“American Pie” singer Don McLean talks about what it means to him to be American

Don McLean, best known for the song “American Pie,” recently spoke about his struggles and what it means to him to be a true American. He believes that being an American means that everyone should be treated fairly and with respect, and that you should never let obstacles stop you.

He explained: “You don’t always have to win, but when you lose, you realize you lost because you weren’t good enough. So you have to improve, and next time you’ll win,” adding that it’s not about that: “I always have to be a winner, otherwise I’m nothing. No, you have to be a loser first, man. I’ve lost a lot. I’ve been down a lot. A lot of things have happened to me that have knocked me down, and then I get back up, you know, and dust myself off, just like the song says, and start again.”

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McLean shared that experiencing pain and setbacks helped him become a famous songwriter. He admitted, “You know, there’s a lot of pain in trying to be a songwriter. If you don’t hurt, you’re not a good songwriter. You know, if everything’s going perfectly for you, you have no say, you know? And you certainly can’t empathize with the average person out there who has all kinds of fucking bad things going on in their life, you know, dealing with drug-addicted kids and ex-wives and no money, and so on and so forth.”

McLean believes his music resonates with people because he understands how they feel, but he sees some stark differences between himself and some people today. He said, “I was broke, but I was never poor. I think people are poorer today because they have more money than they ever had when they were broke, because they don’t understand how great they are and how much they have, and they’ve given up and are only thinking about the money. And so you can have money and still not feel like ‘I can make it anywhere.’ I never stop feeling that way. Nobody ever told me – I was always better than everyone else, OK? Nothing set me back. That’s America.”

Let us know if you share McLean’s opinion or not!