A long, long time ago, Don McLean can still remember… a time when he felt that the country wasn’t so “divided.”
Since Don McLean released his iconic and timeless song, “American Pie,” he has paid special attention to how the country has developed as well as the issues that have progressed. According to McLean, the country is extremely different than what he knew as a child and even a young artist.
“The America now is not the America I started out in,” McLean told Fox News. “And it’s not the America that I was in before I started out … The America that I remember in the 1950s when I was growing up and was a young boy and teenager — that’s the America I knew and the value system I knew.”
He has also noticed how the America he grew up with has a vastly different reputation than how he viewed it.
“So many people today make it sound like the America of the ‘50s was some horrible White racist country, and it’s disgusting the way [some] people have characterized our country,” McLean said. “There was a wonderful civility [back then]; there was trust; doors were open; we had the number-one colleges in the world; and we were number one, for real.”
He added, “We won the Olympics — we didn’t send some dumb ‘Dream Team’ with professional athletes over to the Olympics. The Olympics were really the Olympics. Guys didn’t have multi-million contracts and trainers … [The athletes in the Olympics] were everyday Americans. That’s gone now.”
Don McLean Expresses Concerns for Homelessness in America in 2022
In terms of today’s America, Don McLean has focused his attention on one particular issue that has affected the nation: homelessness.
“We have a lot of homeless in America. I see them. And I see the stimulus money running out,” McLean noted. “And I don’t hear [President] Biden or anybody else talking about the homeless people in America and how we’re going to help them. That concerns me.”
According to the “American Pie” singer, he worries that when the stimulus checks discontinue, families that depend on them won’t have the funds they need to support their lifestyle.
“What’s the person with very little money going to do when he or she can’t even fill his car with gas?” he said.
McLean, himself, has formed an organization that aims to help with this issue. According to the organization’s founder, the Don McLean Foundation “supports soup kitchens, homeless shelters, and the Portland Maine Salvation Army, as well as other worthy recipients around the country.”
Outside of his work with the foundation, the singer claims to keep social issues out of his performances. McLean acknowledged that his fans come to his concerts for music, not a “lecture.” He may tell a story or two, but his intention is always to entertain while on stage.
