This Will Be the Day That I Die
Once they reach their favorite places to drink, McLean and his friends raise their glasses to “the good ole boys,” mourning the death of Buddy Holly and his band. One of the key lines of the song, “This’ll be the day that I die” is a rewording of a line from Buddy Holly’s “That’ll Be the Day” hit: “Cause that’ll be the day when I die.
“The Levee”, later became “Tin Lizzies” and is currently called “The Beechmont Tavern“. Source: yelp.com
“In that particular song, Holly fears that his love would leave him, which would mean the end of the world for him. McLean uses the line with a double edge: to point to Holly as a symbol of the song, and to mourn the death of music as he knows it and a whole world with it.