You're going to be buying your ticket with your heartache, you're gonna be payin' the man with your dues. You're gonna be living alone when you hear that whistle moan, you're gonna be learnin' to live with the blues.

Do you recall what was revealed the day the music died?

I think longevity is more important than trying to make people realize you're around every second.

In a sense, 'American Pie' was a very despairing song but it can also be seen as very hopeful.

Not a word was spoken. The church bells all were broken.

We all got up to dance. Oh, but we never got the chance!

I've always been on the outside of all that political stuff so I just sort of watch it and I'm appalled and I think people should be screaming about a lot of things right now and they're not. They're just letting everything happen. I don't know. At some point the wheels are going to come off and we're going to have a real problem. The people are going to get angry and it's going to be too late.