Watching someone go through an experience you’ve already had presents a unique vantage point into that someone’s mental and emotional state, which explains why Don McLean is so worried about Taylor Swift’s well-being. After all, McLean was topping charts and rising to stardom decades before Swift did the same.
In an August 2024 interview with The Standard, McLean shared what he thought about Taylor Swift’s behemoth career. He heaped praises on the musician four decades his junior while offering some grandfatherly advice and concern in the process.
Why Don McLean is Worried About Taylor Swift
“American Pie” singer Don McLean spoke to The Standard just a couple of weeks after an alleged planned terrorist attack infamously canceled a Taylor Swift performance in Vienna, Austria. McLean acknowledged the pop star’s tremendous talent and industry influence. But he also added that he hoped she was able to stay mentally and emotionally healthy.
“The only thing is that she stays happy,” McLean said. “Show business and fame—as Elvis said, fame and fortune—I’m very fortunate that I’ve had that. I know how to do that. I have a lot of interests. They sustain me. I don’t go around thinking, ‘Man, why don’t I have this?’ ‘Why don’t I have that?’ That is the quickest way to be unhappy I can think of.”
“You have to be happy with what you’re doing,” he continued. “A lot of people say, ‘Well, if a song or an album isn’t commercially successful, that somehow, that’s a negative.’ 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 Folk Star Used Swift’s Career to Point Out Industry Flaws
Don McLean has immense respect for Taylor Swift, both professionally and personally. When Swift bested McLean’s record for the longest No. 1 single in Billboard history with “All Too Well,” outing McLean’s 8-minute “American Pie,” Swift sent McLean a bouquet with a card that read, “Standing on the shoulders of giants.” McLean thought it was a classy move.
But being four decades older than the biggest pop star on the planet, McLean also sees how Swift’s meteoric trajectory can serve as a warning to other young musicians in the industry. “The record companies are the biggest thieves on the planet,” McLean argued. “You have to be very careful. Look at Taylor Swift—such a smart lady and so talented, yet she didn’t realize the albums that she was making were not hers.”
“She overlooked something that she should have been told about by her lawyer,” he continued. “One of the reasons 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.”
Nevertheless, the man behind hits like “Vincent” and “Castles in the Air” doesn’t doubt that Swift is the best in the business, unexpected legal flubs aside. “She does everything that she does better than everybody else,” he gushed. “It’s really interesting because all of those other acts are suddenly old-fashioned.”
Photo by Boston Schulz/Shutterstock
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