article_snippet.sent: Those five words, when uttered or sung, makes baby boomers immediately think of Don McLean's pop masterpiece "American Pie."  
article_snippet.sent: All sorts of historical cross-currents play off each other in this timeless song, brilliantly gilded with the unforgettable chorus, which starts as "Bye, Bye, Miss American Pie.
article_snippet.sent: There is no real way to categorize Don McLean's's "American Pie" for American Pie hybrid of modern poetry and folk ballad, beer-hall chant and high-art rock.
article_snippet.sent: By cathartically writing "American Pie," Don McLean's has guaranteed that the memory of those great musicians lives forever.
article_snippet.sent: "American Pie" was released in November 1971, his cultural anthem "American Pie" replaced Bob Dylan's "The Times
article_snippet.sent: It's important to think of "American Pie" as one would of Henry Longfellow's "Evangeline" or Johnny Mercer's "Moon River" -- an essential Americana poem emanating wistful recollection, blues valentine, and youthful protest rolled into one.  
article_snippet.sent: There is magic brewing in the music and words of "American Pie," for McLean's lyrics and melody frame a cosmic dream, like those Jack Kerouac tried to conjure in Jack Kerouac poetry-infused novel "On the Road.
article_snippet.sent: Influenced by Pete Seeger and the Weavers, McLean proudly wore the mantle of troubadour in the early 1970s, when "American Pie" topped the Billboard charts, and has never shed the cape.   
article_snippet.sent: Wandering far and wide, singing "American Pie" at windblown dance halls in Wyoming and cloistered colleges in New England, at huge amphitheaters in California and little coffee houses in the Hudson River Valley, McLean has performed McLean global anthem thousands of times.  
article_snippet.sent: What makes "American Pie" so unusual is that it isn't a relic from the counterculture but a talisman, which, like a sacred river, keeps bringing joy to listeners everywhere.  
article_snippet.sent: When "American Pie" suddenly is played on a jukebox or radio it's almost impossible not to sing along.   
article_snippet.sent: After all these years, "American Pie" still makes me feel empowered and yet filled with a sense of loss.  
article_snippet.sent: While McLean, the muse, has rightfully not tried to interpret "American Pie," it's fair to surmise that "the king" is Elvis Presley,
article_snippet.sent: As a literary artifact of the early 1970s, there isn't anything to compare to "American Pie.
article_snippet.sent: But the fact that the Recording Industry of America and the National Endowment of the Arts chose "American Pie" as the fifth greatest song of the 20th century speaks to the composition's importance as an enduring piece of pop art.  
article_snippet.sent: Quite simply, "American Pie" is one of the greatest songs ever written.  