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