Spoonerism in "American Pie"?

John Seal

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Nov 24, 1997, 3:00:00 AM11/24/97

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Hello all.

Perhaps I should be asking this in a rock'n'roll newsgroup, but here goes.
In Don McLean's "American Pie" he sings

> I was a lonely teenage broncin' buck
> With a pink carnation and a pickup truck

Now, I know what a bucking bronco is. Did he spoonerize it just to rhyme
with "pickup truck"? Does it have some hidden meaning I'm unaware of?

--
John Seal <mailto:john...@indy.net>

Dennis Gaunt

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Nov 25, 1997, 3:00:00 AM11/25/97

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John Seal (john...@indy.net) wrote:
: Hello all.

I guess I took the "buck" to be short for "buckaroo"; a cowboy,
not the horse. I wish the meaning of all the lyrics would be
published!

Max Crittenden

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Nov 25, 1997, 3:00:00 AM11/25/97

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dga...@uhl.uiowa.edu (Dennis Gaunt) wrote:

> : In Don McLean's "American Pie" he sings
> :
> : > I was a lonely teenage broncin' buck
> : > With a pink carnation and a pickup truck
> :
> : Now, I know what a bucking bronco is. Did he spoonerize it just to rhyme
> : with "pickup truck"? Does it have some hidden meaning I'm unaware of?
>

> I guess I took the "buck" to be short for "buckaroo"; a cowboy,
> not the horse. I wish the meaning of all the lyrics would be
> published!

When the song "American Pie" was current, the meaning of "buck"
to me and my friends ranged from "young man" to "stalwart comrade".
I assume that Don McLean's intended meaning falls somewhere in that
range. I would also guess that this usage derives from the term
for a male deer rather than from "buckaroo" (which according to my
dictionary comes from the Spanish _vaquero_, cowboy), but there
may be some influence from both terms.

The singer isn't claiming to be a cowboy, just a typical teenage guy.
"Broncin'" (or should that be "bronckin'"?) is just tossed in as a
play on words and to make the line scan.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Max Crittenden Menlo Park, California
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of the name of that island nation south of India.

Will Elliott

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Nov 26, 1997, 3:00:00 AM11/26/97

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In article <max_crittenden-...@css-mac2.sri.com>,
max_cri...@qm.lanka.com (Max Crittenden) wrote:

> dga...@uhl.uiowa.edu (Dennis Gaunt) wrote:
>
> > : In Don McLean's "American Pie" he sings
> > :
> > : > I was a lonely teenage broncin' buck
> > : > With a pink carnation and a pickup truck
> > :
> > : Now, I know what a bucking bronco is. Did he spoonerize it just to rhyme
> > : with "pickup truck"? Does it have some hidden meaning I'm unaware of?
> >
> > I guess I took the "buck" to be short for "buckaroo"; a cowboy,
> > not the horse. I wish the meaning of all the lyrics would be
> > published!
>
> When the song "American Pie" was current, the meaning of "buck"
> to me and my friends ranged from "young man" to "stalwart comrade".
> I assume that Don McLean's intended meaning falls somewhere in that
> range. I would also guess that this usage derives from the term
> for a male deer rather than from "buckaroo" (which according to my
> dictionary comes from the Spanish _vaquero_, cowboy), but there
> may be some influence from both terms.
>
> The singer isn't claiming to be a cowboy, just a typical teenage guy.
> "Broncin'" (or should that be "bronckin'"?) is just tossed in as a
> play on words and to make the line scan.

We all might want to visit Rich Kulawiec's extensive analysis of "American
Pie" at
<http://www.urbanlegends.com/songs/american_pie_interpretations.html>
Kulawiec takes on this classic song line by line. His comments on the
lines in questiona are:
====================================

I was a lonely teenage broncin' buck
With a pink carnation and a pickup truck

"A White Sport Coat (And a Pink Carnation)", was a hit for
Marty Robbins in 1957. The pickup truck has endured as a symbol of
sexual independence and potency, especially in a Texas context.
(Also, Jimmy Buffet does a song about "a white sport coat and a pink
crustacean". :-) )
====================================
As you can see Don McLean makes deliberate word-play on "bucking bronc[o]"
with "broncin' buck." Just as a pickup truck is a symbol of sexual
independence and potency, so is the kind of studly young man called a
"buck."

H Gilmer

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Nov 26, 1997, 3:00:00 AM11/26/97

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Dennis Gaunt (dga...@uhl.uiowa.edu) wrote:

: I guess I took the "buck" to be short for "buckaroo"; a cowboy,

: not the horse. I wish the meaning of all the lyrics would be
: published!

The interpretation I've seen most often is at
http://urbanlegends.com/songs/american_pie_interpretations.html

But it's more about the symbolism and less about lexical ambiguity.

Hg

Josh Smith

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Jan 1, 1998, 3:00:00 AM1/1/98

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On 26 Nov 1997 09:08:40 GMT, gil...@uts.cc.utexas.edu (H Gilmer)
wrote:

The actually once asked the author, Don McLean, what American Pie
actually meant - he replied,

'it means I will never have to work again!'

Josh
--
*****************************************************
Josh Smith (j...@kelvin.net)