Don McLean - American Pie (1971)

American Pie is the second studio album by Don McLean, released by United Artists Records on 24 October 1971. The folk/rock album reached number one on the Billboard 200, containing the chart-topping singles "American Pie" and "Vincent." Recorded in May and June 1971 at The Record Plant in New York City, the original 1971 LP is dedicated to Buddy Holly, and was reissued in 1980 minus the track "Sister Fatima".The album was released to much acclaim, later being included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

McLean was a protégé of Pete Seeger, having played with him in the 1960s. The album American Pie was intended as a unified work, as McLean has said that he was influenced by The Beatles' Sgt Pepper album and envisioned American Pie to be a similar album. Believing that an artist's work should stand by itself, McLean generally did not offer explanations for his work's themes or meaning, though he did describe the title song as involving "a sense of loss". The album was dedicated to Buddy Holly, a childhood icon of McLean's, and was released in 1971 on the heels of the '60s, the defining decade of McLean’s generation. It has a melancholy feel and rather sparse arrangements. At the time of the writing McLean’s first marriage was failing and the optimism and hopefulness of the 1960s was giving way to the nihilism and hedonism of the 1970s.

The title track contains references to the death of Buddy Holly (McLean being a 13-year-old paper-boy at the time). The phrase "The Day the Music Died" was used by McLean on this song, and has now become an unofficial name for the tragedy.

"Babylon" is a close paraphrase of the 137th Psalm, based on the canon "By the Waters of Babylon" by Philip Hayes.