American Pie
I've received a number of requests from r.m.d'ers for a copy of the American Pie article in which Bob gets lots of mentions. So, to save me having to do lots of individual mailings, I decided to post it here. Even if you don't like the song I can assure you that you'll find it much more interesting than articles such as "My favourite Dylan song is..........". So without further ado, here it is:
[This is a post of an a lengthy "group" article interpreting American Pie. Only the Dylan references are excerpted below. The full article may be found at Expecting Rain.]
But that's not how it used to be
When the jester sang for the King and Queen
The jester is Bob Dylan, as will become clear later. There are several interpretations of king and queen: some think that Elvis Presley is the king, which seems pretty obvious. The queen is said to be either Connie Francis or Little Richard. But see the next note.In a coat he borrowed from James DeanAn alternate interpretation is that this refers to the Kennedys -- the king and queen of "Camelot" -- who were present at a Washington DC civil rights rally featuring Martin Luther King. (There's a recording of Dylan performing at this rally.)
In the movie "Rebel Without a Cause", James Dean has a red windbreaker that holds symbolic meaning throughout the film (see note at end). In one particularly intense scene, Dean lends his coat to a guy who is shot and killed; Dean's father arrives, sees the coat on the dead man, thinks it's Dean, and loses it.And a voice that came from you and meOn the cover of "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan", Dylan is wearing just such as red windbreaker, and is posed in a street scene similar to one shown in a well-known picture of James Dean.
Bob Dylan played a command performance for the Queen of England. He was *not* properly attired, so perhaps this is a reference to his apparel.
Bob Dylan's roots are in American folk music, with people like Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie. Folk music is by definition the music of the masses, hence the "...came from you and me".Oh, and while the King was looking down
This could be a reference to Elvis's decline and Dylan's ascendance. (i.e. Presley is looking down from a height as Dylan takes his place.) The thorny crown might be a reference to the price of fame. Dylan has said that he wanted to be as famous as Elvis, one of his early idols.
* * *With the jester on the sidelines in a cast
On July 29, 1966, Dylan crashed his Triumph 55 motorcycle while riding near his home in Woodstock, New York. He spent nine months in seclusion while recuperating from the accident.
American Pie Revisited.
A good analysis of this song would be worth doing.
The circulating analysis tells us that Bob Dylan played
before the Queen of England. Neither Bob Dylan, the Queen,
nor anyone else can recall this event.
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan front cover photograph is said to
show Bob Dylan in a red windbreaker. All releases of this
album have a brown windbreaker.
>On the cover of "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan", Dylan is wearing just
>such as red windbreaker, and is posed in a street scene similar to
>one shown in a well-known picture of James Dean.
>
>Bob Dylan played a command performance for the Queen of England.
>He was *not* properly attired, so perhaps this is a reference
>to his apparel.
The analysis is fantasy, to debunk further points would be
tedious and in general when a piece gets most facts you look
into wrong you just ignore it. Who has time to do anything
else?
Craig
On 24 Jul Craig Jamieson noted several absurdities in the published analysis of American Pie, to which I can only agree and add the following observations:
Freewheelin' photo - right, the jacket is brown (the 'vomit jacket') and
it's not even a windcheater. The line "coat he borrowed from James
Dean" could refer to Dylan taking JD's "mantle" ie youth
anti-hero/androgynous sex object/conscientious objector to
everything the straight adult world tries to impose on the young.
King & Queen - maybe he's "playing for the King & Queen" ie not a
'command performance' but DOING it FOR the King of Rock & the
Queen of Folk ie trying to fuse the two forms in a meaningful
way?
Just apply a bit of lateral NOT literal thinking.
Just a thought (or two)
Tricia J
This is my humble analysis of Don McLean's reference to Dylan in the classic, gotta-flip-the-45-over-halfway-thru, opus "American Pie"... Don't care about a *direct* reading & it's been years since I've heard AP (an old girlfriend boogied with a pile of records around 1975).
[Sidenote for geriatric rmd readers only: Isn't it interesting that a girlfriend took my records at a time when probably 50% of the readership of this UselessNet newsgroup were being potty trained? Interesting or depressing as hell.]
"The jester played for the king & queen"
The jester image is one that the jokerman himself has adopted.
For that matter, check out BD's clothes back in '65-66: striped
pants, polka dots, houndstooth checks. He dressed like a jester
(altho I think he'd look cute in a piebald outfit with pointed
shoes & bells)...
I always took the "king & queen" to be a twisted piece of syntax
referring to Dylan as "crown prince of rock" & Baez as "peace
queen." I think these are Joanie's words quoted by Scaduto, but
it's Saturday morning & I don't feel like a long read.
This is more of an image to establish that it *is* Dylan that
McLean's singing about. Aside from the jester, king, & queen
symbols mentioned above, one could also take the "king" to be
Elvis... Not to suggest that Dylan played a command performance
in the Jungle Room, either, but just that this is a *symbol*.
"In a coat he borrowed from James Dean"
That jacket on Freewheelin' looks brown to me. It's the "pukey"
coat that BD wore for years... I think McLean refers symbolically
to the "mantle" of "authority" in the youth subculture that Dylan
assumed from Dean. After the crash, the parallels between the rebel
without a cause & his Porsche Spyder and Dylan & his Triumph motorcycle
were all frighteningly obvious for many of us...
But to suggest that McLean is referring to a specific jacket or
style of jacket is a bit of a stretch, isn't it? It's also simply
not true. Some EDLISians, however, are known to style around Dylan
concerts in red jackets. :-)
"And a voice that came from you and me"
Okay, all the writers & critics used to talk about how BD gave
voice to what everyone was thinking but didn't know how to say.
Real trite stuff. I always felt that the *untrained* nature of
BD's voice -- he *does* have a voice that could belong to anyone
(or Everyman) -- is one of his great allures. Unfortunately for
Bob's pocketbook, most consumers want a trained voice, it seems...
and later, "The jester on the sideline in a cast"
After the crash. This verse is really about the point where the
music died in McLean's sad saga. Rock'n'roll was becoming *rock*.
The marching band (commercial interests driving stadium rock &
bands with platform shoes & cocaine sensibilities to new depths
of depravity) refused to yield & Dylan, the only guy who could
face them all down at high noon in that high place of darkness &
light was laid up, laid back, & probably just getting laid judging
from all the little Dylans that were making appearances at the time.
"Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry"
Ain't no "Crash on the Levee" in "American Pie." And, yes, that's
the way I've heard that line for 20+ years.
McLean's symbolism is fun if a bit blunt & sophomoric. And like any other
piece of rock'n'roll lyric, it's not a good place to go with an over-
zealous reading. As I've probably stated here about *Dylan's* work (which
can also be blunt & sophomoric at times), it really defeats the purpose
of the artwork to go in trying to read every line literally. I make
this statement about the _Bible_ a lot, too...
Just my two centavos...
A couple of weeks ago there was a thread on Don Mclean's American Pie and the meanings of various lines. Some excellent ideas were presented but I thought I would suggest an alternate interpretation for the line that goes approximately..."the jester stole his thorny crown.." Most of the comments I've seen in the last few years think that this is a reference to Dylan stealing Elvis' crown as the king.
I would like to suggest that what Don was actually referring to was Dylan the jester stole the crown from Dylan the king. My reasoning is placing the song American pie in it's context of the early 70s and referring to the mid 60s period. Elvis, by popular acclaim, was the king in the late 50s and again after his comeback in 68 and on. He almost disappeared from the time when he went into the Army until his comeback, singing throw away pop and making B movies. Bob, on the other hand, achieved during the Mid 60s, critical and popular acclaim. But his biggest supporters were the media and critics. He appeared on most major news mags and they crowned him "the voice of a generation", etc. All of which Bob did not seek or probably want. His more devoted fans saw Dylan as a modern day prophet which led to Dylan including lines like "They say sing while you save and I just get bored" (yes, I know that lyrics says slave but in the mid-to-late 60s Bob starting singing it save). He had intrusions into his personal life that were unbelievable by any standards. An example was having a fan show up at his home in Woodstock and walking into his house uninvited while tracking in cow dung. During this period Dylan was also being pressed by fans and media alike to explain the "MEANING" of his music. Bob's response was two fold 1) oblique answers which turned the question around (something he does to this day with particularly stupid interviewers) and 2) comical answers such as the 1965 Playboy interview and the time he responded to the question "did his fans understand his message". His standard answer was they understood every word of his songs.
Based on this I think Don saw Dylan the jester steal Dylan the kings crown. Left unsaid in Don's song is that Bob did this on purpose to restore sanity to his position. After all, Bob accomplishments from 1961 to 1966, in folk/rock/pop music, were without previous equal.
Of course, I just wrote this as I've been listening to BOB and JWH. Fairly good efforts for a jester, king or otherwise. ALL IMHO.
Regards and have a good day...:-)
Chuck
ps..."Faith is the key!" said the first king. "No, froth is the key!" said
the second, "Your both wrong," said the third, "the key is Frank!"
-----Bob Dylan, 1968
and I always thought the key was e minor.
