Gli accordi di American Pie di Don McLean

Gli accordi di American Pie di Don McLean per chitarra.
Il brano fa espresso riferimento al “giorno in cui la musica morì”, in inglese “The Day the Music Died”: la locuzione convenzionale con cui viene ricordato il disastro aereo accaduto a Clear Lake, nell’Iowa (Stati Uniti) il 3 febbraio 1959, in cui persero la vita Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens e J.P. Richardson, mentre si recavano a Fargo per un concerto.
A partire da questo evento, il testo sembra sviluppare una sorta di storia del rock and roll, fatta di allusioni di non facile interpretazione. Il testo è estremamente oscuro e moltissimi sono stati i tentativi di darne interpretazioni di tipo sociale, politico, religioso, musicologico e così via. McLean non ha mai acconsentito a chiarirne esattamente il significato.
Il brano, della durata di 8 minuti e mezzo, fu inciso nel 1971 e pubblicato lo stesso anno sull’album omonimo di McLean.
Negli Stati Uniti raggiunse nel 1972 la prima posizione nelle classifiche Billboard Hot 100 per quattro settimane e Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks.
In Australia è arrivata prima per cinque settimane.
American Pie viene considerato una pietra miliare della musica leggera americana. Diverse associazioni lo hanno indicato come uno dei cinque brani musicali più importanti del XX secolo.

  SOL     RE    MIm7
A long, long time ago,
LAm            DO                MIm                   RE
I can still remember how that music used to make me smile
    SOL      RE    MIm7
And I know if I had my chance,
     LAm                 DO                MIm
That I could make those people dance and maybe they'd be
   DO           RE
happy for a while
    MIm       LAm                   MIm          LAm
But February made me shiver, with every paper I'd deliver
DO        SOL      LAm          DO                      RE
Bad news on the doorstep, I couldn't take one more step
  SOL          RE        MIm           LAm7            RE
I can't remember if I cried when I read about his widowed bride
SOL         RE          MIm
Something touched me deep inside
    DO       RE7    SOL   DO   SOL
The day the music died
   SOL    DO        SOL        RE
So bye, bye Miss American Pie
         SOL            DO            SOL        RE
Drove my Chevy to the levy but the levy was dry
         SOL        DO                  SOL           RE
And them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
        MIm                          LA7   MIm
Singin' this will be the day that I die, this will be
                  RE7
the day that I die
SOL                 LAm
Did you write the book of love
       DO                 LAm         MIm           RE
And do you have faith in god above, if the bible tells you so?
SOL      RE          MIm
Do you believe in rock and roll
    LAm7            DO                     MIm
Can music save your mortal soul and can you teach me
                LA7       RE
how to dance real slow?
       MIm                  RE
Well I know that you're in love with him  'cuz
    MIm              RE
I saw you dancin' in the gym
    DO           SOL        LA7           DO                    RE7
You both kicked off your shoes, man I dig those rhythm and blues
        SOL      RE       MIm                   LAm
I was a lonely teenage broncin' buck with a pink carnation
            DO
and a pickup truck
    SOL      RE     MIm              DO       RE7    SOL  DO  SOL
But I knew I was out of luck the day the music died, I started singin'
   SOL    DO        SOL        RE
So bye, bye Miss American Pie
         SOL            DO            SOL        RE
Drove my Chevy to the levy but the levy was dry
         SOL        DO                  SOL           RE
And them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
        MIm                          LA7   MIm
Singin' this will be the day that I die, this will be
                   RE7
the day that I die
         SOL                   LAm
Now for ten years we've been on our own,
      DO                   LAm         MIm                      RE
and moss grows fat on a rolling stone but that's not how it used to be
          SOL      RE             MIm
When the jester sang for the king and queen
     LAm7                DO                   MIm
in a coat he borrowed from James Dean in a voice that
                  LA7  RE
came from you and me
     MIm                  RE               MIm                 RE
And while the king was looking down, the jester stole his thorny crown
     DO        SOL          LA7    DO             RE7
The courtroom was adjourned, no verdict was returned
          SOL        RE    MIm               LAm                DO
And while Lenin read a book on Marx, the quartet practiced in the park
    SOL        RE      MIm             DO         RE7     SOL  DO  SOL
And we sang dirges in the dark the day the music died, we were singin'
   SOL    DO        SOL        RE
So bye, bye Miss American Pie
         SOL            DO            SOL        RE
Drove my Chevy to the levy but the levy was dry
         SOL        DO                  SOL           RE
And them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
        MIm                          LA7   MIm
Singin' this will be the day that I die, this will be
                   RE7
the day that I die
SOL                   LAm
Helter skelter in a summer swelter
DO                      LAm                  MIm
the birds flew off with a fallout shelter, eight miles
             RE
high and fallin' fast
      SOL   RE     MIm
It landed foul on the grass
      LAm7                DO            MIm
the players tried for a forward pass, with the jester
                   LA7  RE
on the sidelines in
A cast
         MIm                RE                   MIm
Now at halftime there was sweet perfume, while sergeants
             RE
played a marching
Tune
DO          SOL        LA7      DO                  RE7
We all got up to dance, but we never got the chance
          SOL      RE         MIm                 LAm
'Cuz the players tried to take the field, the marching
             DO
band refused to yield
    SOL    RE          MIm              DO        RE7
Do you recall what was the feel the day the music died,
     SOL  DO  SOL
we started singin'
   SOL    DO        SOL        RE
So bye, bye Miss American Pie
         SOL            DO            SOL        RE
Drove my Chevy to the levy but the levy was dry
         SOL        DO                  SOL           RE
And them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
        MIm                          LA7   MIm
Singin' this will be the day that I die, this will
                      RE7
be the day that I die
     SOL                LAm
And there we were all in one place,
    DO        LAm            MIm                   RE
a generation lost in space, with no time left to start again
            SOL        RE    MIm               LAm7                 DO
So come on Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack Flash sat on a candle
       MIm                            LA7     RE
stick, 'cuz fire is the devil's only friend
     MIm               RE                MIm                     RE
And as I watched him on the stage, my hands were clenched in fists of rage
   DO      SOL       LA7         DO                 RE7
No angel born in Hell could bread that Satan's spell
           SOL               RE      MIm             LAm
And as the flames climbed high into the night to light the
           DO
sacrificial rite
       SOL     RE           MIm            DO      RE7     SOL  DO  SOL
I saw Satan laughing with delight the day the music died, he was singin'
   SOL    DO        SOL        RE
So bye, bye Miss American Pie
         SOL            DO            SOL        RE
Drove my Chevy to the levy but the levy was dry
         SOL        DO                  SOL           RE
And them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
        MIm                          LA7   MIm
Singin' this will be the day that I die, this will be
                   RE7
the day that I die
  SOL     RE        MIm
I met a girl who sang the blues
      LAm                 DO               MIm
And I asked her for some happy news, but she just smiled
               RE
and turned away
  SOL         RE      MIm
I went down to the sacred store
          LAm              DO                     MIm
Where I'd heard the music years before, but the man there
             DO
said the music
         RE
wouldn't play
    MIm                 LAm                     MIm
But in the streets the children screamed, the lovers
                 LAm
cried and the poets
dreamed
    DO     SOL        LAm          DO                     RE
But not a word was spoken, the church bells all were broken
        SOL         RE   MIm             LAm7     DO            RE7
And the three men I admire most, the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost
SOL               RE          MIm                LAm7     RE7    SOL
They caught the last train for the coast the day the music died,
RE7
And they were singin'
   SOL    DO        SOL        RE
So bye, bye Miss American Pie
         SOL            DO            SOL        RE
Drove my Chevy to the levy but the levy was dry
         SOL        DO                  SOL           RE
And them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
        DO                RE7         SOL   DO   SOL
Singin' this will be the day that I die.