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American Pie Tab

by Don Mclean


Full Song 100% Correct


Chords:
	     
G	3 2 0 0 0 3
D/F#	2 0 0 2 3 2
Em	0 2 2 0 0 0
Am	0 0 2 2 1 0
C	0 3 2 0 1 0
D	0 0 0 2 3 2
Dsus	0 0 0 2 3 3
D(9)	0 0 0 2 3 0
A7	0 0 2 0 2 0
C/B	0 2 0 0 1 0
Am7	0 0 2 0 1 0

Verse 1/Intro

         
A long, long time ago... 
            
I can still remember 
         					  (9) 
How that music used to make me smile. 
		  
   And I knew if I had my chance 
			 
That I could make those people dance
     		   		   	   (9) 
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, 
    	        	      
But something touched me deep inside 
    	           
The day the music died. 


Chorus

      		      
So bye-bye, miss american pie. 
	               
Drove my chevy to the levee, 
                 
But the levee was dry. 
                                              
And them good old boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye 
	   				    
Singin’, "this’ll be the day that I die. 
				  	      (9) 
"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, 
		 	  		    (9) 
	If the Bible tells you so? 
   	 	     
Do you believe in rock ’n 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. 


Chorus
	    
I started singin’, 
   		         
bye-bye, miss american pie. 
	               
Drove my chevy to the levee, 
                 
But the levee was dry. 
                                              
And them good old boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye 
	       				  
And Singin’, "this’ll be the day that I die. 
				  	      (9) 
"this’ll be the day that I die." 


Verse 3
                            
Now for ten years we’ve been on our own 
    	         	     
And moss grows fat on a rollin’ 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 
                                	      (9) 
And a voice that came from you and me, 


Verse 4
        		        
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 kept practice in the park, 
    	      	
And we sang dirges in the dark 
                   	
The day the music died. 


Chorus

		  
	We were singing, 
   		         
bye-bye, miss american pie. 
	               
Drove my chevy to the levee, 
                 
But the levee was dry. 
                                              
And them good old boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye 
	       				  
And Singin’, "this’ll be the day that I die. 
				  	      (9) 
"this’ll be the day that I die." 



Verse 5

                   
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, 
	                            	    (9) 
With the jester on the sidelines in a cast. 


Verse 6

	  		        
Now the half-time air was sweet perfume 
	                     
While the sergeants played a marching tune. 
             
We all got up to dance, 
                        
Oh, but we never got the chance! 
       	       
As the players tried to take the field; 
                 
The marching band refused to yield.
	    	
Do you recall what was revealed 
                   	
The day the music died? 


Chorus
	    
We started singing, 
   		         
bye-bye, miss american pie. 
	               
Drove my chevy to the levee, 
                 
But the levee was dry. 
                                          
Them good old boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye 
	       				  
And Singin’, "this’ll be the day that I die. 
				  	      (9) 
"this’ll be the day that I die." 


Verse 7
	               
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 
                                      	    (9) 
Cause fire is the devil’s only friend. 


Verse 8
                       
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 Fight the sacrificial lite, 
     	 
I saw satan laughing with delight 
           	   	
The day the music died 


Chorus
	    
He was singing, 
   		         
bye-bye, miss american pie. 
	               
Drove my chevy to the levee, 
                 
But the levee was dry. 
                                          
Them good old boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye 
	       				  
And Singin’, "this’ll be the day that I die. 
				  	     (9) 
"this’ll be the day that I die." 


Verse 9
	  	    
I met a girl who sang the blues 
	 		         
And I asked her for some happy news,
						   (9) 
But she just smiled and turned away. 
	 	      
I went down to the sacred store 
           		 
Where I’d heard the music years before, 
         		                                 (9) 
But the man there said the music wouldn’t play. 


Verse 10
                      
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. 


Chorus
    
And they were singing, 
   		         
bye-bye, miss american pie. 
	               
Drove my chevy to the levee, 
                 
But the levee was dry. 
                                              
And Them good old boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye 
	   				    
Singin’, "this’ll be the day that I die. 
				  	     (9) 
"this’ll be the day that I die." 


Chorus/Outro
           
they were singing, 
   		         
bye-bye, miss american pie. 
	               
Drove my chevy to the levee, 
                 
But the levee was dry. 
                                          
Them good old boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye 
	                            
Singin’, "this’ll be the day that I die. 
		    	                
"this’ll be the day that I die."