The Byrds flew off the fallout shelter, eight miles high and falling fast.

Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack sat on a candle stick, cause fire is the devil's only friend.

There we were all in one place, a generation lost in space.

I was always just into my music and maybe into trying to save the world a little bit. I never really thought I'd have a hit record or anything like that. I was prepared to travel around all over the country, kind of like a Johnny Appleseed, and sing.

I have no idea how I do anything. I never have. You know I just started playing guitar and started singing and started working on this act that I would call "Don McLean" when I was probably in high school. And I have been doing this for 40 years, adding songs and writing things, cobbling together albums, doing live things, you know, albums and tours. And then I have records on the charts. I have no idea how this happened.

In the streets the children screamed. The lovers cried, and the poets dreamed

Do you believe in rock 'n roll? Can music save your mortal soul?