"American Pie" singer arrested on domestic violence charge

[Miles Archer]

Source: CBS News

CAMDEN, Maine -- A jail supervisor says "American Pie" singer Don McLean has been arrested on a misdemeanor domestic violence charge in Maine.

Cpl. Brad Woll says McLean was arrested and posted $10,000 bail early Monday at the Knox County Jail.

The 70-year-old singer-songwriter lives in Camden, Maine. A message left for the police chief there by The Associated Press was not immediately returned. Police responded to his home shortly after 2 a.m. for a 911 call. The victim of the assault did not require hospital treatment, police told CBS affiliate WGME.

Woll says he did not know if McLean had a lawyer. A message seeking comment was left through the singer's website. A phone number listed under his name rang unanswered.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/american-pie-singer-don-mclean-arrested-on-domestic-violence-charge/

---

[Smarmie Doofus]

1. Yikes.

That's a shame. Hope it's some kind of misunderstanding.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

2. Give him life with no parole

He's guilty of crimes against music for that horrid song

[Still In Wisconsin]

4. No kidding! What a crap song. I've never understood why

people think it is so good.

[MADem]

10. Because it is fun to sing.

[mpcamb]

18. Nostalgia ain't what it used to be...

[snooper2]

44. Cherry Pie is a better song

[MADem]

45. Easier to sing, certainly.

American Pie is a pub crawl song--has to be sung at each pub before going on to the next. Gets harder to remember all those words as the evening wears on!

[dixiegrrrrl]

22. You wouilda had to be there at the time.........n/t

[Art_from_Ark]

27. Agreed

I can especially relate to the line "February made me shiver, with every paper I'd deliver..."
The absolute worst day I had as a paperboy was on a cold Sunday morning in February, when it was too slippery to ride my bicycle and the newspaper had a huge special edition to boot, so I had to make two trips to deliver all my papers, on foot. And while I was listening to my portable transistor radio to take my mind off my increasingly frozen feet, that was one of the songs that was played.

[SusanCalvin]

28. It is a reference to this.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_the_Music_Died

[Art_from_Ark]

29. It was only years later when I heard about the connection between the song

and that fateful February plane crash which took the lives of Richie Valens, Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper. At the time, though, I felt that song was actually talking to me about my experience with shivering while delivering papers

[SusanCalvin]

30. I've had the exact same thing happen.

[1monster]

35. The later years? Whole many of the song references were obscure,

the one thing everyone seemed to understand from the beginning was that "the day the music died" was the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly.

[Art_from_Ark]

51. I didn't understand it at the time

I probably didn't even know who Buddy Holly was at the time.
I had no idea of what "the day the music died" was all about, but I always thought that when he sang that he drove his "Chevy to the levee", it meant that he wanted to drive his klunker into the river

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

52. Not necessarily.........

[KingCharlemagne]

23. Is that sneering born perhaps of professional jealousy? - nt

[Politicub]

69. Maybe because it's really long

and never seems to end? That's all I got.

[1monster]

6. This one?

or this one?

American Pie was good too.

[Judi Lynn]

13. Oh, god! Vincent! Oh, OUCH. It's time someone paid Don back for that one.

It still makes you sick, just remembering it.

Triggers the gag reflex every time.

Haven't heard "Empty Chairs," never knew it existed.

You have tempted us to see how it goes, out of curiosity, as if it's going to be the song he did which is OK. What are the chances.

We have to walk away, no matter how curious we are to see if he ever did one which didn't suck as bad as the others.

[William Seger]

15. I hate lots of songs other people like

Would you like a list?

[Spitfire of ATJ]

16. Pipe the muzak version into his cell.

[1monster]

20. So, have you done better? If so, as they say,

put up or ....

I'll never understand those who pan others works. I don't care for country music, but I can appreciate that others do and not mock their choices.

[William Seger]

33. Kanye West Syndrome (n/t)

[Judi Lynn]

11. You speak for many! Thank you. n/t

[JI7]

17. yup.

[awoke_in_2003]

50. Glad I scrolled down

I was going to say he should have been locked up after releasing the worst and most annoying song ever written

[cannabis_flower]

53. When I was maybe 10

My sister and I were at our cousins and she had a single called "Leader of the Pack".

My sister played it so much that my cousin told her she could have it if she stopped playing it.

Later, at home, she played it over and over. My brother who was like two at the time stepped on it and broke it. I saw him but wasn't close enough to stop him. But my sister blamed it on me because I hated that song.

Also, another annoying song was Afternoon Delight.

[MADem]

3. Them good ole boys were drinking whiskey 'n rye, perhaps???

That's unfortunate.

[elleng]

8. Yep!

[YOHABLO]

5. Why do I need to know this? I simply do not care.

[elias49]

7. Why do we need to know you don't care?

[elias49]

9. I'm losing my mind! I just sang 3 or 4 bars of that dreadful song

into my dog Duncan's big black lab ear!
Oh, woe is me.

[Judi Lynn]

12. OMG! He's been slimed. And you! Using your doggie's ear as a song trash can. n/t

[elias49]

14. Mea freakin culpa Duncan

He was a good dog...

[nomorenomore08]

66. Did he start growling?

[GeorgeGist]

19. Sad to hear.

[chapdrum]

21. He should've been prosecuted for

his dreck hit.

"The day the music died." Give me a break.

[KingCharlemagne]

24. Not a big fan of Buddy Holly or the Big Bopper, I take it? - nt

[LanternWaste]

42. With nothing relevant or substantive to add, I'd pretend that's relevant, too.

With nothing relevant or substantive to add, I'd pretend that's relevant, too.

[nolabels]

25. Sometimes people just get under other peoples nerves (often on purpose)

If you mix a little booze in the equation then what would you expect to happen. Yea and all rest of us that would criticize another for it have never done it our selves

Cool music and i think better of him now because i know he just another human like the rest of us

[LeftyMom]

57. Speak for yourself. Most people criticizing him haven't engaged in domestic violence.

And no, you don't get to be violent with people, even if you're liquored up or even if they "get on your nerves," on purpose or otherwise. If you think BETTER of somebody for that behavior or consider it to be normal, you really need to see a therapist before you hurt somebody or wind up in prison.

[nolabels]

58. I need a therapist?

And thank you for your forgiveness once again

[LanternWaste]

59. How precisely does beating a woman illustrate him as just another human?

How precisely does beating a woman illustrate him as just another human?

[nolabels]

60. What source do you have he beat or struck someone multiple times?

Being arrested for anything does not in it's self indicate one is guilty of anything. I once made a mistake to marry a woman who was a borderline alcoholic. After the bar would close she would come home at night while i was sleeping and attack me. Sometimes she wouldn't even be that drunk but somehow, very often, she just felt like she had some kind of business that she needed to finish.

Nothing life threatening for me, but being pummeled while asleep is not the best thing to wake up to. I do not know the story of what happened to this singer but do have some idea he is probably not going to get convicted of any gross crime against humanity

[LanternWaste]

61. If not assault, what then specifically were you referring to that makes him more human

If not assault, what then specifically were you referring to that makes him more human to you?


"What source do you have he beat or struck someone multiple times?" His wife.

[nolabels]

62. Okay then, I feel sad for the both of them.

I don't know the story of what happened or what led up to it. I was only making an assumption t that he is an ordinary human with frailties and lapses in judgment that all us have had to deal with. If that makes me wrong to assume that in your belief system then i am sorry because that is just how i feel and think about it.

Violence is an idea fostered in the culture we live in. The paradox seems to me is how someone who delivered such music could devolve to this level. Welcome to the world in which we live

[LanternWaste]

63. I'm yet still wondering what specifically you were referring to that "makes him more human

I'm yet still wondering what specifically you were referring to that "makes him more human" to you, regardless of the irrelevancies of my belief system.

[nolabels]

64. Was it the syntax or was it the imperfect way words do not always convey a feeling ?

When you are a young teenager and you grow up idolizing pop stars for music that helps you personally understand your own feelings then things can come up as a result. When you are young and impressionable then some of these people get rationalized in ways they shouldn't (but do regardless). Not that Don Mclean was one of those but when you only know them by the music that they made then that limited sample tends to skew the reality

[Kennah]

26. Hoping this will not be the day that he dies n/t

[Cartoonist]

31. He was called

the Bob Dylan of the Nixon administration.

[Judi Lynn]

34. Nixon was at his best when he was just being "himself," as in when he would go bowling:

[center]

or taking a stroll on the beach,



or playing a lovely tune on his piano.

[/center]

[ProfessorGAC]

36. He's Fouling In That Bowling Photo

His toe is over the line. Don't matter what the ball did. He gets a zero! Good

[MADem]

46. I noticed the foot foul too, the first time I saw that pic!

Who bowls in a tie?

That poor basstid was just UNCOMFORTABLE in his own skin....!

[cannabis_flower]

54. And who wears a suit

for a stroll on the beach.

[MADem]

55. Someone who just doesn't feel comfortable in their own skin, and needs a suit (of armor) to

keep those insecurities at bay!

[FrodosPet]

65. He's in for a world of pain

"It's a league game, Tricky!"

[Indepatriot]

32. I really loathe his work, but could we not revel in his sad story? DU is better than this.

[Miles Archer]

40. I posted in it, I didn't fucking revel in it

And DU is not better than me. I assume your comments were not directed at me. If so, no harm, no foul. If they were, "have a nice day."

[Indepatriot]

41. I was indeed speaking of the jokes about him, not the item posted. Domestic Abuse is NEVER funny.

[Kurska]

37. Vincent is one of my favorite songs of all time.

Always reminds me of my first boyfriend.

Hope more comes to light about this, but that said merely the accusation of domestic violence is very serious. Domestic violence is certainly a hidden scourge in our society.

[mainer]

38. One of my favorite songs, too. Very literate.

How many popular songwriters have written about Vincent Van Gogh?

[William Seger]

43. It's a beautiful song, and a masterpiece of songwriting

I'm not sure why people who don't like it think we should care.

[Kurska]

48. I'm a young guy myself, but I really respect a lot of the older singer-songwriters.

Nowadays everyone seems to just want something they can dance to, meh.

[mainer]

49. McLean, Simon/ Garfunkel, etc. are poets

who also write music. Plus, they work magic with guitar chords.

I agree that some of these new songwriters are just going for the dance beat.

[mainer]

39. Should be noted he's charged with "simple assault," NOT battery.

Assault can be merely verbal threatening. That he was not charged with battery means that no physical violence actually ensued.

Also, it's not clear that his wife and kids were even in the residence at the time. He has domestic staff -- perhaps an argument ensued with one of them?

[MADem]

47. He could have been yelling at his buddy bogarting that joint...we just do not know the details.

"Domestic" violence refers to violence in the home--usually between occupants of said home.

[Skittles]

56. I prefer to hear both sides of the story

yes indeed

[tavernier]

67. But if the news had been that he had died,

everyone would be posting crying smilies, singing his praises for his music and lyrics, and holding up smilie candles.

Jeesh... this place, sometimes...

[TexasBushwhacker]

68. Houston next Friday w/ Judy Collins

Top ticket price $75! Seriously?