Oh dear. Don McLean has been getting his knickers in a twist about the modern world and young people ‘today’.
In a new interview with Metro, the veteran singer songwriter was asked (as he has – in all probability – a million and one times down the years) about the meaning of his early 70s landmark hit American Pie.
He started by saying “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. I mean, we certainly have a wonderful country, and we do wonderful things, but we also are in the middle of all this woke bullshit, you know, and 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.”
He didn’t really expand upon what constitutes ‘woke bullshit’ but did go on to say that people today “would just like to anesthetise themselves against any emotion” and are “in permanent party mode” without the ability to “get a handle on what really matters in life any more”.
“They’re so addicted to their telephones and their iPads, and I am too. But there’s a constant flow of information and suddenly nothing makes much sense. You have to concentrate in order to write songs like I did, or like other songwriters did in the past, or screenplays or novels or poetry.”
But that’s not all. “There’s so much anger out there,” he insisted. “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, I think, 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.”
Youngsters today, eh?
McLean is doing press ahead of his appearance at the Long Road festival in Stanford Hall, Leicestershire this weekend. The 78 year old has always been popular in Britain. Aside from American Pie (which only reached Number Two over here) he’s chalked up two Number Ones in Vincent and his 1980 cover of Roy Orbison’s Crying and still plays regularly in the UK.
And he has no plans to retire just yet: ‘I can still sing well and I can still perform well, and I don’t look too bad,” he told Metro.
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“I hope the future guitarists who acquire these items are able to move closer to the genius who played them”: Over 130 of Jeff Beck’s guitars and amps headed to auction, including his Tele-Gib, Yardburst Les Paul and 'Blow By Blow' Oxblood Les Paul
“If it sounds like I’m standing over a body that’s just been stabbed to death, then it’s perfect.” The brutal heavy metal masterpiece that had producer Rick Rubin yelling: “More Satan!”
