Music Zen Moments – American Pie

Music Zen Moments – American Pie

It was Mayfest time in Tulsa. Every year, downtown Tulsa blocked off a large section of the business district and Main Street for Mayfest. There were tons of art vendors, food, and several stages spaced among the streets for local and some national music acts.
We always made it to Mayfest, just to wander the booths, listen to some of the local bands and eat food from the participating restaurants. There were plenty of beer vendors in the one time each year you could walk down the main mall in Tulsa with a cup of semi-cold beer in your hand.
The main stage, surrounded by trees and a small park area, always had the biggest draw bands. Country acts, and some rising or long time national acts would play there to a moderate sized crowd. There were lines of folding chairs and sometimes people with their own lawn chairs strewn around the perimeter of the area.

Ashley and I made a point to be in the crowd the year that Don Mclean played Mayfest. I had been a fan ever since the seminal album “American Pie” hit the airwaves in 1971. That song, “American Pie,” caught literally everyone’s imagination with its poetry and imagery. It made those of us who followed the history of Rock music listen carefully to figure out who or what each of the lyrics referred to. Was the “Satan laughing with delight” a reference to Mick Jagger at the Altamont concert where, during the singing of “Sympathy for the Devil” a member of the Hell’s Angels stabbed a guy to death near the front of the crowd? Was “Helter Skelter in the summer swelter” a reference to the Manson murders that were supposed to have been inspired by the Beatles White album?
Mclean came on stage to a roar of applause and calls. He set out through a beautiful set, enhanced by the perfect early May Oklahoma day. The sky shone a peaceful pastel blue behind him and his band as he crooned though hit after hit. Roberta Flack was right when she wrote about him in her song, “Killing Me Softly.” “Strumming my pain with his fingers. Singing my life with his words.”
Don’s smooth voice sang “And I love her so,” the haunting “Vincent” and his cover of Roy Orbison’s “Crying.” He chatted with the crowd and small kids danced, uninhibited at the front of the stage as he played and sang. As the end of the show neared, we all waited for “American Pie,” but at the same time wishing it would delay because we knew that would end the show.
“Long, Long time ago….” He began, as he quietly strummed his guitar, and the crowd erupted! The audience stood, en masse, moving toward the stage to sing, along with its creator, the anthem of a generation of fans.

“American Pie” is a song that, at over 8 minutes in, length, was one of the longest songs to top the pop charts in 1972. The Beatles had a number one with the 7-minute “Hey Jude” in 1968. But, on that early evening in down town Tulsa, the minutes flew by as the crowd sang out; unaware of others who might look on, when the unfortunate happened.

Two Thirds of the way through the song, the entire sound system died. Suddenly McLean’s voice was silent. Suddenly his guitar was no more. Suddenly his band ceased to exist.

The amzing thing was this….th song did not stop. The crowd continued on with the song, their voices blending, as it wafted through the warm evening air. Mclean, with a shrug, stepped to the front of the stage and began conducting the crowd as they sang through the last verse and chorus.

"And in the streets: the children screamed,
The lovers cried, and the poets dreamed.
But not a word was spoken;
The church bells all were broken.
And the three men I admire most:
The father, son, and the holy ghost,
They caught the last train for the coast
The day the music died.
And they were singing,
"bye-bye, Miss American Pie."
Drove my Chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry.
And them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
Singin', "this'll be the day that I die.
"this'll be the day that I die."

At the end, Don Mclean, bowed and gestured to his band as the crowd rose in applause. The concert had been spectacular, but it was that electric glitch, that coincidence of technical failure that made this concert more than what it seemed on the surface. The crowd, all united in one voice, just for a few moments, became something bigger.