Don McLean has no time for what he describes as “woke bullshit,” adding that it’s the kind of societal issue he conveyed in his 1971 classic “American Pie.”
“The song really does open up a whole historical question about what happened in the ’60s and assassinations and the history that forms the backbone of the song as it moves forward,” the rocker explained during a recent interview with Metro. “This song talks about the fact that things are going somewhat in the wrong direction, and I think that they’re still going in the wrong direction. I think most people looking at America now kind of think that too.”
The rock legend then went on to draw a line between the issues portrayed in “American Pie” and the current climate in the U.S.A.
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“I mean, we certainly have a wonderful country, and we do wonderful things, but we also are in the middle of all this woke bullshit,” he declared. “All this other stuff that there is absolutely no point to, as far as I can see, other than to undermine people’s beliefs in the country. That’s very bad.”
‘There’s So Much Anger Out There’
According to McLean, many of modern society’s problems can be attributed to a lack of human connection. He claimed that people “would just like to anesthetize themselves against any emotion” and are “in permanent party mode” without the ability to “get a handle on what really matters in life anymore.”
“They’re so addicted to their telephones and their iPads, and I am too. But there’s a constant flow of information and suddenly nothing makes much sense,” the rocker continued. “You have to concentrate in order to write songs like I did, or like other songwriters did in the past, or screenplays or novels or poetry.”
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“There’s so much anger out there,” McLean added. “So many of these college students have been given everything, and they’re just angry. They don’t know why they’re angry. They don’t even know what to be angry about. It’s really a symptom of the fact that they’re frustrated. They don’t have a path that they can tread in life that leads to a better life.”
McLean has spent much of 2024 on the road, performing across America. His next run of dates begins Sept. 4 in Kalispell, Montana and ends Dec. 20 in Honolulu, Hawaii.
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