American Pie - Don McLean

[Verse 1]

  G     D/F#    Em7

A long, long time ago

Am            C                  Em                  D

I can still remember how that music used to make me smile

    G      D/F#   Em7

And I knew if I had my chance

     Am                 C                Em              C            D

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/B    Am             C                     D

Bad news on the doorstep, I couldn't take one more step

  G          D/F#     Em           Am7            D

I can't remember if I cried when I read about his widowed bride

G         D/F#       Em

Something touched me deep inside

    C      D7      G

The day the music died

[Chorus 1]

   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

And them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye

        Em*                         A7*   Em*                         D7

Singin' this will be the day that I die, this will be the day that I die

[Verse 2]

G                 Am

Did you write the book of love

       C                 Am         Em           D

And do you have faith in God above, if the bible tells you so?

G      D/F#        Em

Do you believe in rock and roll

    Am7            C              Em                 A7           D

Can music save your mortal soul and can you teach me how to dance real slow?

       Em*                  D*                   Em*             D*

Well I know that you're in love with him 'cuz I saw you dancin' in the gym

    C           G/B      Am           C                    D7

You both kicked off your shoes, man I dig those rhythm and blues

        G      D/F#     Em                   Am                   C

I was a lonely teenage bronckin' buck with a pink carnation and a pickup truck

    G     D/F#    Em              C       D7    G  C  G         D

But I knew I was out of luck the day the music died,  I started singin'

[Chorus 2]

[Verse 3]

         G                   Am

Now for ten years we've been on our own

      C                   Am          Em                     D

and moss grows fat on a rolling stone but that's not how it used to be

          G     D/F#            Em

When the jester sang for the king and queen

     Am7                C                   Em             A7          D

in a coat he borrowed from James Dean in a voice that came from you and me

         Em*                 D*               Em*                 D*

Oh, and while the king was looking down, the jester stole his thorny crown

     C        G/B   A7       C                D7

The courtroom was adjourned, no verdict was returned

          G         D/F#  Em             Am           C

And while Lennin read a book on Marx, the quartet practiced in the park

    G       D/F#   Em               C       D7    G  C  G        D

And we sang dirges in the dark the day the music died,   we were singin'

[Chorus 3]

[Verse 4]

G                   Am

Helter skelter in a summer swelter

C                      Am                 Em                     D

the birds flew off with a fallout shelter, eight miles high and fallin' fast

      G   D/F#  Em

It landed foul on the grass

      Am7                C            Em                             A7     D

the players tried for a forward pass, with the jester on the sidelines in a cast

         Em*               D*                  Em*                 D*

Now the half-time air was sweet perfume, while sergeants played a marching tune

C          G/B      A7      C                  D7

We all got up to dance, but we never got the chance

         G        D/F#     Em             Am                  Cm        C

'Cuz the players tried to take the field, the marching band refused to yield

G         D/F#      Em               C       D7    G  C  G           D

Do you recall what was revealed the day the music died,   we started singin'

[Chorus 4]

[Verse 5]

     G                Am

And there we were all in one place

    C        Am            Em                   D

a generation lost in space, with no time left to start again

            G      D/F#   Em               Am7                 C

So come on Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack Flash sat on a candle

       Em                   A7             D

stick, 'cuz fire is the devil's only friend

     Em*              D*               Em*                    D*

And as I watched him on the stage, my hands were clenched in fists of rage

   C      G/B    A7         C                  D7

No angel born in Hell could break that Satan's spell

           G            D/F#      Em             Am              C

And as the flames climbed high into the night to light the sacrificial rite

      G     D/F#     Em                C       D7    G  C  G       D

I saw Satan laughing with delight the day the music died,   he was singin'

[Chorus 5]

[Verse 6]

  G    D/F#       Em

I met a girl who sang the blues

      Am                 C               Em                      D

And I asked her for some happy news, but she just smiled and turned away

  G       D/F#      Em

I went down to the sacred store

       Am              C                     Em                 C

Where I'd heard the music years before, but the man there said the music

         D

wouldn't play

    Em*                Am*                    Em*                  Am*

But in the streets the children screamed, the lovers cried and the poets dreamed

    C     G/B      Am          C                     D

But not a word was spoken, the church bells all were broken

        G       D/F#   Em            Am7     C             D7

And the three men I admire most, the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost

G             D/F#          Em               C       D7    G

They caught the last train for the coast the day the music died,

N.C.

And they were singin'

[Chorus 6]

G    C        G        D

Bye, bye Miss American Pie

         G            C             G         D

Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry

         G        C                  G           D

And them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye

        Em*                         A7*   Em*                         D7

Singin' this will be the day that I die, this will be the day that I die

                  G    C        G        D

They were singin' bye, bye Miss American Pie

         G            C             G         D

Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry

         G        C                  G           D

And them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye

        C                D7         G   C   G

Singin' this will be the day that I die