Key to understanding the song’s overall meaning is the chorus, as this is where McLean states the theme of the country’s lost innocence quite clearly:
“Bye, bye Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
And them good ole boys were drinking whiskey and rye
Singin’ this’ll be the day that I die
This’ll be the day that I die.”
Mrs. Krantz of Minneapolis beams at her apple pie baking in the oven in 1951.
Conveying his sadness over the loss of America’s innocence, McLean uses “American Pie” as a metaphor for the country, and the chorus is thus a farewell to the all-American way. It is thought that he was also inspired by the expression “as American as apple pie”, which describes something that is quintessentially American. Other interpretations state that this could also be a synthesis of the American pie and the Miss America beauty pageant.
No matter the interpretation, the term “American Pie” evokes a simpler time when icons had meaning and life had more taste. Using the chorus, McLean bids farewell to the America of a passing era.