American Pie

Don McLean

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  G     D    Em
A long, long time ago
Am            C               Em                    D7
I can still remember how that music used to make me smile
    G         D     Em          
And I knew if I had my chance 
     Am                 C                 Em              C           D7
that I could make those people dance, and maybe they'd be happy for a while
Em            Am             Em               Am
 But February made me shiver with every paper I'd deliver
C        G      Am          C                 D
Bad news on the doorstep, I couldn't take one more step
  G       D      Em                Am            D 
I can't remember if I cried when I read about his widowed bride
    G         D          Em              C       D     G   C   G
but something touched me deep inside the day the music died

   G   C         G       D
So bye bye Miss American Pie
         G            C              G         D
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
     G        C                  G          D
Them good old boys were drinking whisky and rye
        Em                        A7   Em                        D7
Singing this'll be the day that I die, this'll be the day that I die

G                  Am                  C                 Am
 Did you write the book of love and do you have faith in God above?
Em            D7
If the bible tells you so
       G     D        Em                 Am              C
Now do you believe in rock and roll? Can music save your mortal soul?
    Em               A7           D
And can you teach me how to dance real slow?
        Em                  D                      Em              D
Well, I know that you're in love with him, cause I saw you dancing in the gym,
    C           G        A7             C                    D
you both kicked off your shoes.  Man, I dig those rhythm and blues.
        G      D       Em                   Am                   C
I was a lonely teenage broncing buck with a pink carnation and a pick up truck.
    G      D     Em              C       D     G  C  G
But I knew I was out of luck the day the music died.
          D
I started singing

Chorus

Now for ten years we've been on our own, and moss grows fat on a rolling stone
But that's not how it used to be
when the jester sang for the king and queen
in a coat he borrowed from James Dean 
and a voice that came from you and me
Oh and while the king was looking down, the jester stole his thorny crown
The courtroom was adjourned, no verdict was returned
And while Lennin read a book on Marx, the quartet practised in the park
And we sang dirges in the dark the day the music died.
We were singing

Chorus

Helter skelter in the summer swelter the birds flew off with a fallout shelter
Eight miles high and falling fast.
It landed foul on the grass, the players tried for a forward pass,
with the jester on the sidelines in a cast.
Now the half-time air was sweet perfume
while the sergeants played a marching tune
We all got up to dance but we never got the chance
Cause the players tried to take the field, the marching band refused to yield
Do you recall what was revealed the day the music died
We started singing

Chorus

And there we were all in one place, a generation lost in space
with no time left to start again
So come on, Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack Flash sat on a candle stick
cause fire is the devil's only friend
And as I watched him on the stage my hands were clenched in fists of rage
No angel born in hell could break that Satan's spell
And as the flames climbed high into the night to light the sacrificial rite
I saw Satan laughing with delight the day the music died
He was singing

Chorus

G       D        Em                 Am                   C
I met a girl who sang the blues and I asked her for some happy news,
    Em                  D
but she just smiled and turned away.
G      D           Em     G             Am        G     C
I went down to the sacred store where I heard the music years before
        Em                 C              D
but the man there said the music wouldn't play.
    Em                 Am
And in the streets the children screamed,
   Em                    Am
the lovers cried and the poets dreamed.
    G     D        Am          C                     D
But not a word was spoken, the church bells all were broken.
        G         D   Em   G         C                   D 
And the three men I admire most, the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost,
     G         D           Em                C       Am D  G
they caught the last train for the coast the day the music died.
              D
And they were singing

Chorus   (two times)

        C              D          G  C  G
Singing this'll be the day that I die.