American Pie (Madonna version)

"American Pie"
Picture sleeve for U.S. vinyl single. Artwork is also used as the front cover for the album of the same name and many other international releases of the single.
Single by Don McLean
from the album American Pie
B-side	"Empty Chairs" (promo) "American Pie part 2" (first release)
Released	November 1971 (original) November 1991 (re-release)
Format	Vinyl record (original) CD, cassette, vinyl (reissue)
Recorded	May 26, 1971
Genre	Folk rock
Length	8:33 (LP) 4:11 (Single Part 1) 4:31 (Single Part 2)
Label	United Artists
Writer(s)	Don McLean
Producer(s)	Ed Freeman for The Rainbow Collection, Ltd.
Don McLean singles chronology
"Castles in the Air" (1971) "American Pie" (1971) "Vincent" (1972)
Music sample "American Pie"

"American Pie"
Single by Madonna
from the album The Next Best Thing (Music from the Motion Picture)
Released	March 3, 2000
Format	CD single
Recorded	September 1999 (New York City, New York)
Genre	Dance-pop
Length	4:33
Label	Maverick Warner Bros.
Writer(s)	Don McLean
Producer(s)	Madonna William Orbit
Madonna singles chronology
"Beautiful Stranger" (1999) "American Pie" (2000) "Music" (2000)

"American Pie" is a song by American folk rock singer and songwriter Don McLean. Recorded and released on the American Pie album in 1971, the single was a number-one US hit for four weeks in 1972. In the UK, the single reached No. 2 on its original 1972 release and a reissue in 1991 reached No. 12. The song was listed as the No. 5 song on the RIAA project Songs of the Century. The song was covered by Madonna in 2000 and reached No. 1 in several countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.

The repeatedly mentioned "day the music died" refers to the 1959 plane crash which killed early rock and roll performers Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens. (The crash was not known by that name until after McLean's song became a hit.) The meaning of the other lyrics has long been debated, and for decades, McLean declined to explain the symbolism behind the many characters and events mentioned. However, the overall theme of the song is the loss of innocence of the early rock and roll generation as symbolized by the plane crash which claimed the lives of three of its heroes.

In 2017, McLean's original recording was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or artistically significant".

While it has been claimed that Don McLean began writing the song in upstate Saratoga Springs, New York, at Caffe Lena, a 2011 New York Times article quotes Don McLean as disputing this claim. Some employees at Caffe Lena claim that he started writing the song there, and then continued to write the song in both Cold Spring, New York, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. McLean claims that the song was only written in Cold Springs and Philadelphia. Tin & Lint, a bar on Caroline Street in Saratoga Springs, claims the song was written there, and a plaque marks the table. While some have said that other places, such as Saint Joseph's University, were where the song was first performed, McLean insists that the song made its debut in Philadelphia at Temple University when he opened for Laura Nyro on March 14, 1971.