Don McLean (A-side)

Don McLean talks about his timeless classic 1971 album, the career defining 'American Pie'.

Series in which leading performers and songwriters talk about the album that made them or changed them.

Recorded in front of a live audience at the BBC's iconic Maida Vale Studios, each edition includes two episodes - the A-side and B-side.

In the A-side, Don McLean chats to John Wilson.

24-year old Don McLean’s debut album was rejected by 72 labels before it was released by Mediarts.

It was only because that label was taken over by United Artists that his follow-up received the promotion it deserved.

His second album contained: a tribute to a 19th-century Dutch painter, which was cited as a personal inspiration by the late rapper Tupac Shakur; a song that was re-recorded 32 years later by George Michael in protest against the Iraq War; and an eight-and-a-half-minute single that in 2017 was designated an “aural treasure… worthy of preservation as part of America’s patrimony.”

Producer: Paul Kobrak

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2018.