In addition, it offers an emotional account of the tragic event that McLean used as his jumping off point for the larger story he wanted to tell. “This film was a concerted effort to raise the curtain.” “I told Don, ‘It’s time for you to reveal what 50 years of journalists have wanted to know,’” Proffer said. By contrast, the new documentary offers the first line-by-line deconstruction of the song’s lyrics, as well as the most detailed analysis to date of its musical evolution. Throughout the years, journalists have subjected the song to a Talmudic level of scrutiny, while its songwriter, Don McLean, has doled out dribs and drabs of insight into his intent. Over the years, it has been interpreted by artists from Madonna (who created a commercially triumphant, if aesthetically limp, take in 2000) to Garth Brooks to Jon Bon Jovi to John Mayer. In fact, American Pie has only gained in fans and expanded in meaning as it has hit successive generations and generated fresh covers.