Starry Starry Songster

www.zwire.com - 09/29/05

Don McLean bringing a slice of American Pie to the Mellow Theater Saturday.

On the staff of musical history, the troubadour holds a key position. Not always respected (witness the legions of buskers on all the world's
streets), only intermittently revered (witness the birth and death and
rebirth of the folkie coffee house), but nevertheless there, beneath
society's window, with a serenade's eye-view of things needing sung.
Sometimes they sing it right on; sometimes they sing it all wrong, and sometimes -- just sometimes -- a songster strikes just the right note, at just the right time, with just the right witness, that the whole world chimes true.
One of those rare, pitch-perfect sometimes was at -- where else? -- L.A.'s infamed Troubadour back in 1971. On stage, a lone man sang a simple song so soulful, so stirring, struck a chord so darn right, that it inspired a woman named Lori Lieberman to song. Charles Fox and Norman Gimble made the tuneful moves, and a year later Roberta Flack sang it all down as "Killing Me Softly(With His Song)."

That man of course was Don McLean, his song was "Empty Chairs,"
and its resonance remains one of the most poignant moments in pop music. McLean's life has been full of such once upon a sometimes: The Grammy Hall of Famed "American Pie," (RIAA No. 5 Song of the 20th Century), has cracked every levee-prone Chevy door since 1971. It's been taken out and spun -- somewhere, sometime, by someone -- some three million times.
The title's been chosen to put the hit into a flick (thrice), it's lyric's been sung and resung ad infinitum. The song has become trademark. The song remains ingrained in our collective conscious.

Ditto "Vincent (Starry Starry Night)," a copy of which's sheet
music lies in a time capsule beneath the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, right alongside a set of the master's paintbrushes. A beautiful rendering of a tortured life, this song too remains regarded, two million airplays later.
Double ditto "Castles in the Air" and "And I Love You So," two softer sides of an already sweet soft touch. Deft as a whisper, as melodic as life itself, they've become staples in songdom, aural food for the soul, part of the soundtrack of our lives.

All our lives. Just check the varied legions that've chosen to cover the Don's tracks. Elvis ("And I Love You So") to Chet Atkins ("Vincent"), Madonna (who took a mechanized "Pie" to No. 1 Dance) to George Michael (who made "The Grave" an anti-war rallying cry), Guns & Roses (a carbon cool copy of McLean's arrangement of "Since I Don't Have You") to Josh Groban(another "Vincent"), Perry Como ("And I...") to Fred Astaire ("Wonderful Baby").
And yes that was Don up onstage with Garth in front of an 800,000 strong Central Park sing-along. Seems even a good ol' boy has a thing for the grand old boy of song.

So too the legion of legend then and now. Super Seventies stalwarts such as Harry Chapin and Jim Croce (natch) are obvious then successors, less obvious are new trad rad folk such as Alexi Murdoch and Damien Rice, who by Irish rites should be all Donovan, but who in their very own peculiar way, owe a little lot to the introspective outings of McLean. Even Conor Oberst, he of the Bright Eyes, a man whose songs also deserve to be sung from as many rooftops and radios, has gotta debt the Don.

McLean put the quiet political atop the pop charts, a feat few can boast. He may have not have been the first to do so (we gotta go back to good ol' Woody G for that), but his doing ensured his legions might one day do so too.

Then there's Tupac. Yes, Tupac. The Resurrectionist. Who woulda thunk that the lean mean gansta machine was into McLean? Not many. It's true though.
In mad fact, reports confirm that Mama Shakur played "Vincent" to
her son on his death bed.

It is that powerful a stroke.

And it's just that kinda power and stroke which keeps McLean keen after all these fabled years. On October 11th he'll release his 30th album, Rearview Mirror (Hyena), an 18 track collection that boasts not only the aforementioned L.A. Troubadouring, a solid new stab at immortality ("Run Diana Run"), and the very first Pie, but also - get this - a '78 outtake of the Don doing Gordon Lightfoot's coolly aloof classic "If You Could Read My Mind."

Keener still is McLean's schedule. The Don's done some 3500 concerts and still he's on it, at it, refreshing memories anew. When Don McLean opens Scranton Community Concerts' 2005-2006 Season at Lackawanna College's Mellow Theater this Saturday, on the very eve of his 62nd birthday, a many-generationed crowd will sing along, and remember tomorrow all over again.

If You Go:
Who: Don McLean
When: Saturday, 8 p.m.
Where: The Mellow Theater, Lackawanna College
How Much: Tickets start at $25; Call 342-4137 for more info