Eliot later said of The Waste Land that it was ‘just a piece of rhythmical grumbling’, and complained that one early critic of his poem had ‘over-understood’ it.Īre we in danger of similarly ‘over-understanding’ McLean’s ‘American Pie’: that is, of overinterpreting its lyrics and finding meanings within them which were not intended by the writer of the song?Īnd from that follows another question: if we do locate meaning within the song which McLean didn’t himself consciously intend, does that mean our interpretation is necessarily wrong? What if our interpretation gives the song meaning to us, albeit of a more private, personal kind? Both Eliot and McLean also famously refused to comment on the ‘true’ meaning or ‘real’ meaning of their best-known works.