| 1. "I like rock'n'roll but with more than one chord. I'm a two-chord man." 2. "You want me to police the whole world and tell them what each song means, that's crazy. Look, I had a friar in my front garden one morning who told me that he joined a monastery because of my music. What could I say? I told him I had to mow the lawn. The songs have to stand for themselves. On stage, I rarely introduce them and I don't explain them." 3. "The most important relationship is between you and your audience. If you work on that, and give the audience more than just an eight by ten glossy picture of what the media says you're supposed to be, then your audience won't forget you after the media has gone chasing after someone else." 4. "People ask me if I left the lyrics open to ambiguity. Of course I did. I wanted to make a whole series of complex statements. The lyrics had to do with the state of society at the time." 5. "A lot of performers I guess might wanna say things about this country or that country, but I just talk about my own." (Hmm, that would explain the songs "Jerusalem", "Babylon", "Mountains O' Mourne", etc. would it?) 5. "I was watching a show last night... and I saw this show about people working for Hewlett Packard and about how hard it is for two people working at good jobs to make it and still have enough time for their family. And the American public has given me the most terrific life that anyone could ever ask for, and because of that it is my pleasure to sing only the songs that I'm known for with as much sincerity and gusto as possible, because of the life that I have been given by this audience out there in this country. And I never forget that... I did not have money, I was not a rich person, no one gave me a trust fund, I started with nothing, and I found my audience and my audience gave me this life that I lead. And I am eternally grateful for that." |
| DM Quotes: On his career |
| Quote 1: Don McLean, 1980 concert article from the Christchurch Press, see here for full article. Quote 2: Don McLean, http://www.patdrummond.net//Interviews/Don_McClean_Meets_Pat1982%20.html Quote 2: Don McLean, from an unspecified music magazine, 1971. Than3s to Liz Larabell for typing it up! Quote 4: Don McLean, http://www.oocities.org/SunsetStrip/8678/1972_1singles.html Quote 5: Don McLean, Interview with BFBS, circa 1994? Thanks to Karman Moore for sending me a copy of this! Quote 1: Don McLean, from the online interview at Syracuse.com, Sept 17 2001. Thanks for Liz Larabell for laboriously transcribing this! |