Don McLean Quotes - Page 3

Quotes about:

• The kids today all seem to think they should be stars, but I wasn't brought up that way.

  Don McLean

  Stars, Kids, Thinking

  4 Copy quote

• But I knew - in the old days, if a song was a good song, I don't care if it was 'Yellow Submarine' or, you know, or 'The Times They Are a-Changin' or 'Don't Be Cruel', you knew it, you know? You heard that song, and you were talking about it, and you knew it.

  Don McLean

  Song, Talking, Yellow

  "'American Pie' Doesn't Belong To Saratoga Springs". "Talk of the Nation" with Neal Conan, www.npr.org. December 1, 2011.

  4 Copy quote

• I developed this fantasy world. I found that that was much more fun and more interesting and exciting than real life was to me. Then, once I got the guitar going when I was a teenager, I set sail for the direction I've been in my whole life.

  Don McLean

  Fun, Real, Teenager

  4 Copy quote

• Because of an off-hand funny comment I made backstage at a concert years ago, a story circulated that the song has been a burden and even that I didn’t sing it for a while. That’s completely false. I am very proud of ‘American Pie’ and the many satellites that grow from it and revolve around it. For many years I carried my songs around and now they carry me around. I have always sung ‘American Pie’ for my audience and would never think of disappointing them since it is they who have given me a wonderful life and untold affection for almost 30 years.

  Don McLean

  Song, Thinking, Hands

  4 Copy quote

• And when no hope was left inside on that starry, starry night, you took your life as lovers often do. But I could have told you, Vincent, this world was never meant for one as beautiful as you.

  Don McLean

  Beautiful, Suicidal, Night

  Song: Vincent

  60 Copy quote

• There we were all in one place, a generation lost in space.

  Don McLean

  Reality, Space, Generations

  Song: Miss American Pie, Album: American Pie

  6 Copy quote

• I am what I do, and that's partly why I don't want to give up singing. But when I can't sing well, I will.

  Don McLean

  Giving Up, Singing, Want

  4 Copy quote

• Not a word was spoken. The church bells all were broken.

  Don McLean

  Reality, Church Bells, Broken

  Song: Miss American Pie, Album: American Pie

  7 Copy quote

• I think longevity is more important than trying to make people realize you're around every second.

  Don McLean

  Thinking, People, Important

  4 Copy quote

• American Pie speaks to the loss that we feel. That's why that song has found the niche that it has.

  Don McLean

  Song, Loss, Pie

  "Going for a song: American Pie manuscript to be auctioned" by Hannah Ellis-Petersen, www.theguardian.com. February 13, 2015.

  7 Copy quote

• Bad news on the doorstep;I couldn’t take one more step

  Don McLean

  News, Steps, American Pie

  Song: Miss American Pie, Album: American Pie

  6 Copy quote

• In the streets the children screamed. The lovers cried, and the poets dreamed

  Don McLean

  Children, Lovers, Poet

  Song: Miss American Pie, Album: American Pie

  4 Copy quote

• Starry, starry night, flaming flowers that brightly blaze, swirling clouds in violet haze reflect Vincent's eyes of china blue.

  Don McLean

  Flower, Eye, Night

  Song: Vincent

  52 Copy quote

• Helter skelter in a summer swelter.

  Don McLean

  Summer

  Song: Miss American Pie, Album: American Pie

  4 Copy quote

• I don't relate to what's left of the music business. There doesn't seem to be any point to it anymore. The business that I grew up in and loved, we made records a different way - there were record companies, there were stores where you could buy albums.

  Don McLean

  Different, Albums, Records

  4 Copy quote

• I mean, I've been given a terrific life by the audiences who stuck with me all over the world.

  Don McLean

  Mean, World, Given

  "'American Pie' Doesn't Belong To Saratoga Springs". "Talk of the Nation" with Neal Conan, www.npr.org. December 1, 2011.

  4 Copy quote

• I'd listen to all the stuff that was going on around me and drift off into my fantasies about it. My fantasies have fuelled all the songs I've ever written.

  Don McLean

  Song, Stuff, Fantasy

  4 Copy quote

• People ask me if I left the lyrics open to ambiguity. Of course I did. I wanted to make a whole series of complex statements. The lyrics had to do with the state of society at the time.

  Don McLean

  Music, People, American Pie

  "Going for a song: American Pie manuscript to be auctioned" by Hannah Ellis-Petersen, www.theguardian.com. February 13, 2015.

  7 Copy quote

• Do you recall what was revealed the day the music died?

  Don McLean

  Recalls, Died

  Song: Miss American Pie, Album: American Pie

  4 Copy quote

• As you can imagine, over the years I have been asked many times to discuss and explain my song "American Pie." I have never discussed the lyrics, but have admitted to the Holly reference in the opening stanzas. You will find many interpretations of my lyrics but none of them by me. You will find many “interpretations” of my lyrics but none of them by me. Isn’t this fun? Sorry to leave you all on your own like this but long ago I realized that songwriters should make their statements and move on, maintaining a dignified silence.

  Don McLean

  Song, Sorry, Moving

  "What Is Don McLean’s Song 'American Pie' All About?". www.straightdope.com. May 15, 1993.

  52 Copy quote

• The Byrds flew off the fallout shelter, eight miles high and falling fast.

  Don McLean

  Fall, Eight, Musical

  6 Copy quote

• Faces come and faces go in circular rotation.But something yearns within to grow beyond infatuation.

  Don McLean

  Rotation, Faces, Infatuation

  Song: If We Try

  10 Copy quote

• Devoid of all romance, the music plays and everyone must dance. I'm bowing out.

  Don McLean

  Art, Media, Play

  Song: Castles in the Air

  4 Copy quote

• As I watched him on the stage, my hands were clinched in fists of rage. No angel born in hell, could break that Satan's spell.

  Don McLean

  Art, Angel, Media

  6 Copy quote

• I feel like a spinning top or a DreidelThe spinning don't stop when you leave the cradleYou just slow downRound and around this world you goSpinning through the lives of the people you knowWe all slow down.

  Don McLean

  People, World, Spinning

  4 Copy quote

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