Don McLean's Quotes
Born: 1945-10-02
Profession: Musician
Nation: American
Biography of Don McLean
American Pie speaks to the loss that we feel. That's why that song has found the niche that it has.
Tags: American, Song, WhyI 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.
Tags: Give, Singing, WhyI mean, I've been given a terrific life by the audiences who stuck with me all over the world.
Tags: Life, Mean, StuckI think longevity is more important than trying to make people realize you're around every second.
Tags: Realize, Second, TryingI'm glad that my music has helped other people as it's helped me. It makes me glad that I did what I did with my life.
Tags: Life, Makes, MusicIf something comes up I might write about it, but without an outlet the whole thing winds down.
Tags: Might, Whole, WriteIn a sense, 'American Pie' was a very despairing song but it can also be seen as very hopeful.
Tags: American, Sense, SongIn the autumn of 1970 I had a job singing in the school system, playing my guitar in classrooms.
Tags: Guitar, Job, SchoolOver the years I've had more and more of an association with Nashville.
Tags: NashvilleThe kids today all seem to think they should be stars, but I wasn't brought up that way.
Tags: Kids, Stars, TodayBut 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.
Tags: Care, Good, OldI 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.
Tags: Fun, Life, RealI 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.
Tags: Business, Loved, MusicI got my first guitar when I was 16. I'd play for my family and friends, but taking that guitar out there into the wide, wide world wasn't something I ever thought about.
Tags: Family, Friends, ThoughtI had asthma when I was a kid, asthma so bad that it would turn into pneumonia and I almost died several times. Nobody knew why back then, but now it's obvious.
Tags: Bad, Times, WhyI was always just into my music and maybe into trying to save the world a little bit. I never really thought I'd have a hit record or anything like that. I was prepared to travel around all over the country, kind of like a Johnny Appleseed, and sing.
Tags: Music, Travel, TryingI'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.
Tags: Listen, Off, StuffPeople 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.
Tags: Society, Time, WantedWhen I go on the road now, which is less than before, but still more than I'd like to, I think of myself primarily as a singer. Not a songwriter, not a celebrity, just a man who likes to sing.
Tags: Less, Road, Singer