'Bye, bye, Miss American Pie. Hello, hello Miss Americana': Don McLean open to Taylor Swift collab after breaking his Billboard record
Bye, bye, Miss American Pie. Hello, hello Miss Americana?
Don McLean said he's willing to collaborate with Taylor Swift, after she broke his 50-year record for the longest song ever atop the Billboard Hot 100.
"Anything is possible, if it’s done the right way,” McLean told People in an exclusive interview on Dec. 28. “I’m always interested in doing anything.”
Swift's All Too Well (Taylor's Version), which lasts 10 minutes and 13 seconds, overtook his American Pie, which lasts 8 minutes and 42 seconds back in November.
The 76-year-old McLean was all praises for the music career of the 32-year-old Swift, whom he described as a "major rock and roll force of nature."
“Taylor takes the whole new form of entertainment to the peak by making these phenomenal videos and records and doing these massive tours that are successful, and so on and so forth,” McLean told People.
He also knows all too well that the music industry is in the good hands of his successors, citing Swift and her frequent collaborator, Ed Sheeran, as examples.
"It's really good for young people who want to get into this business," he said.
When Swift unseated "such a historic piece of artistry" that is McLean's American Pie, he posted on his website last Nov. 23 that he's surely "glad it was another great singer/songwriter such as Taylor."
That same day, Swift gave credit to her fans for making the feat possible.
"You guys sent a 10 minute song to number one for the first time in history honestly WTH," Swift's Instagram caption read.
A few days after, McLean on Dec. 2 (local time) tweeted that Swift sent him a bouquet of flowers and a handwritten letter.
What a classy artist! Thank you @taylorswift13 for the flowers & note! pic.twitter.com/A0WRxaVEgE
— Don McLean (@donmclean) December 1, 2021
"Don, I will never forget that I’m standing on the shoulders of giants," Swift's letter read. "Your music has been so important to me. Sending love one writer of LONG SONGS to another. Your fan, Taylor.”
