How Does American Pie Change Throughout The 1970's

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Watergate Scandal, women’s rights, and above all, the Vietnam War. These are just a few of the many big points in the 1970’s. The times were changing and growing darker every second. Many people were scared though these times including Don McLean. During 1971, he wrote his most popular song, “American Pie.” This song explains the story of his emotions during those times. The reason why Don wrote this song is because it helped him get through the tough transition into the 1970’s. Transitions are a basic part of time, and time has a weird thing about it. Time has a feeling, and it flows through the collaboration of emotion from all sorts of people. It is also what Don refers to as the “music.” In other words, the music is really how the times were. However, it is constantly said that “the music died.” This is referencing the transition from the 50’s and 60’s into the 70’s. The chorus is “Bye bye Miss American Pie/ Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry/ And them good ole boys were drinking whiskey and rye/ singin’ this’ll be the day that I die.” To start off with, the chorus talks about Miss American Pie. Miss American Pie is the 50’s and 60’s.…show more content…
Don mentions in the fifth verse, “Oh, and there we were all in one place/ A generation lost in space/ With no time left to start again” This is talking about all of the young men that were sent to fight in Vietnam. These men were stuck to fight for a whole year with most of that year seeing gunfire and other various traps meant to kill them. Their families are discussed in the sixth verse in the song. “And in the streets the children screamed/ The lovers cried, and the poets dreamed” This quote is expressing a couple of things. For one, the soldiers’ families are crying because of the war and the thoughts of losing their loved ones. Also during this time, women were wanting equality. This can be argued as to what the poets were dreaming

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