During my college days there was nothing as intriguing as a rock mystery. I still remember a 2:00 AM debate in my dorm bathroom as to whether the rumor was true that Paul McCartney was dead. We scrutinized album covers and tried to play “Revolution 9” backwards in an attempt to hear “Paul is dead,” which the circulating story maintained was possible (P.S. We didn’t hear it).
So when Don McLean’s song “American Pie” came along a couple of years later we were in absolute heaven. Who were the King and Queen? The Jester? Were the Beatles those “sergeants playing a marching tune”? But most of all we loved the imagery of the lyrics, filled with allusions to ’50’s rock ‘n’ roll—“The Book of Love,” but especially “I was a lonely teenage broncin’ buck/With a pink carnation and a pick-up truck…” All with a rocking chorus.
“The Day the Music Died,” an excellent new documentary about Don McLean, the song and how it all came together is available to stream on Paramount Plus. It’s fascinating to hear what “American Pie” means to those too young to have been around when it first aired in 1972. They see it as an optimistic affirmation of the future despite the repeated “This’ll be the day that I die,” yet the view of Ed Freeman, the producer of “American Pie,” is closer to what was intended: “A eulogy for a dream that didn’t take place,” but still “an acknowledgment of what we’d been through so we could move on.” At the end of the documentary Don McLean discusses what he had in mind as he wrote the song, yet there remain more questions than answers. He denies any references to Elvis Presley or the Beatles or “the girl who sang the blues” (Janis Joplin?)—“If I meant them, I would have said them”—yet there’s no discussion whatsoever between interviewer and interviewee about “Jack Flash” who so clearly is Mick Jagger.
But the heart of the film are the scenes in the recording studio, all demonstrating how an expert producer can make a work truly memorable. It was Ed Freeman’s idea to add a rhythm section to McLean’s guitar and best of all, Paul Griffin on piano, so that the rocking rhythm of the song could best be realized. In the end it’s not just the lyrics, but the music, too, that so well serve the man to whom the song pays tribute—Buddy Holly.
“The Day the Music Died” is well worth your viewing time.
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It’s not often that an opera performance features a singer who seems to become one with the character he or she portrays. However, the British tenor, Allan Clayton, who sang a memorable Hamlet last season, effortlessly managed to do so during his recent run as Peter Grimes at the Metropolitan Opera. While outwardly a bit of a tough character, you felt his yearning as he voices his wish to settle down—to marry the widow Ellen Orford (an excellent Nicole Car) and own a shop. Yet how he treats his second apprentice immediately made me think Grimes had been batted around more than a few times when he was that boy’s age. That’s the type of detail Allan Clayton brought to his performance. And he absolutely broke my heart during his mad scene before Grimes sails off to drown himself.
I saw the Met’s production of “Peter Grimes” when it premiered several years ago, but this time I was amazed at how well the opera plays, not just musically, but dramatically. For my money you can keep all your horror movies because there’s nothing as frightening as hearing the chorus as towns folk, assembled en masse on stage calling out “Peter Grimes! Peter Grimes! Peter Grimes!” fortissimo, as they prepare to hunt him down.
Here’s hoping the Met has Allan Clayton inked in for more roles in seasons to come.
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Mark me down as exceptionally late to the party, but I only just recently watched “The Big Lebowski” from start to finish. I had seen bits and pieces over the years as I channel-surfed, but for some reason it had never caught on with me until now. It was worth the wait because I can’t remember the last time I laughed like that. And while I love Jeff Bridges, I think John Goodman is something of a genius (not to mention the Coen Brothers). The Dude abides, man.
Betty's Brownies 