“American Pie,” arguably one of the best-known and oft-performed pop tracks in the American songbook, was a No. 1 hit for folk singer-songwriter Don McLean in 1972. On April 7, McLean is playing the Birchmere with a concert of both classics and new cuts from his forthcoming album, Botanical Gardens.
Tell us about the title track from your new album.
It really is like heaven. It’s an old man going through botanical gardens and … maybe falling in love with this girl and then swimming in the moonlight with the flowers and the nymphs around. And all of a sudden, it’s getting dark and the gates are going to close: “Do I go back to the world or stay here?”
What role do you think today’s music should play?
Music is something that is your constant friend; it never changes. This is why if you have a death in the family, or you have a struggle that you’re going through, you’ll put on that album that you love and those songs that soothe you and heal you. There’s a medical aspect to this almost.
How do you keep songs you wrote decades ago fresh in performance?
Your job as a performer is to put aside any feelings that you may have about what it is you’re doing or how you are feeling and deliver that material and go back into that material honestly. And you do this in a giving spirit. I want to give to the audience … I love bringing them into my world—these are the various rooms in my mansion.
