10 Perfect Hit Songs That Are Insanely Long
5. American Pie - Don McLean
If there’s any genre that should really pride itself on its storytelling, it would have to be folk music. Since you don’t really have the most sophisticated instrumentation on every single song, most people rely on their quick wit and silver tongue on their songs to make the audience engaged. Don McLean was no different than any other songwriter at the time, but his recounting of his first life changing musical moment was years in the making.
Though released in the early ‘70s, this is actually a recounting of the day that Buddy Holly passed away in the late ‘50s and the aftermath of what the rock world has come to as a result. Compared to most other story songs that come on the radio, this practically feels like you’re being given a history lesson in the headphones, with every verse going through a different portion of rock history, making characters that reflect the sound of the times.
It’s pretty clear to put together that the King would be Elvis Presley, but that’s just surface level, from the Jester being Bob Dylan stealing the crown from the King and Sergeants representing the Beatles during their psychedelic period. By the time you reach the end of the song, you see how the rock and roll dream of the ‘60s never fully got realized, with people taking the last train for the coast, never to be heard from again. There was no one to fall back on in the ‘70s, and Don McLean let us know that the fate of rock and roll was in our hands now.