I was half way through high school and, like millions of my peers, I sensed, believed, hoped that the song was an obtuse map he wanted me to follow that would explain the world to me. I was sixteen years old when the song came out. It has been a musical Rubik’s Cube that is still unsolved nearly 50 years after he released it 1971. He has chosen to have the song stand on its own merit. McLean has always been reluctant to explain the meaning of his song lyrics. Of course it was the great song’s refrain that was in my head: “bye, bye, Miss American Pie”. It was because renegades ransacked the “people’s house”. It was because of the trauma I witnessed for ten hours in Washington, DC. It was because Donald Trump sent the hordes down the street to the US Capital. I rarely understand the basis for my dreams but this morning was different. I woke up at 4am this morning with Don McLean’s American Pie lyrics running through my head.
