Although producing hit songs like “Castles in the Air”, “Wonderful Baby”, and “Crying”, Don McLean grabbed the spotlight with his iconic song “American Pie.” Released during the 1970s, the song quickly dominated the Billboard charts. Traveling through the decades, the song appeared to encompass the generation of its time. And with McLean behind the hit, he once shared the childhood memory that led to “American Pie.” And now, the singer is once again opening up about the song. But this time, it surrounded “Woke” culture.
Sitting down for an interview with Metro, McLean shared some insight about the song, explaining how it focused on traveling in the wrong direction. “The song really does open up a whole historical question about what happened in the ’60s and assassinations and the history that forms the backbone of the song as it moves forward. This song talks about the fact that things are going somewhat in the wrong direction, and I think that they’re still going in the wrong direction. I think most people looking at America now kind of think that too.”
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Turning his attention to the current climate in America, McLean refused to mix words, insisting, “I mean, we certainly have a wonderful country, and we do wonderful things, but we also are in the middle of all this woke bulls**t. All this other stuff that there is absolutely no point to, as far as I can see, other than to undermine people’s beliefs in the country. That’s very bad.”
Not going deep into politics, McLean claimed many problems came from a lack of human connection. Blaming the surge of technology and social media, the singer noted the main emotion is now anger. “There’s so much anger out there. So many of these college students have been given everything, and they’re just angry. They don’t know why they’re angry. They don’t even know what to be angry about. It’s really a symptom of the fact that they’re frustrated. They don’t have a path that they can tread in life that leads to a better life.”
Still having hope in society, McLean looks to kick off a string of shows that have him traveling to states like Montana and Hawaii.
(Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images)