I REMEMBER…Don McLean

Best known for “American Pie”, singer-songwriter Don McLean is celebrating the song’s 50th anniversary. He looks back on his childhood in New York, his determination to succeed and what he made of Madonna’s take on his signature hit

- Simon Button

BING CROSBY ALWAYS SEEMED TO BE ON THE RADIO when I was three or four years old. During Christmas, his song “White Christmas” was on constant rotation, and it felt like such a magical time to me growing up in New Rochelle, New York. Eventually, we got a television, around 1953—about two years after everyone else. My father thought TV was just a fad so he figured I could visit other people’s houses to watch but finally we got our own set. I remember being glued to Duncan Renaldo in The Cisco Kid. That was my favourite.

THERE WASN’T REALLY ANY FUN IN OUR HOUSE. My father was Scottish and he was kind of always up against it—always worried about money and so on, and also he was sick. He died when he was 56 and he had been suffering the effects of advanced heart disease for years before that. I was about ten years old when he realized he wasn’t going to be around for long but he didn’t tell anybody that. He was struggling but not revealing to anyone why because he was very stoic.

LUCKILY MUM WAS ATTACHED TO A LARGE ITALIAN FAMILY, so there was a lot of energy and happiness on that side of the family. But I didn’t relate to either side of my family. The Scottish side was too cold for me and the Italian side was a little too warm for me. I’ve never said that before but it’s true. I was somewhere in the middle.