EXCLUSIVE The American Pie and Vincent hitmaker praised the singer-songwriter’s work ethics
Don McLean has warned Taylor Swift to prioritise her wellbeing as she grapples with the stresses that come with her “galaxy-sized” fame, especially in the wake of a foiled terrorist attack which saw her recent Eras tour dates in Vienna cancelled.
The 78-year-old US singer-songwriter – who is known to fans as the “American Troubadour” or “King of the Trail” – and Swift have history together.
In 2021, Swift sent him a note and a bouquet of flowers after she broke one of his music records.
It came after her track All Too Well (10 Minute Version) toppled McLean‘s eight-minute classic American Pie (Parts I & II) as the US Billboard Hot 100’s longest-length Number One entry. McLean’s song held the top Billboard position for four weeks in 1972.
“Standing on the shoulders of giants”, the accompanying handwritten card read, inferring that ambitious moves like McLean’s lengthy hit inspired her to do the same.
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McLean called it a “classy” act and has a lot of time for the songstress, who is about to wrap up the European leg of her mega world tour with her final sold out shows at London’s Wembley Arena.
Speaking to the Standard ahead of his headlining slot at The Long Road Festival in Leicestershire on August 24, he said: “She is a person who is an example of what talent and really hard work can accomplish.
“A lot of people think showbusiness is just something ‘oh you’re so wonderful, you should be a star’ well, by the way, Taylor Swift was a star for 15 years before she became a monster star, the size of the galaxy for god sake.
“She’s working all of the time and she does everything that she does better than everybody else, whether it’s a video or a performance or songwriting or records or what ever, she does it all, just way better than everybody else and it’s really interesting because all of those other acts are suddenly old fashioned.”
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McLean – who has sold over 50 million records since starting out in the late 1960s – knows all too well himself about the traps that can come with huge success and of the shark-infested waters that is the music industry.
The only thing is that she stays happy,” he advised. “Showbusiness and Fame – as Elvis said ‘fame and fortune’ – and I’m very fortunate that I’ve had that. I know how to do that. I have a lot of interests and they sustain me. I don’t go around thinking ‘man, why don’t I have this?’ or ‘Why don’t I have that?’ that is the quickest way to be unhappy I can think of.
“So, you have to be happy with what you’re doing and a lot of people say well if a song or an album isn’t commercially successful that somehow that’s a negative and I don’t even think of it. I don’t really think about whether it caught the fancy of the public, it doesn’t matter to me.
“The record companies are the biggest thieves on the planet. That was their business stealing. You have to be very careful. Once again, look at Taylor Swift. Such a smart lady and so talented yet she didn’t realise the albums that she was making were not hers.
“She overlooked something that she should have been told about by her lawyer. One of the reason why I own all of the songs that I’ve ever written, all of the albums I’ve ever made and anything else I’ve ever been a part of is I was given good legal advice when I started out in 1968.
“Publishers are not in the habit of giving artists gifts. So if an artist thinks that he has made a really good deal by selling his songs – you know [Neil] Young, [Bruce] Springsteen and [Bob] Dylan did it.
“First of all they’re going to pay capital gains on all of it about 30 percent. A song has the best sell value when it’s written and increases over so many decades. That’s all capital gains so if they are going to have 30 percent of what they made gone… meanwhile, the best interest they could have ever had was their catalogue. That’s why a lot of these companies are buying these because they are a better investment than anything.”
He added resolutely: “I’m not selling anything.”
As for his own career, McLean says his latest album American Boys is likely his last and is done with “bus tours” with The Long Road Festival his only planned UK live date this year.
“I’ve lived a long time, I think I understand human nature pretty well, I don’t think I understand women too well, and I think I understand myself pretty well,” he mused.
“Everybody is always talking about reinventing themselves, especially men. There’s a lot of criticism directed towards men, well let me go on record and say I don’t think I need to change one bit, I think I’m just fine.”
