In this story about how the iconic "American Pie" came to be, its producer reveals how it could have sounded very different because of Don McLean's lack of experience and discomfort in a recording studio. 

"Initially McLean wanted to record American Pie with just acoustic guitar, but [producer Ed] Freeman “leaned on him” to use a rhythm section. “To me, that’s the most crucial thing I did for that whole record,” Freeman says.

“Don had not really had any experience playing with other people, and he was very leery about it. So instead of getting in a bunch of seasoned studio musicians who could knock it out in five minutes, I deliberately got musicians who were good, but weren’t slick, burned-out superstar players. They’d be able to approach Don on the same level.” 

He also talks about the difficulty of physically fitting an eight-minute song onto a 45 in those days and how they solved it - although, admittedly, not very well. 

This article is about more than just the same tired old story about how McLean wrote the song and what it means, which is what makes it far more interesting. 

The story behind American Pie by Don McLean

By the way, McLean was in the news earlier this week for another matter - receiving a star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame.