Some meanings

"I can still remember how That music used to make me smile. And I knew if I had my chance, That I could make those people dance, And maybe they’d be happy for a while"

- Mclean wanted to write songs and this is a reference to it.

"But February made me shiver, With every paper I’d deliver"

-referece to Mcleans paper boy job and reading the headlines as he delivered them.,

But something touched me deep inside, The day the music died.

- talking about the plane crash and saying that the deaths of the three musicians was the day the music died.


"I drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry, Them good ol’ boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye Singing “This’ll be the day that I die, This’ll be the day that I die.”

- this is said to talk about the deaths of three black students who were murdered after trying to gain the right to vote, which seems unreal. Their bodies were reputedly put into a levee, which is a place that kids used to go and hang/make out!

"Can music save your mortal soul? And can you teach me how to dance real slow?"

- music was said to be able to save your soul - can it?

"Well I know that you’re in love with him ‘Cause I saw you dancing in the gym"

- at that time music was supposed to be a declaration of love and when it goes on to say "you both kicked off your shoes" it refers to having to dance to the new rock and roll music in your socks so your shoes didnt mark the gym floor.

"Man, I dig those rhythm ‘n’ blues"

- before rock and roll became popular, music was segretated and the music of black performers was predomiately listened to by black listeners (seems so strange now in our multi-cultural society). This music was referred to as rythm and blues musid and through the media such as the radio, white teenages started listening to it aswell (one way that music lends itself to all cultures and race)





"And while Lenin read a book on Marx"

- various interpetations here ranging from the political one of Lenin reading Marx's Das Kapital and communism or the lighter meaning of John Lennon - The Beatles were prevolent during this period aswell showing that their music influenced songwriting on the other side of the Atlantic.

"Now the half-time air was sweet perfume"

- this is supposed to be talking about tear gas in relation to the Democratic National Convention of 1968 with the "sergeants played a marching ture" referring to the police ejecting people from the convention venue.

"And as I watched him on the stage, my hands were clenched in fists of rage; No angel born in hell, could break that Satan’s spell"

- Don Mclean made a lot of references to the Rolling Stones in this song and this line is thought to refer to the death of a man called Meredith Hunter at one of their concerts. The Rolling Stones has got some Hells Angels as bouncers and they are alleged to have stabbed and beaten him to death. the outcry that followed meant that the rolling stones didn't play their Sympathy for the Devil song again as it is thought that this played a part in inciting the violent beating. - this shows, perhaps in a radical way, that the public believe that music can responsible for influencing people, in this instance in a horrific way

"And in the streets the children screamed"

- this is another political reference in relation to the vietnamese children during the war - also thought to be the hippie children being beaten during being ejected from the convention as noted above.

So from the above we can see that the song relates a lot to the changing times in America and the evolution of music that happened during that period. It's only when you truly examine the words of the song closely that they start to show what they really mean, in both a historical context and also showing that because of one man writing about how he was influenced by what he saw in society at that time that we have a song that has lasted a long time.