My friend Ron Buck and I had a lot of fun making the most of our access-all-areas permits and chatting to the band in the green room before the show. Everyone was excited to be back at this great venue and framed photos illustrating the venue’s long and rich history were liberally posted around the backstage corridors and dressing rooms.

Don’s performance was a complete triumph and he sang for two hours to over 5000 fans, old and new. Before taking my seat I filmed his stage entry and the amazing reception from the crowd.

Afterwards, backstage was buzzing with numerous VIPs and old friends who’d arrived to say hello to Don, who was clearly ecstatic at how the performance had gone.

I was lucky to be there and it was a great night.

Before the show – in Don McLean’s place on stage at the Albert Hall:

Three years ago, McLean’s official biography was published. His friend Alan Howard had written it – with his blessing. “I wanted to get the first shot at telling my story and telling it accurately. I have de-emphasised some things, exaggerated other things and left some stuff out completely. I was in complete control. Publishers want kiss-and-tells these days but there are things I don’t want to talk about. I don’t want to talk about my failings. I work hard.”

Don starts his England concert tour in Birmingham tonight and arrives at the Albert Hall in London on Friday, the day we should get a new Prime Minister. Talking of whom, David Cameron was Don’s “support act” on the Andrew Marr show on BBC1 yesterday. Don was interviewed and he sang “Vincent”, which was slightly curtailed as the interview with Cameron over-ran.

Seeger was responsible for promoting the project to build and launch a boat that continues to navigate the Hudson River every summer stopping at every town to disseminate information about the environment and the perilous state of the Hudson River. Don McLean was a member of the first Clearwater Sloop crew in 1969.

McLean says: “This boat is an example of the Seeger genius because it combines the fun of boating with the seriousness of environmental degradation and gets everyone involved at the same time while also being a public relations dream.”

McLean’s work as the Hudson River Troubadour in 1968 and his experiences with the Clearwater Sloop in 1969 proved inspirational learning experiences for him.

He is particularly proud of “Tapestry”, a song he wrote while aboard the Sloop and which became the title track to his first album. The powerful lyrics remain relevant today as they provide a warning of the consequences of humanity’s exploitation of the environment. “If man is allowed to destroy all they need. He will soon have to pay with his life, for his greed.”

Despite its powerful message, the song is one of Don’s lesser known compositions, overshadowed on the Tapestry album by the giants, “Castles in the Air” and “And I Love You So.”

Don McLean has never seen himself as any type of ‘environmental activist’ and has avoided becoming a spokesperson for the environmental movement. He says, “Political people bore me, and I don’t want to be one. I’ll settle for being a decent citizen.”

After the first Clearwater Sloop voyage in 1969, McLean left the crew. Before he left, Pete Seeger told him, “Don, I think you’re a genius. You’re like a wonderful chef who serves a great meal once and never repeats it.”

Don returned from time to time to perform at Sloop concerts. He also recorded a version of “Tapestry” for the 1974 Clearwater album and edited a book entitled Songs and Sketches of the First Clearwater Crew, with sketches by his friend Thomas Allen.

Later, in 1984, McLean played Carnegie Hall with the Jordanaires for a Greenpeace benefit. After the show, David McTaggart, the Canadian co-founder of Greenpeace, came backstage and told Don that his song, “Tapestry,” was one of the factors that got him involved in the environmental movement.

Adapted from The Don McLean Story: Killing Us Softly With His Songs by Alan Howard
Copyright © 2007 Starry Night Music, Inc. All rights reserved.
Reproduction or translation of any part of this work without the permission of the copyright owner is unlawful. Used by permission.

Don McLean sings “Tapestry” on Australian television:

Don had already appeared on Richard and Judy on ITV earlier in the day alongside his musicians Tony Migliore and Ralph Childs. Ralph had been in contact and unlike Don was already a big Internet user.

Don arrived shortly after my arrival at 5pm and after an awkward introduction I found myself in the elevator with Don, Ralph, Tony and their road manager alighting directly onto the stage where Don kicked off straight into his sound check. He broke off to talk to me about the web page and insisted I should enjoy the concert from the stage wings. His road manager was summoned to find an appropriate chair, which I subsequently hung on to, come what may. This included the female members of his support act, Night Games, changing costume alongside me several times during their set. I add this only because 11 years later the same group made the semi-final of Simon Cowell’s “Britain’s Got Talent”, as “Diva Las Vegas”. Some fans complained this wasn’t an appropriate support act for Don McLean but I thought they were great.

During his show Don, as he often does, requested some water. Finding myself the only person available I rushed to his dressing room, returning to deliver the required beverage direct to Don on stage, receiving an ovation in the process.

Any big fan of any star will easily imagine what an extraordinary day this had been.

Three years later Madonna propelled “American Pie” to number 1 on our charts and Don’s UK agent, Jef Hanlon, booked Don for three hastily arranged dates, including the Hammersmith Apollo on June 28th. Through the web site we had been able to arrange a “fan event” whereby 20 other fans could enjoy the sound check as I’d enjoyed it in Woking and be allocated “after show” passes for a meet and greet with Don. After the show Don talked to me about how we could enhance our website arrangement and I suggested, first, serialising a previously unpublished biography and then, second, that I could write a new more comprehensive book about his professional life story. 12 months later the contract was signed and nearly 6 years later our book was published.

In 2003 Don elevated my English web page to become his official web site and over the years since 2000 Don has been a frequent caller and a kind friend to myself and my family. My wife still jumps when answering the phone to hear “Hi, it’s Don McLean”.

The book was based on extensive telephone interviews with Don, each lasting between 90 and 130 minutes. The transcripts of these interviews would make for a blockbuster but the legal recriminations would bankrupt all involved.

Anyhow, Don is back in the UK for a major concert tour including the Royal Albert Hall on October 26th. Today I caught up with him in London and was happy to do him a favour and drive him from his Kensington hotel to the Australian embassy to complete some formalities ahead of his tour down under next March.

As I drove through Picadilly circus down Haymarket(?) and into Trafalgar Square I thought back to the last time I made this car journey in November 1993. Back then circumstances were very different. 6 months before I’d been a happy PhD student living it up in Leeds with a $%!^girlfriend. That night in November I was miserable, single and living and working in Reading; I was on my way to see Don in concert at the Royal Festival Hall ‘kill me softly with his songs’.

Today, 14 years later, I found myself with Don alongside me in the car and my wife at home expecting our second child at any moment.