Don McLean - The Legendary Songs of Don McLean (Songbook)

• Don McLean won the folk-singing contest at the 1964 Worlds Fair in New York.
• The song Killing Me Softly was inspired by Don McLeans performance of Empty Chairs at the Troubadour nightclub in Los Angeles
• Don McLeans composition American Pie was selected as the fifth greatest song of the 20th century in a combined poll done by the RIAA and the National Endowment for the Arts.
• Johnny Cash wrote I Wish I Could Yodel after hearing Don McLean sing Lovesick Blues in Cashs home.
• Elvis Presley recorded 5 different versions of Don McLeans composition And I Love You So, and one of those versions was the final song on Elvis in Concert, which was the last album Elvis Presley released during his lifetime.
• In the last 35 years Don McLeans songs have been performed by artists as diverse as Madonna, Fred Astaire, Chet Atkins, Weird Al Yankovich, Elvis Presley, Josh Groban and Coolio. TV characters who have sung Don McLeans compositions include Bart Simpson, Phoebe of Friends, Vonda Shepherd of Ally McBeal and the casts of The Brady Bunch and In Living Color.
• Englishman David New had Don McLean tattooed in color across his entire back in 1978, becoming the first person in history to so honor a music artist.
• Don McLeans favorite artist is Elvis Presley. His favorite song is White Christmas. His favorite year is 1957.
• Don McLean was the first American artist to perform at the Sydney Opera House.
• Don McLeans Vincent is played daily at the Van Gogh Museum in the Hague, and a copy of the sheet music is buried with Van Gogh artifacts in a time capsule.
• Don McLean has always played American Pie in concert in spite of press accounts to the contrary.
• American Pie is not the name of Buddy Hollys plane.
• Don McLean was the first guest artist of the new century to sing at the Fourth of July celebration with the Boston Pops Orchestra.
• Don McLean sang to over 1,000,000 New Yorkers in Central Park as a special guest of superstar Garth Brooks, who introduced McLean as my idol.
• The Don McLean Foundation sends poor, deserving people to college through the New York Times College Fund and contributes to homeless shelters and food banks in the state of Maine. Contributions are welcome.
• Three-star General Jay Garner presented Don McLean with an army medal as a thank-you for his music.
• Don McLean has completed 12 world tours and performed more than 3500 concerts.
• Don McLean has only lived in three homes in his entire life.
• Don McLean has visited every major city in America and many foreign countries and hates to travel.
• Don McLean does not have a computer, email or a pager.
• Don McLean does not read music.

Words and Music by
DON McLEAN

Additional Lyrics

2. Now for ten years weve been on our own,
And moss grows fat on a rollin stone
But thats not how it used to be
When the jester sang for the king and queen
In a coat he borrowed from James Dean
And a voice that came from you and me
Oh and while the king was looking down,
The jester stole his thorny crown
The courtroom was adjourned,
No verdict was returned
And while Lenin read a book on Marx
The quartet practiced in the park
And we sang dirges in the dark
The day the music died
We were singin...bye-bye...etc.

3. Helter-skelter in the summer swelter
The birds flew off with a fallout shelter
Eight miles high and fallin fast,
It landed foul on the grass
The players tried for a forward pass,
With the jester on the sidelines in a cast
Now the half-time air was sweet perfume
While the sergeants played a marching tune
We all got up to dance
But we never got the chance
Cause the players tried to take the field,
The marching band refused to yield
Do you recall what was revealed
The day the music died
We started singin... bye-bye...etc.

4. And there we were all in one place,
A generation lost in space
With no time left to start again
So come on, Jack be nimble, Jack be quick,
Jack Flash sat on a candlestick
Cause fire is the devils only friend
And as I watched him on the stage
My hands were clenched in fits of rage
No angel born in hell
Could break that Satans spell
And as the flames climbed high into the night
To light the sacrificial rite
I saw Satan laughing with delight
The day the music died
He was singin...bye-bye...etc.

AND I LOVE YOU SO

Words and Music by
DON McLEAN

BAD GIRL

Words and Music by
DON McLEAN