Don McLean has claimed he predicted “woke culture” with his hit 1971 track American Pie.
In a recent interview for Metro.co.uk, the singer-songwriter reflected on the meaning of the song and suggested the themes can be applied to the current state of U.S. politics and society.
“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,” he stated. “I mean, we certainly have a wonderful country, and we do wonderful things, but we also are in the middle of all this woke bulls**t, you know, and 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.”
McLean went on to argue that people now would “like to anesthetise themselves against any emotion” and are unable to “get a handle on what really matters in life anymore”.
He also asserted that young people are “angry” for no reason.
“They don’t know why they’re angry. They don’t even know what to be angry about,” the 78-year-old fired. “It’s really a symptom, I think, 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.”
Meanwhile, in an interview for The Standard, McLean praised Taylor Swift for working hard to make it in the music industry.
“She’s working all of the time and she does everything that she does better than everybody else, whether it’s a video or a performance or songwriting or records or whatever, she does it all, just way better than everybody else and it’s really interesting because all of those other acts are suddenly old fashioned,” he declared.
McLean is set to headline The Long Road Festival in Leicestershire, England later this month.
