American Pie

It's pie which is either of the United States or of the Americas, depending on context. In the context of the song, I imagine it's of the United States.

I like to believe it is apple pie.

I'd prefer cherry pie.

American Pie represents the American dream and the promise of opportunity, and the disappointment of getting to the levee to find it is dry. That's how I interpretted it, anyway.

H. Rap Brown once gave a speech in which he said that violence was as American as cherry pie. That always seemed weird to me. Cherry pie isn't un-American, of course but surely it's apple pie that's the standard of Americanness.

surely it's apple pie that's the standard of Americanness.

Why is this? After all, apple pie is popular in the UK but it isn't associated with Britishness or Englishness.

There have been may attemps at an exegesis of Don Mc Lean's song -- see here.

Bye, Bye Miss American Pie.........I always thought it was a sexual reference. In some places, 'hair pie' refers to a certain part of female anatomy.

Here's an update, courtesy of the Capitol Steps.

Apple pie just is associated with the US - most likely because it's a favorite food. A common expression is "It's as American as apple pie". There used to be a TV commercial that went "what goes together in the good old USA - baseball, hotdogs, apple pie and Chevrolet"

Most of our tastes came from other countries - we just made them ours over time. Personally, when I'm traveling, I think a PB & J sandwich reminds me of home more than apple pie .