#30 - Don McLean Interview: what he thinks of modern music

[@kjm5155]

What a great interview....not the usual patronising nonsense that Don usually has to endure.......I’ve seen Don many times ‘live’.....but no two shows are ever the same......as the years have gone on he is much more relaxed with his audience ...a few years ago in Glasgow, I saw him play in a much edgier venue..normally associated with the young team...but he was very much at home...he drank a few beers on stage and castigated the US administration of the time...it was fantastic!!...he didn’t give a damn who was listening....he is a true artist....a real-life troubadour.

[@kristijansinko351]

My favourite singer-songwriter!

[@Artisbeauty22]

I'd love to see him live. Love American Pie.

[@geoffjoffy]

Thanks for this. Just been recently re-appreaciating his music on my phone.

[@spaceengineer1452]

Vincent is close in melody to empty chairs. He said he never writes the same song, twice.

[@Alan-ii5gs]

Lol, I think pretty much every artist does

[@spaceengineer1452]

@@Alan-ii5gs Check out Space Engineer, To Be Loved..if you feel like it.

[@MichaelKalogeras-in6ku]

I think it's hard not to duplicate, listen to Chuck Berry, all if his songs sound almost the same.i think most artists can't help that, some are different. They have a certain style, and stick with it.

[@spaceengineer1452]

@@MichaelKalogeras-in6ku I was merely responding to "I never repeat myself". Yes, he does....

[@TheJewellian]

You are a good listener and interviewer and have managed to get to some great artists. If you increase your quality of lighting, filming and audio this channel could get much bigger. All the best.

[@patrickes4540]

With Don McLean a superficial conversation is out of the question. See for example: "How often would you perform in the sixties" and Don´s answer. So many interesting and personal informations

[@eyeonart6865]

Your songs stop my heart from bleeding, now moving towards a healing hoping for more. Love the song Greaf and hope, it is so true.

[@johnewing3295]

Very enjoyable interview. I saw him in concert in San Diego (late 80's or early 90's, not sure which)....superb.

[@debraandreason6865]

Tom, you are a very good interviewer & listener. I just subscribed. 👍

[@eyeonart6865]

I agree music today is not music.

[@clinicalmoon5860]

Music as it was and can be is the closet thing to real magic. Organic to human spirit and soul.

[@mrjoeyman]

9:50 ..... what inspired and became American Pie, if you didn't already know.

[@angelahandley416]

Don McLean would like Angelina Jordan. He would. He says no one makes music. She sings songs from all the people I think he respects. She’s only 14 but has been singing the good stuff since she could talk.

[@johnewing3295]

Always been a fan...particularly of Vincent...the old BBC footage of American Pie is pretty powerful too.

[@stanborg4755]

Great interview.

[@m.a.c.8366]

always a fan of Don's music here.. just an observation but when Don cut his enduring swath into and through the music of the day.. the predominate lyric themes were nature, openness, honesty, love, and experience of life... today the draw into music of artists is to mold the product (song) to fit the cost / expense / return ratio that record co's boil the business down to.. sad

[@fredweening7436]

😅uch a humble man that stands for his values and wont be bought.

[@Alan-ii5gs]

I like Don, especially his guitar playing, b ut humble is not a word that comes to my mind concerning him lol

[@chrisbennett8031]

I couldn't agree more. I can't listen to the rubbish that is constantly drilled into our heads. It's sick actually. Senseless nothingness. Melody is almost none existent anymore. And the lyrics. They mean nothing. Most of my friends and family don't pay attention to lyrics at all. Where as I can recite lyrics from memory, because I actually listen to them and feel what they're trying to say. I'm an amateur song writer myself and every lyric I write MUST mean something. Even if it's only for my own enjoyment. I feel that if lyrics had more meaning to them then the repetitive sex theme, then I actually might be able to ignore the monotone melody and listen to it. Again, I'm in total agreement with your views on how music today is just empty nothingness. The music truly has died..

[@jakubmadron7776]

Damn, the lyrics aren't even an obligatory part of the music piece, you know? People who glorify lyrics in music so much are so shallow, like they need a direct message as oppose to enjoy the sound, the more abstract part. The funniest thing is that they want musicans to teach them how to live, holly crap.

[@Jcrash71]

And I blame your generation

[@eyeonart6865]

The Love of the MANY shall wax cold, so says your Bible. I trust the Almighty. Only a fool trusts in a man so says the Bible.

[@eyeonart6865]

My great loss to never be able to attend his concerts, travel is just to dangerous.

[@eyeonart6865]

Truth is the best of things.

[@tinapatton7346]

19:25 "Do you get sick and annoyed with people asking you about 'American Pie'?"

[@annajouzova2503]

yes, prime time

[@DanielGennaro]

I agree with him that the political climate has influenced so much of the great singer songwriter era, people had a lot more to be passionate about. They were literally burning their draft cards. Think about that? But also this is the same generation that is now sitting on their 401(k)s and retirement and really haven’t did a whole lot since they were a part of the counter culture by doing drugs and making love, they are part of the reason for the generation gap, his generation is pretty self-absorbed, this is coming from a millennial, also technology is another huge reason why the music has changed, it’s common sense, Who is going to be the better musician? The one who brings his guitar everywhere and plays with everybody he meets down the street or the kid who tries to learn here and there becomes passionate but has so much more to distract him with social media? Literally we’ve been brainwashed by technology, and all of the Electromagnetic frequencies in the air, there is not the same level of mindfulness or consciousness that was happening back then

[@goplad1]

I saw Don perform in a little park in Palmdale, CA back in the mid '90s. He came out, did a rushed performance, and his guitar was excruciatingly out of tune. He never bothered to tune it. After the show he got out of there so fast he broke the sound barrier. Helen Reddy was on that show and she came out and signed autographs and chatted with everyone. I love Don's music but he could have given his fans a better performance.

[@eyeonart6865]

We need a singing concert for Seniors so they can buy riding lawnmowers so they stop killing themselves out in extreme heat. Sings use to care for farmers now who knows. I like Mr. MClean.

[@DellasMinett-ni2xq]

Who knew

[@dougjones1074]

"I don't think ai could possibly make worse music than I hear on the radio today". I'm sorry he's right and this "music" and culture is astoundingly vapid. Imo, the ONLY way we're gonna keep up with China Russia is ai.

[@jvaubry]

don mclean is lost in what he has always known music in general, and melody specifically to be to him. He's stuck in his own ideas of music and politics, and he justifies this because this is his interpretation, his bias, he looks at everything in the world through that filter. It is a shame that as a musician, he can't appreciate the constant evolution of musical ideas, melodic phrasing that is found in all forms of music today. I wonder what he would think about such great guitarists like Stevie Ray Vaughn, was there no melodic phasing in his music? His music was so complex, perhaps SRV's music is too complex for a guitarist evolved from the folk music era.

[@nostalgia6669]

Ok boomer