McLean 's magnum opus " American Pie " is a sprawling , impressionistic ballad inspired partly by the deaths of Buddy Holly , Ritchie Valens , and J.P. Richardson ( The Big Bopper ) in a plane crash in 1959 , and developments in American youth culture in the subsequent decade . The song popularized the expression " The Day the Music Died " in reference to the crash
The Day the Music Died
The Day the Music Died
Don McLean