A long long time ago, I can still remember / How that music used to
make me smile
And I knew if I had my chance / That I could make those people dance
And maybe, they'd be happy for a while
But February made me shiver / With ev'ry paper I'd deliver
Bad news on the door step / I couldn't take one more step
I can't remember if I cried / When I read about his widowed bride
Something touched me deep inside / The day the music died, so
Bye bye Miss American Pie / Drove my chevy to the levy
But the levy was dry / Them good old boys
Were drinkin' whiskey in Rye / Singin' this'll be the
day that I die
This'll be the day that I die
Did you write the book of love / And do you have faith in god
above
If the Bible tells you so
Now do you believe in rock and roll / Can music save your mortal soul
And can you teach me / How to dance real slow
Well I know that you're in love with him / 'Cause I saw you dancin' in
the gym
You both kicked off your shoes / Then I digged those rhythm and blues
I was a lonely teenage broncin' buck / With a pink carnation and a pick
up truck
But I knew I was out of luck / The day the music died, I started
singing Chorus
Now for ten years we've been on our own / And moss grows fat on a
rollin' stone
But that's not how it used to be
When the jester sang for the king and queen
In a coat he borrowed from James Dean / And a voice that came from you
and me
Oh and while the king was looking down / The jester stole his thorny
crown
The courtroom was adjourned / No verdict was returned
And while Lenin read a book on Marx / A quartet practised in the park
And we sang dirges in the dark / The day the music died, we were
singin' Chorus
Helter Skelter in a summer swelter / The birds flew off with a fallout
shelter
Eight miles high and fallin' fast / Plant a flower on the grass
The players tried for a forward pass / With the jester on the sidelines
in a cast
Now the half-time air was sweet perfume
While the sergeants played a marching tune
We all got up to dance / But we never got a chance
'Cause the players tried to take the field / The marching banmd refused
to yield
Do you recall what was revealed / The day the music died, we started
singin' Chorus
And there we were all in one place / A generation lost in space
With no time left to start again / So come on Jack be nimble
Jack be quick, Jack flash sat on a candlestick / 'Cause fire is the
devil's only friend
And as I watched him on the stage / My hands were clenched in fists of
rage
No angel born in hell could break / That Satan's spell
And as the flames climbed high into the night / To light the
sacrificial rite
I was satan laughing with delight / The day the music died, he was
singin', Chorus
I met a girl who sang the blues / And I asked her for some happy news
But she just smiled and turned away
I went down to the sacred store / Where I'd heard the music years before
But the men there said the music wouldn't play
But in the streets the children screamed / The lovers cried and the
poets dreamed
But not a world was spoken / The church bells all were broken
And the three man I admire most / The father son and holy ghost
They caught the last train for the coast / The day the music died
And they were singin'
Chorus
Don McLean was once asked what the song meant. He replied "It means that I'll never have to work again."
