Just had "(Who wrote the) Book of Love?" by the Monotones come up on iTunes which is partly the answer to the question asked in the first verse of the song.
[cite]Posted By: Henry Irving[/cite]Or by Madonna for you youngsters.
Just had "(Who wrote the) Book of Love?" by the Monotones come up on iTunes which is partly the answer to the question asked in the first verse of the song.
So who else is Don referring to in his 1971 opus?
Without Googling was it Gene Vincent or am I getting confused with Ian Dury?
Death of Buddy Holly (and Richie Valens and the Big Bopper etc) on Feb 3rd 1959.
White Sport Coat (And a Pink Carnation) - a hit for Marty Robbins in 1957.
.............
"And moss grows fat on a rolling stone"
A reference to Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone"...
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"When the jester sang for the King and Queen"
The jester is Bob Dylan (who dressed as a court jester and made references to himself as a jester etc.
Who was the king though? The most likely guess is Elvis. But I've always thought it could be a reference to John and Jaquie Kennedy, the White House iin their brief tenure was called Camelot of King Arthur fame.
There are other references to Bob Dylan - "a coat he borrowed from James Dean". On the album cover of "Freewheeling" Dylan wears a coat similar to the one worn by James Dean in "A Rebel without Cause".
"And while Lennon read a book on Marx"...the radicalisation of music from entertainment to a means of expressing social protest?
"The quartet practised in the park"...the Weavers were a band blacklisted during the anti-communist witchhunts.
This is interesting, I hadn't heard of this before.
Is it actually true? By that I mean, has McLean actually said that that is what the song is about, or is it just a big game of Call My Bluff. People taking a vague text and adding their own meanings to make the original make sense - a la the followers of Nostradamus.
[cite]Posted By: Stig[/cite]This is interesting, I hadn't heard of this before.
Is it actually true? By that I mean, has McLean actually said that that is what the song is about, or is it just a big game of Call My Bluff. People taking a vague text and adding their own meanings to make the original make sense - a la the followers of Nostradamus.
Big game of people taking a vague text and adding their own meanings to make the original make sense I think.
McLean doesn't seem to have ever made a clear statement on it other than that it's about Buddy Holly dying.
A lot of the lines are religous ie "who wrote the book of love" is both a doo wop song and the Bible and the "three men I admire the most, the father, son and holy ghost, they took the last train to the coast".
Just a bit of fun. Never heard of the Marty Robins song but it fits in.
February made me shiver is actually a reference to the first football match ever seen by the young McLean in 1947. As a very young tot his father (an avid Addick) took him on a three week sea voyage from New Yoik so that he could see Charlton play Blackburn in the fifth round of the cup.
The weather was awful that winter as the Met Office website (http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/education/secondary/students/winter.html) states "From 22 January to 17 March in 1947, snow fell every day somewhere in the UK, with the weather so cold that the snow accumulated. The temperature seldom rose more than a degree or two above freezing".
So the young McLean spent a freezing afternoon on the 8th Feb, bundled up on the huge East Terrace having to wait until the 89 minute for the goal his father so desperately wanted. That is why he shivered. That game was actully the first televised non-final. If old man McLean had spent his money on a tv set instead of going to the game that day, the song would have been quite different.
[cite]Posted By: Stig[/cite]Another little known fact about McLean is that he was named after Don Welsh who was the club captain at the time he was born.
Another little known fact is that Don Mclean's Father accompanied Richard Nixon on his visit to China in the 70's and, as a result of a 'liaison' with member of the Chinese diplomatic sevice, Don is a distant relation of current Charlton Midfielder Zheng Zhi.
Henry, 'A White Sport Coat' wasn't a hit for Marty Robbins over here where it was covered by the King Brothers and by early teen idol Terry Dene in 1957 and both versions made the top 20. A white sport coat and a pink carnation (the first line) were I think popular for American college dances etc. Also the levee referred to in the song is probably inspired by the young Don's visit to Charlton and a ride on the Woolwich ferry, which in those days had a completely different method for loading etc. with a jetty projecting into the river. The tide might have been out and that's why it was dry! In fact the steam powered ferries of those days were not unlike the Mississippi riverboats.
"Good old boys drinking whisky & rye" is a lyrical device to distance McLean from the bad old boys in blue shirts down the road who have been known to drink Captain Morgan.
Comments
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Come on Henry, everyone knows the song was a hit in 1972.
Without Googling was it Gene Vincent or am I getting confused with Ian Dury?
Buddy Holly
Richie Valens
Big Bopper
Dylan
Elvis
John Lennon /Beatles
Jagger/Stones
Byrds
Janis Joplin
....
Death of Buddy Holly (and Richie Valens and the Big Bopper etc) on Feb 3rd 1959.
White Sport Coat (And a Pink Carnation) - a hit for Marty Robbins in 1957.
.............
"And moss grows fat on a rolling stone"
A reference to Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone"...
...........
"When the jester sang for the King and Queen"
The jester is Bob Dylan (who dressed as a court jester and made references to himself as a jester etc.
Who was the king though? The most likely guess is Elvis. But I've always thought it could be a reference to John and Jaquie Kennedy, the White House iin their brief tenure was called Camelot of King Arthur fame.
There are other references to Bob Dylan - "a coat he borrowed from James Dean". On the album cover of "Freewheeling" Dylan wears a coat similar to the one worn by James Dean in "A Rebel without Cause".
"And while Lennon read a book on Marx"...the radicalisation of music from entertainment to a means of expressing social protest?
"The quartet practised in the park"...the Weavers were a band blacklisted during the anti-communist witchhunts.
Never knew that or heard of the song (too young you see!)
Was "moss grows fat a reference to Dylan or to Brian Jones dying?
I also thought Quartet practiced in the park was the Beatles
I thought Elvis was the King or was he the Gypsy?
Oh, who knows? At least with Dizzee Rascal (henry jnrs current fav) the lyrics are clear : - )
Is it actually true? By that I mean, has McLean actually said that that is what the song is about, or is it just a big game of Call My Bluff. People taking a vague text and adding their own meanings to make the original make sense - a la the followers of Nostradamus.
Big game of people taking a vague text and adding their own meanings to make the original make sense I think.
McLean doesn't seem to have ever made a clear statement on it other than that it's about Buddy Holly dying.
A lot of the lines are religous ie "who wrote the book of love" is both a doo wop song and the Bible and the "three men I admire the most, the father, son and holy ghost, they took the last train to the coast".
Just a bit of fun. Never heard of the Marty Robins song but it fits in.
This site is an education to us mere mortals.
The weather was awful that winter as the Met Office website (http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/education/secondary/students/winter.html) states "From 22 January to 17 March in 1947, snow fell every day somewhere in the UK, with the weather so cold that the snow accumulated. The temperature seldom rose more than a degree or two above freezing".
So the young McLean spent a freezing afternoon on the 8th Feb, bundled up on the huge East Terrace having to wait until the 89 minute for the goal his father so desperately wanted. That is why he shivered. That game was actully the first televised non-final. If old man McLean had spent his money on a tv set instead of going to the game that day, the song would have been quite different.
That taught me !!!
american pie