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 Guild of American Luthiers Member |
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NOTE: This first appeared in the "Backside" column of the January 1992 edition of Musician Magazine, including the introductor paragraph from the staff
at Musician Magazine below. I am posting it here for simple entertainment purposes, and will remove it if requested by Musician Magazine.
Introduction:
In the winter of 1971/1972 Don McLean created a sensation with "American Pie", an eight-minute number one record that used clever similes and poetic allusions to tell the store of rock 'n' roll from its birth in the `50's through what Don thought to be its demise at the dawn of the `70's. Unfortunately for Don, his prognosis was premature, and two decades later [now 3 decades in 2003] rock is still gasping along. The other night, after a few drinks, it occurred to us that more of rock 'n' roll's history has happened since "American Pie" than had preceded it. Obviously this called for quick acion on our part. So - mostly because nobody can stop us - we are proud to unleash upon the world in general and guys who play acoustic guitar at the Beef & Brew in particular:
American Pie Part II
Twenty years ago
I can still remember when I first
heard Don McLean
And I thought, if a song like that
Can make it on a hip format
Rock 'n' Roll is deader than James Dean
The first five notes would make me shiver
From my head down to my liver
The English Teacher, damn it,
Made us diagram it
I still recall his metaphors
For Dylan, Jagger, and the Doors
And how that one long song defined
The day the music whined
So bye bye Miss American Pie
What's as hokey as a folkie
With a tear in his eye?
Hippie chicks go for a sensitive guy
Saying "Let's go watch him break down and cry"
Patch my jeans and start the love-in
I'm campagning for McGovern
Dick and Spiro gotta go
"Goodbye, Papa, i'ts hard to die"
Except when "Rocky Mountain High"
is always playing on the radio
As miniskirts gave way to maxi
Harry drove off in his taxi
Take Roberta Flack along!
She's killing me with her song
The tillerman was having tea
While Carole wove her tapestry
I found your diary `neath a tree
The day the music whined
So bye bye...
Scandal spread fast as phlebitis
Nixon begged, "Please don't indict us"
The night the Georgia lights went out
With gas lines and an oil embargo
We tuned in to Donna Fargo
What's she got to be so happy about?
Records came off the conveyor
overdubbed layer by layer
every song sounded like Leo Sayer
The day the music whined
So bye bye...
Everyone got up to dance
We learned to bump by the seat
of our pants
and hustle just like Van McCoy
Disco Tex and the Sex-o-lettes
"What you see is what you get"
A brick house is a house you can't destroy
Sylvia turned into Donna Summer
Disco drummers got dumber and dumber
Radio refused to play Rotten and Strummer
The day the music whined
So bye bye...
And there we were in skinny ties
pretending we had slanted eyes
singing "Turning Japanese"
"Best Friend's Girlfriend" by the Cars
was popular in singles bars
Where best friends girlfriend
gives you his disease
Jake and Elwood quit TV
The hostages were finally free
Tony tied ribbons `round the old oak tree
The day the music whined
So bye bye...
Frey left Henley, Becker left Fagen
Sinatra danced with Mrs. Reagan
Were they having an affair?
Lionel sang for the ladies
Rock got corporate in the `80's
Pepsi almost burned off Michael's hair
Rockwell: "Someone's watching me"
Men at Work: "Who can it be?"
It's just us watching MTV!
The day the music whined
So bye bye.....
Luftballons floated above
The battlefield we made of love
Flock of Seagulls sang "I Ran"
In a big country dreams stay with you
If you can imitate U2
Or eat your dinner from a garbage can
Young girls loved Duran in Rio
Boys loved Maiden, Priest, and Dio
Stickers warned them of the risks
Belinda knocked off Benatar
Synth and samples cut guitar
We traded vinyl in for compact discs
And while Gorden read a book on Jung
Conservationism swept the young
Restricted clubs learned to Wang Chung
The day the music whined
So bye bye...
I met a girl with bleached blonde hair
Like a virgin in her underwear
pumping herself into shape
I went down to the T-shirt store
To buy the clothes my heroes wore
But the man there said the bands just mimed to tape
And in the halls reunion tours
were organized by Schlitz and Coors
No rebel leaders ranted
The long hair was transplanted
And the three on whom I most depend
Entwistle, Daltrey and Townsend
Did commercials in the end
The Day the music whined
So bye bye Miss American Pie
Stop your bitchin' now we're rich and
now we don't have to try
Record sales only improve when you die
And "bye bye"'s just the same as "buy buy"
