Don McLean: “American Pie”
Don McLean’s eight-minute ballad that reached the top of the charts was dissected by music fanatics ever since it came out in 1971. The song is a reflection on what happened to McLean’s favorite genre, having referenced “the day that the music died.”
He was referring to the plane crash in 1959 that killed Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens.