American Pie / Madonna ?

[David Broad]

I just listened to Madonna's on youtube. Don't like it. Ruining a perfectly good song

Sorry , missed this mail that you have heard it . Ruininmg , improving it more like .:nod:

[David Broad]

Don Maclean's version is far divine..

Madonna's version sucks...
No further comments, don't want to get bashed by Madonna fans. Though I like her work, Ray Of Light is my all time fave Pop song... But there are some songs which are not meant for her..

American Pie, I believe is a song dedicated to a sad day in music history... Madonna's song reminisces none of that..

I might sound stupid here , but just what was the song all about . Always wondered by never really known . Nor has anybod else that I have asked .

[David Broad]

So a few years ago I was in a little independent shop where they play whatever the staff want and Don McLean's American Pie came on.

Two pre-teen girls beside me said - 'Listen to that - some-one's covering Madonna' - well the same look that the shop assistant and I shared, I now pass on to you.

- but I do like your llama

Do I look worried ? look at me how you like I am sticking to my guns on this one .

[David Broad]

Well I knew this one would certainly cuase a good stir , but I am loving it . Been doing some checking . Madonna went straight in at No.1 in the UK charts . But never a NO.1 in the USA . Purhaps somebody could enlighten me as to how high it went out there ?
As for Don Mclean it was the other way round . In the USA it was a number one . Here in the UK it had to settle for being one of lifes number twos . Undertandable I think . Just gos to show who has the more taste her . [sorry I couldn't resist that ] But then don't think for one moment I am going to let up on this one . Ford me it is Madonna's version every time .

[carbon_psycho]

That's coz Mclean's version is a country hit & Madonna's is pop.

& Pop always sells.. People hear Leona Lewis' Run & think it's cool.. But very few know it's by Snow Patrol originally..

Half, the people I know think that The Man Who Sold The World is by Cobain... & many prefer Cobain's version over the original.

To each his own..

There is this band called Baseballs which remade Rihanna's Umbrella.. I love the Baseballs version a lot more.
here's a link:
YouTube - The Baseballs - Umbrella

Baseballs do amazing covers of popular hits.

[Music Head]

from wikipedia

Recorded and released on the American Pie album in 1971, the single was a number-one U.S. hit for four weeks in 1972. A re-release in 1991 did not chart in the U.S., but reached number 12 in the UK. The song is an abstract story surrounding "The Day the Music Died" — the 1959 plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper (Jiles Perry Richardson, Jr.), as well as the pilot, Roger Peterson. The importance of "American Pie" to America's musical and cultural heritage was recognized by the Songs of the Century education project which listed the song as the number five song of the twentieth century. Some Top 40 stations initially played only side two of the single, but the song's popularity eventually forced stations to play the entire piece.

The song is well known for its recondite lyrics that have long been the subject of curiosity and speculation. Although McLean dedicated the American Pie album to Buddy Holly, none of the musicians in the plane crash is identified by name in the song itself. When asked what "American Pie" meant, McLean replied, "It means I never have to work again."[1] Later, he more seriously stated,

"You will find many interpretations of my lyrics but none of them by me... sorry to leave you all on your own like this but long ago I realized that songwriters should make their statements and move on, maintaining a dignified silence."[2]
McLean has generally avoided responding to direct questions about the song lyrics ("They’re beyond analysis. They’re poetry.")[3] except to acknowledge that he did first learn about Buddy Holly's death while folding newspapers for his paper route on the morning of February 3, 1959 (the line "February made me shiver/with every paper I'd deliver"). He also stated in an editorial published on the 50th anniversary of the crash in 2009 that writing the first verse of the song exorcised his long-running grief over Holly's death.

Despite this, many fans of McLean, amongst others, have attempted an interpretation (see Interpretation Links); at the time of the song's original release in late 1971, many American AM and FM rock radio stations released printed interpretations and some devoted entire shows discussing and debating the song's lyrics, resulting in both controversy and intense listener interest in the song. Some examples are the real-world identities of the "Jester", "King and Queen", "Satan", "Girl Who Sang the Blues" and other characters referenced in the verses.

A few cover versions have been made over the years. The first English language cover version was by The Brady Bunch in 1972, but a Spanish translation sung by voice actor Francisco Colmenero surfaced around Mexico in 1971. A very significant version, also in Spanish, was recorded in 1984 by the Nicaraguan singer Hernaldo Zúñiga. (Eduardo Fonseca recorded a cover version of the translation in 2000.) Ska punk band Catch 22 made a ska version which became a staple of their live show, released in several versions. Alternative rock band Killdozer recorded a thrashing, ironic version of the song in 1989.

As heard on Live, Mott the Hoople opened mid-1970s concerts with singer Ian Hunter performing the first verse on solo piano up to the phrase the day the music died. Hunter would then add "or did it?", and the full band would segue into the next number.[7]

Tori Amos performed the song often as a piano solo in her live concerts, and country singer Garth Brooks also sang this song during concerts in the early to mid 1990s. During Brooks' "Live in Central Park" concert, he performed this song as a duet with McLean himself at the end of the concert. The audience, of over 100,000 people, was also invited to sing the chorus near the end of the song.

British a cappella group King's Singers covered the song for their 1993 album Good Vibrations.

Chris de Burgh covered the song in 2008 on the album Footsteps.

Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder has sung the chorus of "American Pie" over the outro music of "Daughter" during select live performances.

It was also Hong Kong pop superstar Leslie Cheung's breakthrough song.

American singer-songwriter Madonna released a cover version of the song in March 2000 to promote the soundtrack to her film The Next Best Thing (2000). Her cover is much shorter than the original (it contains only the beginning of the first verse and all of the second and sixth verses) and was recorded as a pop-dance song. It was voted the worst ever cover version in a poll in January 2007 by BBC 6 Music.[13] However, Don McLean himself praised the cover, saying it was "a gift from a goddess", and that her version is "mystical and sensual."[14]

Due to the success of the single, it was included as a bonus track on her 2000 studio album Music, however this was not available on the North American version. Madonna explained in a 2001 interview on BBC Radio 1 with Jo Whiley, the reason that the song was omitted from her 2001 greatest hits compilation GHV2: "It was something a certain record company executive twisted my arm into doing, but it didn't belong on the (Music) album so now it's being punished".

The cover was produced by Madonna and William Orbit, who had previously worked with her on the 1998 studio album Ray of Light and 1999 single "Beautiful Stranger". Released in March 2000, the song was a big worldwide hit, reaching #1 in many countries, including the UK, Canada, Australia, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Finland. The song was the 19th best selling of 2000 in the UK. There was no commercial single release in the US, but the single still reached the #29 spot on Billboard's Hot 100, based on airplay alone.

[goth metal raver]

The song covers some rock music history. It starts and is centred around the 'day the music died' when Buddy Holly died in the plane crash. It then seems to cover the sixties (I think there is at least one reference to Bob Dylan) and ends with stuff about the devil and 'Jack Flash', maybe referencing The Rolling Stones and Crazy World of Arthur Brown seperately or specifically referring to the death of the hippy dream (another 'day the music died'?) at Altomont when that guy got murdered during the Rolling Stones set.

That's my take on it anyway.

[goth metal raver]

Just listened to the song again. Here are some more of the references:

The Jester = Bob Dylan (I think)
The Quartet = The Beatles
The songs Helter Skelter (The Beatles) and Eight Miles High (The Byrds) are specifically namechecked
'The sergeants played a marching tune' = a reference to Sgt Pepper?

[David Broad]

Very interesting what you say Music Head . Somebody did once mention about it was suppossed to be to do with the Buddy Holly Plain Crash . Also what don Mclean was supposed to have siad about the meaning of it which was words to the same affect .
Just in case I have miss-understood , are you saying that is was not released as a single in the USA ? As for the Album you mentioned , I don't have that one . It is not however on her Greatest Hits 2 album . Mind you though , in her first few years she did make some good albums , but as the years went by , the got that they were not bottering with . Setting hits albums aside , her last really good one was "I'm Breathless ."
Anyway , back to the subject in hand . As for interpritations , as well as what they are meant to be , I find it is one that I for one that one can certainly use one's imagination with .
It does disoppiont me that it was voted the worst cover version . Belive me , there is much worse . But then it does fullfill me what you say that Don said about it . Another point , hearing her speak when it made No.1 , when sugested to her , she was not too keen .
I knew right form the outset what everybody was going to say about this , of course I did . But then we all have different tastes . So at that I am going to round this subject off with these few words .
Assuming Don Mclean wrote it , which unless I am worng he did . Though I would not have said it until Madonna did it , fair play to him for writing it . That much nobody can take away form him . And now I think about it I really do not think that there is anyway in which Madonna herself could have come up with it . But then for me , it is fair play to Madonna , and who ever it was for suggesting it to her for doing such an outstanding version . Fair play to you all
Though you might not belive this I do respect your opinions . So which ever version each of us individuals prefer , may we still enjoy many more happy hours of listening to them whatever they may be . Regaurds , David

[David Broad]

That's coz Mclean's version is a country hit & Madonna's is pop.

& Pop always sells.. People hear Leona Lewis' Run & think it's cool.. But very few know it's by Snow Patrol originally..

Half, the people I know think that The Man Who Sold The World is by Cobain... & many prefer Cobain's version over the original.

To each his own..

There is this band called Baseballs which remade Rihanna's Umbrella.. I love the Baseballs version a lot more.
here's a link:
YouTube - The Baseballs - Umbrella

Baseballs do amazing covers of popular hits.

Just had a listen . Not to my taste I am sorry to say , but then to be fair , I can see it being a particularly popular song , particularly in the USA . Are they a USA Band ?