October 17, 2020

HELP ME WRITE A NEW AMERICAN PIE!!!

{pulbic post}

hallo loves…

TL;DR, as threatened on the webcast….help me put together a modernized version of “american pie” – i’m gonna write it on tuesday if i have time. leave lyrics suggestions in the comments by monday night NY time.

greetings from havelock north! okay, i THREATENED on the webcast the other day….and now am really truly fucking doing this.

and i don’t have time, which is always when the magic happens! i have 38 more cameo videos to make, i have a whole tour to rehearse and pack for, i have 1709 unanswered emails, so WHY am i going to try to spend a day writing an homage to AMERICAN PIE?

because I MUST FEEL ALIVE and also because….i threatened to make you all help me with it on a webcast last week. and the threat is now real.

if you want the ridiculous background of how this happened…go see this webcast (it’s archived and public now) and skip to about 1hr 3 minutes. that’s when it all went off the rails.

someone asked me waht kind of music i was listening to, and i told the truth: i’ve been listening a constant rotation, with ash, of “american pie” by don mclean (1971) and “the saga begins” by weird al (1999).

for ash, the weird al song came first, and then i obviously had to introduce him to the original. he now insists on listening to them BACK to BACK.

i was never a huge fan of the song…i kind of relegated it to the covers/bar band bin….but god, it’s good.

and the weird al parody is also….really good.

one thing on the webcast led to another, and it was DETERMINED that we should create a collectively-written new “parody”, though i’d hesitate to call it that. it’s more like a MODERNIZATION. for now, for 2020, for trump, for black lives mattering, for covid, for NOW.

…………

so here’s how we’ll do it.

first of all, i’ve never tried this. so who knows.

second, i’m going to set aside TUESDAY from about 11-3pm my time to write it. i will flip on a crowdcast while i’m writing, and i’ll post it here. if you’re up, you can help and watch! stay alert.

THE RULES? there ARE NO RULES, just like there are no roads at the end of back to the future. we were going to create a reddit but i don’t have time. think hard, and either write a WHOLE PARODY/MODERNIZATION, or just write a verse or two.

please don’t put up multiple posts. just post all your thoughts and ideas in one comment. if you’re not a poet, parody writer, or whatever, please just UPVOTE WHAT GRABS YOU. i’ll come around on tuesday and start frankensteining together what’s good.

I ALSO MADE A THREAD ON THE SHADOWBOX for this: https://forum.theshadowbox.net/t/american-pie-thread/5892

the shadowbox is way better for CONVERSATION and workshopping….so if you’re a songwriter or lyricist and you wanna go play around and joke around with other writers and the peoples, that’s the place to head!! i’ll scan it when i start writing, but things can easily get lost there wghen conversations go all over the place!

two asks:

DO watch that webcast bit from 1:03 on. read the comments! lot of the ideas were already REALLY GOOD!!!

we came up with a chorus:

“WHY, WHY MUST AMERICANS DIE?”

i love this because it could be about so many things: health care, police brutality, covid, abortion. we could have a verse about each. SO FUN.

DO do your research on the original song. it’s DEEP! read the wiki! there’s a lot of goodness in there about the origin and meaning of the lyrics….the plane crash that killed richie valens, buddy holly and the bog bopper, you can’t leave out JFK and all the people getting shot, etc.

and honestly, listening to the weird al song is truly inspiring, because he’s a master.

3…..you know me. i want this to be a classic amanda palmer combination of silly and heavy. so do your own thing and know that i’ll twist it all together into an amanda palmer pie.

i may use ONE thing you all offer, i may meld 50 suggestions. THERE IS NO KNOWING.

but by reading this and agreeing, you release me to do whatever i want with your words….and i’ll try to thank people as i can!!! if you havea weird user name and want credit with your name, add it. otherwise this whole thing is gonna be fast a furious and a fun weirdness as usual.

DEADLINE IS MONDAY NIGHT, 5 PM NEW YORK TIME!!!

WORK FAST!!! YOU’VE GOT ABOUT A DAY AND A HALF!!!!

if all goes well and i actually do this (no promises) i’ll play it at the wellington show. maybe even record and thing it…???

LET’S GO.

START SUGGESTING LYRICS IN THE COMMENTS, i iz all earz!!!!

by the way….

i love for this accidental and beautiful shit. thank you for having fun with me.

here are the original lyrics.

i am going to TRY to write this many verses….but we can maybe scrap a verse. THERE ARE NO RULES.

try to remain as faithful as you can to the rhyme, rhythm and meter and even imagery/cadence of the OG song lyrics…the way weird al does. the closer the better.

think like a singer. don’t make it hard.

INTRO / VERSE 1

A long long time ago
I can still remember how
That music used to make me smile
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And maybe they’d be happy for a while

But February made me shiver
With every paper I’d deliver
Bad news on the doorstep
I couldn’t take one more step

I can’t remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride
Something touched me deep inside
The day the music died
So

CHORUS 1

Bye, bye Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
And them good ole boys were drinking whiskey and rye
Singin’ this’ll be the day that I die
This’ll be the day that I die

VERSE 2

Did you write the book of love
And do you have faith in God above
If the Bible tells you so?
Do you believe in rock and roll?
Can music save your mortal soul?
And can you teach me how to dance real slow?

Well, I know that you’re in love with him
‘Cause I saw you dancin’ in the gym
You both kicked off your shoes
Man, I dig those rhythm and blues

I was a lonely teenage broncin’ buck
With a pink carnation and a pickup truck
But I knew I was out of luck
The day the music died
I started singin’

CHORUS 2

VERSE 3

Now, for ten years we’ve been on our own
And moss grows fat on a rolling stone
But, that’s not how it used to be

When the jester sang for the king and queen
In a coat he borrowed from James Dean
And a voice that came from you and me

Oh and while the king was looking down
The jester stole his thorny crown
The courtroom was adjourned
No verdict was returned

And while Lennon read a book on Marx
The quartet practiced in the park
And we sang dirges in the dark
The day the music died
We were singin’

CHORUS 3

Bye, bye Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
Them good ole boys were drinking whiskey and rye
And singin’ this’ll be the day that I die
This’ll be the day that I die

VERSE 4

Helter skelter in a summer swelter
The birds flew off with a fallout shelter
Eight miles high and falling fast

It landed foul on the grass
The players tried for a forward pass
With the jester on the sidelines in a cast

Now the half-time air was sweet perfume
While sergeants played a marching tune
We all got up to dance
Oh, but we never got the chance

‘Cause the players tried to take the field
The marching band refused to yield
Do you recall what was revealed
The day the music died?
We started singin’

CHORUS 4

VERSE 5

Oh, and there we were all in one place
A generation lost in space
With no time left to start again

So come on Jack be nimble, Jack be quick
Jack Flash sat on a candlestick
‘Cause fire is the devil’s only friend

Oh and as I watched him on the stage
My hands were clenched in fists of rage
No angel born in Hell
Could break that Satan’s spell

And as the flames climbed high into the night
To light the sacrificial rite
I saw Satan laughing with delight
The day the music died
He was singin’

CHORUS 5

Bye, bye Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
Them good ole boys were drinking whiskey and rye
Singin’ this’ll be the day that I die
This’ll be the day that I die

VERSE 6

I met a girl who sang the blues
And I asked her for some happy news
But she just smiled and turned away

I went down to the sacred store
Where I’d heard the music years before
But the man there said the music wouldn’t play

And in the streets the children screamed
The lovers cried, and the poets dreamed
But not a word was spoken
The church bells all were broken

And the three men I admire most
The Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost
They caught the last train for the coast
The day the music died
And they were singing

CHORUS 6/OUTRO

They were singing
Bye, bye Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
Them good ole boys were drinking whiskey and rye
Singin’ this’ll be the day that I die

USE THE FORCE……

and GO!!!!!

YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

——THE NEVER-ENDING AS ALWAYS———

IF YOU’RE IN THE USA…..DON’T FORGET TO REGISTER TO VOTE IN THE NOVEMBER 2020 ELECTION. DO NOT BE CONFUSED!!! help is there: you can register to vote, find your local voter registration deadlines, update your voter registration, check that your registration is still on the books, find your polling place and other important election information HERE at http://headcount.org

……….

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HELP ME WRITE A NEW AMERICAN PIE!!!

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