The Day the Music Died

A well done documentary on an iconic song that not only gives you the backstory on Don McLean's writing of the song but is also acts as a biography of McClean and how could you possibly have one without the other, the song and the writer are so intertwined they are impossible to separate. There are a lot of interesting interviews with different musical artists explaining the impact the song has had on them.

At one point McLean explains the lyrics which I wish he had not done, one of the great things about the song is that everyone has their own interpretation of the lyrics. It was a mystery for 50 years, why ruin it now? The documentary goes on probably 15 to 20 minutes too long with interviews of musicians that very few people have never heard of and never will outside of this video. If not for the length I would have rated it higher.

This documentary has some really nice parts, but, all in all, it was a bit too long and a bit too much. It was easy to go from thinking what a great song "American Pie" was to thinking it wasn't THAT great. This film makes it seem like it was the greatest song ever written about America, if not the greatest song ever written. I have half a dozen Don McLean songs on my iPod. "American Pie" is not one of them.

The best parts of the documentary are the ones focusing on the deaths of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and "The Big Bopper" J. P. Richardson, and the parts about Don McLean's childhood and song writing methods. He would write lyrics out by hand, and then type them up on a little typewriter on a little school desk with rockers attached. (Don't expect anything in this film about the singer's personal life as an adult, including abuse charges by his daughter and ex-wife.)

There's lots of good looks back at the '50s-'70s, too, and the singer even discusses the meaning of some of the lyrics to the song. No, the references to the "joker" and the "girl who sang the blues" weren't about anyone famous. It's really too bad the film makers didn't realize all the praise for the song went too far and lasted too long. Nevertheless, it's a worthwhile documentary to watch, especially if you lived through those three decades.

Editing: Rehashing the same chunks of interview video and audio became annoying rather quickly.

Time: Lasted about half an hour more than necessary.

Content: Spent an inordinate amount of time reviewing the history of the plane crash, and having other musicians praising & covering McLean's work..

Listened to the song hundreds of times during my youth, and it is still an amazing tune, but this documentary just felt contrived and shallow.

A very scatter shot Doc that was also repetitive. I don't want to sit through it twice to verify, but I'm pretty sure they cut to the same quotes from Garth Brooks 4 times in some cases. A lot of time watching... some female artist... recording her version because... maybe she's famous in Europe? Even, if instead of her, it was Paul McCartney, we didn't tune in to see Paul in the studio. We want to hear Don talk about the song. We all know about the Genesis of the first verse, but if you didn't already know the song, you'd be pretty sure it must be 90% about Buddy Holly.

{Side note: They obviously talk a lot about Buddy Holly and some about Ritchie Valens - and play a little of two of his songs - but - though the mention "The Big Bopper" they don't even tell you/mention the name of any of his songs - odd}

Near the end they remembered they should ask Don what some of the imagery was about and he rushed through it like he knew they had to catch a plane.

A wasted opportunity.

Like pjtexas I'm puzzled by the negative comments, I found the film fascinating. The film was about more than 'Don and the song', and continuing interpretations of the lyrics - that's been done to death. It was about the enduring impact of American Pie on listeners. I hadn't heard of Jade Bird either (though I'm also English), but the point was that she wanted to record a song written by another 25 year-old singer-songwriter 50 years ago. Neither song nor film may be technically perfect, but it's how they make you feel. I'm not just English, I'm an emotionally reserved Brit - but I was moved by both. Good job chaps!