G D Em7 Am C

A long, long time ago I can still remember how that

Em DG D Em

music used to make me smile And I knew if I had my chance that

AmCEm CD

I could make those people dance and maybe they'd be happy for a while

Em Am Em Am

But February made me shiver with every newspaper I'd deliver

CG Am C D

Bad news on the doorstep I couldn't take one more step

G D Em Am7 D

I can't remember if I cried when I read about his widowed bride, But

GD EmC D7 G C G (D7)

something touched me deep in-side the day the music died

Chorus

GC G D G C

So bye-bye, Miss American Pie Drove my Chevy to the levee but the

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levee was dry. Them good ole boys were drinking whiskey and rye Singing

Em A7 Em D7

this'll be the day that I die This'll be the day that I die

Now for ten years we've been on our own and moss grows fat on a rolling stone

But that's not how it used to be when the jester sang for the king and queen

In a coat he borrowed from James Dean and a voice that come form you and me

Oh and while the king was looking down the jester stole his thorny crown

The courtroom was adjourned, no verdict was returned

And while Lennon read a book on Marx the quartet practised in the park

And we sang dirges in the dark The day the music died

Helter Skelter in the summer swelter the birds flew off with a fallout shelter

Eight miles high and falling fast, it lounded foul on the grass

The players tried for a forward pass, with the jester on the sidelines in a cast

Now the half-time air was sweet perfume while the Sergeants played a marching tune

We all got up to dance but we never got the chance

'Cause the players tried to take the field, the marching band refused to yield

Do you recall what was revealed The day the music died

And there we were all in one place, a generation lost in space

With no time left to start again

So come on, Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack Flash sat on a candlestick

'Cause fire id the devil's only friend

And as I watched him on the stage my hands were clenched in fists of rage

No angel born in hell could break that Satan's spell

And as the flames climbed higher into the night to light the sacrificial rite

I saw Satan laughing with delight The day the music died

I met a girl who sang the blues and I asked her for some happy news

But she just smile and turned away

I went down to the sacred store where I heard the music years before

But the man there said the music wouldn't play

And in the streets the children screamed the lovers cried and the poets dreamed

But not a word was spoken the church bells all were broken

And the three men I admire most, the Father, Son and the Hoy Ghost

They caught the last train for the coast

The day the music died.