Jan71

Why does the singer in the song "American pie", take his Chevy to the levy and what is a levy? (I am European)

genuinegirly

It's levee, not levy. Two very different words.

This is a levee. You may know it as a dike.


Here is a damaged levee.


Here is an aerial photograph of a levee.


Basically, it keeps water in a river. Here is a handy diagram.


We are dependent upon them throughout much of the US to contain rivers like the Mississippi, which are prone to drastic, devastating shifts.

During Hurricane Katrina several levees were damaged, adding to the disaster.

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fresnelly

That song is about the decline of America beginning in the 60's starting with the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens, ie "the day the music died".

The dried up river that the levee is holding is just one of many metaphors used in the song to illustrate the theme.

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Ourcrazymodern?

He took his chevy to the levy so he could reflect disappointment.

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Martian

Also because taking his Studebaker to the levee just didn't have quite the same ring to it.

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- Ben Harper, Show Me A Little Shame

Baraka_Guru

And taking a Ford to the ford just sounds ridiculous.

"I took my Ford to the ford, but the Ford went and died...."

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Seaver

Ford to the Fjord.

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Daniel_

I was busy writing a commentary, when I came across this: FAQ: The Annotated "American Pie"

the TL;DR version is "the song is about the death of three important early rock and roll musicians, and the feelings of loss, followed by a feeling of rebirth"

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╔═════════════════════════════════════════╗
Overhead, the Albatross hangs motionless upon the air,
And deep beneath the rolling waves,
In labyrinths of Coral Caves,
The Echo of a distant time
Comes willowing across the sand;
And everthing is Green and Submarine
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Plan9

This totally reminds me of my 6th grade social studies textbook. Thanks, TFP. A+.

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Leto

I always wondered what was meant by levee (also spelled levy in my mind) when I was younger. Eventually I figured out it was levee as described by genuinegirly, but I never could figure out the reason why 1) the guy purposely drove to the levee, if there is a road along it already, or lacking a road, why he would drive offroad to it and 2) what is wrong a dry levee? why was he disappointed that it was dry? isn't this a good thing? that means it was doing its job of dyking back a river or lake or ocean. The song didn't say that the river was dry, just that the levee was dry.

Or maybe he went to join up with his good old boys on the levee, in order to drink whisky and rye (both drinks are whisky by the way, so i figured he meant bourbon & Canadian Rye whisky) but the good old boys weren't at the levee, and that's why it was dry. No booze.

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Daniel_

The point was that the river was the metaphorical river of inspiration for rock n roll, and that the "good ole boys" were bereft when Holly died thinking that now the river would be dry (i.e. no new rock and roll).

They realised later that this was not true.

__________________

╔═════════════════════════════════════════╗
Overhead, the Albatross hangs motionless upon the air,
And deep beneath the rolling waves,
In labyrinths of Coral Caves,
The Echo of a distant time
Comes willowing across the sand;
And everthing is Green and Submarine
╚═════════════════════════════════════════╝

matthew330

.....and you get the rest of the song? You must've tried googling this first.

My uncle told me awhile ago one of his homework assignments back in the 70's was to interpret this song. I would have loved to have read the responses. You could ask a pre-schooler the same question now and he proudly hand this to you: "American Pie" Lyrics - What Do They Mean?