at their play :)

underdog said @ 7:41am GMT on 21st Jul [Score:1 Funny]
Wait, George W. Bush cut a record with Mark Knopfhler?

happiest_sadist said @ 7:46am GMT on 21st Jul [Score:1 Good]
The musical version of my motto:

bltrocker said @ 4:35pm GMT on 21st Jul
I've really fallen out of love with the sound of open tunings.

KingPellinore said @ 2:42am GMT on 21st Jul [Score:2 Insightful]
"When people ask me what 'American Pie' means, I tell them it means I don't ever have to work again if I don't want to."
-Don McLean

scojam said @ 3:02am GMT on 21st Jul
American woman Stay away from me American Woman Mama let me be
Don’t come Hanging around my door I don’t want to see your face No more
I got more important Things to do Then spend my time Growing old with you
American Woman Get away from me American woman Mama let me be
Don’t come Knocking around my door I don’t want to see your shadow No more
Colored Lights Can hypnotize Go and sparkle Someone else’s eyes
Now woman I said get away American Woman Listen what I say
American Woman I said get away American woman Listen what I say
Don’t come Hanging around my door
Idon’t want to see your face No more
I don’t need your war machines
I don’t need your ghetto scenes
Colored lights can hypnotize
Sparkle someone else’s eyes
Now woman, get away from me
American woman, mama let me be
Go, gotta get away, gotta get away
Now go go go
gonna leave you, woman
gonna leave you, woman
Bye-bye
Bye-bye
Bye-bye
Bye-bye
You’re no good for me
I’m no good for you
Gonna look you right in the eye.
Tell you what I’m gonna do
You know I’m gonna leave
You know I’m gonna go
You know I’m gonna leave
You know I’m gonna go, woman
I’m gonna leave, woman
Goodbye, American Woman

The American women is the Statue of Liberty. Apparantly when the band was about to go on tour in the US a long, long time ago, they were warned that having a green card meant that while in the US they were subject to the draft. That meant Vietnam so they cancelled the tour. The song was an inspiration of Randy Bachman's. Knowing who the American Woman is explains a lot of the song.

EPT said @ 4:07am GMT on 21st Jul
Eh? You get a tourist or a business visa for visiting. Aren't green cards for residing?

arrowhen said @ 4:17am GMT on 21st Jul [Score:1 Interesting]
Interpretations of the lyrics

The song's lyrics have been the matter of some debate, often interpreted as an attack on U.S. politics (especially the draft). Jim Kale, the group's bassist and the song's co-author, explained his take on the lyrics:

The popular misconception was that it was a chauvinistic tune, which was anything but the case. The fact was, we came from a very strait-laced, conservative, laid-back country, and all of a sudden, there we were in Chicago, Detroit, New York — all these horrendously large places with their big city problems. After that one particularly grinding tour, it was just a real treat to go home and see the girls we had grown up with. Also, the war was going on, and that was terribly unpopular. We didn't have a draft system in Canada, and we were grateful for that. A lot of people called it anti-American, but it wasn't really. We weren't anti-anything. John Lennon once said that the meanings of all songs come after they are recorded. Someone else has to interpret them.[5]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Woman_%28song%29

profetscott said @ 12:47am GMT on 22nd Jul
Have not been paying attention to music posts, cause my sound card has been down. Got an old PC up, so remembered the post here to try it out. Almost brought tears to my eyes. Just sentamental.

ckfahrenheit said @ 4:32pm GMT on 23rd Jul