h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm sure you've all heard Madonna's version of 'American Pie'. I mean, it's bad. So bad, it rates somewhere between 'Honey' and 'My Ding-a-ling'. Don McLean approves of it, apparently. The only reason I can think of for that is money. In my experience, there's nothing better that folk singers like than a big fat publishing cheque...

someone once asked don macleen just what american pie realy did mean and he said it means he never has to work again!

I hate that Madonna version - but then, I hate Madonna with a Hate that is very, very big. But I don't mind Weird Al's "Phantom Menace" spoof:

The Saga Begins
(To The Tune of American Pie)

A long long time ago
in a galaxy far away
Naboo was under an attack
And I thought me and Qui-Gon Jinn
Could talk the Federation into
Maybe cutting them a little slack
But their response, it didn't thrill us
They locked the doors and tried to kill us
We escaped from that gas
Then met Jar Jar and Boss Nass
We took a bongo from the scene
And we went to Theed to see the queen
We all wound up on Tatooine
That's where we found this boy...

Oh my my, this here Anakin guy
May be Vader someday later - now he's just a small fry
And he left his home and kissed his mommy goodbye
Sayin' "Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi"
"Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi"

Did you know this junkyard slave
Isn't even old enough to shave
But he can use the Force they say
Ahh, do you see him hitting on the queen
Though he's just nine and she's fourteen
Yeah, he's probably gonna marry her someday
Well, I know he built C-3PO
And I've heard how fast his pod can go
And we were broke, it's true
So we made a wager or two
He was a prepubescent flyin' ace
And the minute Jabba started off that race
Well, I know who would win first place
Oh yes, it was our boy

We started singin'... My my, this here Anakin guy
May be Vader someday later - now he's just a small fry
And he left his home and kissed his mommy goodbye
Sayin' "Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi"
"Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi"

Now we finally got to Coruscant
The Jedi Council we knew would want
To see how good the boy could be
So we took him there and we told the tale
How his midi-chlorians were off the scale
And he might fulfill that prophecy
Oh, the Council was impressed, of course
Could he bring balance to the Force?
They interviewed the kid
Oh, training they forbid
Because Yoda sensed in him much fear
And Qui-Gon said, "Now listen here
Just stick it in your pointy ear
I still will teach this boy"

He was singin'... My my, this here Anakin guy
May be Vader someday later - now he's just a small fry
And he left his home and kissed his mommy goodbye
Sayin' "Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi"
"Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi"

We caught a ride back to Naboo
'Cause Queen Amidala wanted to
I frankly would've liked to stay
We all fought in that epic war
And it wasn't long at all before
Little Hotshot flew his plane and saved the day
And in the end some Gungans died
Some ships blew up and some pilots fried
A lot of folks were croakin'
The battle droids were broken
And the Jedi I admire most
Met up with Darth Maul and now he's toast
Well, I'm still here and he's a ghost
I guess I'll train this boy

And I was singin'... My my, this here Anakin guy
May be Vader someday later - now he's just a small fry
And he left his home and kissed his mommy goodbye
Sayin' "Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi"
"Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi"
We were singin'... My my, this here Anakin guy
May be Vader someday later - now he's just a small fry
And he left his home and kissed his mommy goodbye
Sayin' "Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi"

"American Pie" the movie, is a comedy about four high school senior boys who make a pact to lose their virginity before the end of the school year. This alone makes it almost touchingly old-fashioned; I didn't know Hollywood still permitted high school seniors to be virgins, but there you go. You learn something every day.

That is a really cool version. Streets better than Madonnas "Beautiful stranger meets american pie" effort. Only thintg that annoys me more is that people bought it.

I'd be better able to stomach Maddona's version if she had sung the whole thing. If you're going to sing it, sing the whole thing!

On interp: I've heard that "Satan" in the song refers to Mick Jagger. I've heard Don McClean hated Jagger, and though I've never heard any evidence to back that up, there is at least the "Jack Flash" reference to back up the Satan=Jagger thing. Maybe he meant hard rock as being Satan? I dunno.

~Irving

I thought that bit referred to the Altamont rock festival, where some Hell's Angels (who were supposed to be stewarding the event) stabbed a fan to death while the Stones were on stage.

Of course "As the flames climbed high into the night..." could just as easily refer to Hendrix at the Monterey Pop festival. . .

Madonna's version isn't all that bad, though not as good as McLean's. For a detailed interpretation of the song go to www.urbanlegends.com/songs/american_pie_interpretations.html

Nigel

Garth Brooks' version is better than Madonna's by far, though still not as good as McLean's. Anybody here hear McLean's "Living in the USA"? (no relation to "Living in America")

Ahhh...

When I was but a wee Taco, I asked me Mum what the song meant. Here's what she said:

King = Buddy Holly. (Duh)

Queen = Marylon Monroe (while she and Holly were never romantically linked, they were considered by many to be the defining icons of the 50's)

Jester = Elvis (He stole the king's crown, remember? And now he's the king of Rock and Roll)

Devil = Mick Jagger ("sympathy for the devil," remember? That, plus the Jack Flash reference.

Lenin = Lennon (John Lennon went through a major communism phase before the beatles broke up)

Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost = Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper

And before you reply, remember that I'm a momma's boy. A bitter, angry momma's boy. A bitter, angry momma's boy with enough computer savvy to find out where you live.

Nothing 'gainst your momma, but I interpreted one or two things differently.

King=Elvis
Queen=not really much of a character
Jester=Holly (because his voice came from you and me)
Devil=Mick Jagger

I always heard it as "Lennon read a book on Marx", and Lennon was a commie after the Beatles, too. Imagine (brilliant song) is pretty much a communist manifesto.

Father, Son, Holy Ghost=Holly, Vallens and Bopper (in no particular order)

So who's the girl who sang the blues?

Picky picky picky I know, but the lyric is "...the Byrds flew off with a fallout shelter". As we all know, Eight Miles High is the name of a song by the Byrds.

And it was John Lennon to whom Mr. McLean referred, he used to be an absolutely huge communist supporter, as well as having (alledged) conections with the IRA.




So there.

Lennon was never a communist. He was a staunch (rich) democratic socialist who believed in "Power To The People".

There is a difference.

Probably Janis Joplin, who died in 1970.

"Power To The People" was a sentiment rigorously believed in then, and now, by all of us ageing, decaying, hippies who once wore Flowers In Our Hair.

Yet another singer that covered American Pie was Tori Amos, I'm probably a bit biased but it's a decent redition. She first played before covering Smells Like Teen Spirit in order to pay tribute to Kurt Cobain, the day it was discovered he had committed suicide. For "our generation" this was was our "day the music died." I'm sure this point will be debated.

it works as an analogy.

Back to Lennon's communism/socialism/etc, I didn't mean literaly communist, but Imagine is pretty much pure Marxist doctrine. No religion. No possessions. Utopia. Don't get me wrong, I'm an idealistic student who wishes that a Socialist Paradise could be possible among the human race, and I love Imagine, Power to the People, Give Peace a Chance, as songs and as concepts. I believe that if we don't work for a perfect world, the world will never be as good as it could be. But I know that perfection is inachevable on earth.

So you didn't mean Communist, but rather Socialist. Socialism is the ideal, but Communism was a perverted "attempt" at it, that ended up being so far away from Socialism to not be worth considering. Just like the "National Socialist Party" was Fascist. Don't judge a book by it's cover, or a political way by it's name.

Communism is in fact the state of government whereby a number of people live in a self-supporting community, or commune. Whether or not any particular Communist party is successful as an organisation is not in question, but Communism is a particular form of Socialism.

Socialism, of course, being a state of government where the needs of the State come before the needs of the people. While it is possible to have a commune full of Anarchists, and possible to have an anarchy full of Communists, it is not possible to have a Communist government without that government being Socialist.

Whereas you can have a socialist, non-communist government.