A runaway American dream

On the way to pick up burritos several weeks ago, Jack and I heard the entirety of "American Pie." It had been awhile and for some reason I had forgotten just how monumental this tune is.

I tried to explain its meaning, and Jack became more interested when told about the lyrical references to the Beatles. He likes a lot of different music (even hip-hop; I will start that deprogramming soon), and thought it was pretty great that there was a song about pies, a marching band, a plane crash, Chevys and the Beatles.

"American Pie" is one of the few songs that you knew was significant the first time you heard it, like "Johnny B. Goode,""Layla," "Hey Jude, "Born to Run" and "Jumping Jack Flash," just for starters.

The members of my high school prom committee also knew it was important, even if they didn't really know why. The prom theme was "American Pie" and memories are sketchy except for this big one: The shop guys used an acetylene torch to take apart an old Chevy and then reassembled it in the middle of the gym floor. A quite literal interpretation of at least one part of the song -- Jack would have thought it was really cool.

The only other things I remember is that the band consisted of a combo led by our sax-playing Spanish teacher, who was a little too much Boots Randolph and not enough Jr. Walker or Clarence Clemons.

Oh, and my robin-egg blue tux and yellow frilly shirt. Jack would have thought that was cool too.
Looking back, maybe it was.