The song has nostalgic themes , stretching from the late 1950s until the late 1960s . Except to acknowledge that he first learned about Buddy Holly 's death on February 3 , 1959 — McLean was age 13 — when he was folding newspapers for his paper route on the morning of February 4 , 1959 ( the line " February made me shiver/with every paper I 'd deliver " ) , McLean has generally avoided responding to direct questions about the song 's lyrics ; he has said : " They 're beyond analysis . They 're poetry . " He also stated in an editorial published in 2009 , on the 50th anniversary of the crash that killed Holly , Ritchie Valens , and J. P. " The Big Bopper " Richardson , that writing the first verse of the song exorcised his long-running grief over Holly 's death and that he considers the song to be " a big song ... that summed up the world known as America " . McLean dedicated the '' American Pie '' album to Holly
crash
The Day the Music Died
American Pie (song)