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  • Wed, 24 Feb 2010:
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  • Tue, 29 Dec 2009:
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    • America's Legendary Singer-Songwriter

    Don McLean Concert Performaces

    Hyde Park, London

    Don McLean's free concert with an audience of 80,000. This is one of the great moments of Don McLean's career.
    Title   Hits
    Vincent (Starry Starry Night) Two songs here. Can you name the song that leads into Vincent? 59539
    Homeless Brother 11460

    Orchard Theatre, Dartford, England

    Don McLean accompanied by Tony Migliore on keyboards and grand piano. Good sound quality with some minor interference.
    Title   Hits
    Vincent 32967
    American Pie 32653
    Love in my Heart 6020
    And I Love You So 10545
    The Very Thought of You 5843
    Headroom 4739
    La La Love You 5197
    Can't Blame the Wreck on the Train 5253
    What Will The World Be Like 5120
    Winterwood 6216
    It's Just the Sun 5695

    Royal Albert Hall, London

    Some fans consider Don McLean's concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London in 1973 to be his greatest ever. Here you can listen to a few songs from that show and remember the Don McLean 'solo' concert experience. This page requires the latest version of the free Real Player. None of the material has been released on record or CD.
    Title   Hits
    Winterwood 5988
    Mountains of Mourne Beautiful version, but listen for Don's mistake. 8658
    Great Big Man & Respectable Two songs joined together here. 5435
    Babylon Don McLean is joined by an audience of 5000 in this version of the song originally released on the American Pie album. 8787
    American Pie 18420

    Live In Ireland

    The 'Live in Ireland' CD was recorded in the 1980s but has never been released. The track listing is: 1. Tulsa Time 5:20.
    2. Everyday 2:11
    3. Winterwood 3:28
    4. Dreidel 5:27
    5. Mountains of Mourne 5:03
    6. And I Love You So 4:59
    7. Molly Malone 2:52. 8. American Pie 8:43
    9. Johnny MacAldoo 1:52
    10. Pat Works Upon the Railway 3:37
    11. This Little Light of Mine 5:22
    The album was remastered on 17 September 1997 at Chelsea Recording Studios, Nashville. It is hoped that the CD will appear as part of a Don McLean box set at some point in the future. We are very grateful to Don McLean for allowing us to broadcast portions of this CD. Three songs currently available, but we will add one or two more.
    Title   Hits
    This Little Light of Mine 6036
    Molly Malone 5952
    Pat Works Upon the Railway 4820

    Live in New York City

    This is a fine concert performance recorded in New York City in 1982 featuring band and the Jordanaires.

    Title   Hits
    Vincent (Starry Starry Night) The song Don wrote after readin a book about Vincent Van Gogh 166657
    Tapestry The song that inspired the creation of Greenpeace 6970
    Castles in the Air In the style of the Believers album version 8658
    Jerusalem Concert version of the Believers album track 5262
    Orphans of Wealth Great version of this song from Don's first album 5171
    Building my Body / Wonderful Baby Two songs 4670

    Royal Festival Hall, London

    The Royal Festival Hall in London England is one of Don McLean's most favourite venues. This recording features Don McLean with rock band. The sound quality is moderate. True rarities include Don's version of 'Blue Suede Shoes' and the singalong 'The People are Scratching'. Sound Only.
    Title   Hits
    Blue Suede Shoes Don McLean's version of the Elvis Presley classic. Exceptionally rare performance - this version is previously unreleased. 6435
    American Pie 18270
    Jerusalem 4711
    Crying in the Chapel 5094
    Vincent (Starry Starry Night) 9528
    And I Love You So Classic performance 7629
    The People are Scratching A classic Don McLean sing-along. Also features Don McLean chatting about President Reagan. 5942
    Genesis (In the Beginning) 5403
    Homeless Brother 4713
    Left for Dead on the Road of Love 4536
    La La Love You 4500
    If We Try 5179
    Winterwood 7504
    It's Just the Sun 4782

    Recorded music submitted by Don McLean fans

    This section contains files that fans have provided. Over time we hope to build up a collection of streaming audio of fans playing some of their favourite Don McLean songs. You can upload your own efforts by selecting 'Upoload' from the menu and following the simple instructions.
    Title   Hits
    Interview with Don McLean - 1972 This isn't a sound file but a PDF of an excellent interview with Don McLean in a 1972 edition of Guitar Player magazine. 2209
    Mountains Of Mourne mp3 2522
    Interview with Don McLean - 1980 This isn't a sound file but a PDF of an excellent interview with Don McLean in a 1980 edition of Guitar magazine. 1986
    Empty Chairs mp3 2751
    Castles in the Air mp3 2980
    Vincent (Starry Starry Night) Vincent by Ryan Heenan 11572
    American Pie (A cappella:-) This is my A cappella tribute to one of the greatest songwriters ever. 8254
    American pie Very short version. 9795
    Every Day Is A Miracle Only the die hard fans are familiar with this one! 3427
    Castles In The Air A great Don song.. 4958
    And I Love You So 6088
    Vincent It is quite a nice song that I tried 3 months to learn it. My guitar with capo on the 1st fret sounds good. hah My email address:sunie2001@hotmail.com I am a Chinese, willing to make friends oversea who likes Mclean 9365
    American Pie I'm 18 and this my first attempt at a real recording. This is my rendition of American Pie. It's a rather over the top rendition and I go as high as Michael Jakson at some points. This is a very unique rendition and I hope everyone enjoys it! 13059
    If We Try I play it for thirty years already and it's so beautiful and so hard to get it really good. But if I try - and keep trying... Hope you like it. 5056
    Winter Has Me In Its Grip Fine song, nice guitarchords and beautiful melody. But again, not easy to perform! Hope you still like my effort. (No I'm not from Spain, I'm from Holland) 3513
    Castles in the Air I'm probably the only non-guitarist in here so it was a real challenge to come up with a decent version of this song. I used Cubase SX3 and Virtual Guitarist to record this most beautiful song. I hope you all like my interpretation. Thanks. 5976
    Bronco Bill's Lament I always used to like this song. 4532
    Vincent I really love the song, that's y I recorded it. Hope u'll like it, too. 10675
    Georgie's Song This is obviously not a Don McLean song, it's mine! Uploaded with permission and some pressure! Written for my daughter, Georgina, every father should be able to identify with this.......I hope. 7575
    And I Love You So Don makes it sound easy, but I found this song really hard to sing! Where's everyone gone? Have you all jumped ship and not told me? Is it me?? Hello?? 11421
    Vincent Hi Dejay, Cookie and Jim, mind if I join you? 22055
    Empty Chairs by Dejay Empty Chairs by Dejay 8746
    Orphans Of Wealth by Cookie Orphans Of Wealth by Cookie 6279
    Birthday Song - test by Jim Monaghan I''m trying to see how/if this works. Not all the chords are correct...I''ll upload a better version later. Eventually, we''ll be able to do "Don McLean guitar lessons" on here. OK...the good news...I figured out how to do this. The bad news...I need better recording equipment @ home to pull this off right! 8919
    Circus song Circus Song by Dejay 6547
    Oh My What A Shame Oh My What A Shame by Cookie 6675
    Magdalene Lane Magdalene Lane by Cookie 6675
    Homeless brother Homeless brother by Dejay 6741
    Castles in the air Castles in the air 11330

    Hard Rock Cafe, Manchester

    Recorded in the 1970s at the Hard Rock Cafe, Manchester, UK, listen here to some classic tracks sung 'solo'. Very grateful to Brian Catchpole for supplying these tracks.
    Title   Hits
    Bronco Bill's Lament Live in Concert 5115
    Wonderful Baby From the Homeless Brother album. 5071
    Respectable From the Tapestry album. 4398
    Birthday Song From the 1972 Don McLean album. 5811

    Rarities

    Various rare concert performances and studio recordings.
    Title   Hits
    Well Alright iN CONCERT 1984 4910
    East Virginia Blues In concert 1984 4550
    The Bells of Rhymney In concert in 1984. 4546
    L'Affaire D'Amour Performed here in concert in 1984, this song is also a hard to find Don McLean studio recording. 5506
    The Cat Came Back Recorded in concert in the UK in the 1980s. This children's song also features on Don's new album 'You've Got to Share' available from http://www.don-mclean.com/info.htm 5437
    Flight of Dragons Don McLean recorded this song for the film 'Flight of Dragons' in the early 1980s. 7181
    Don McLean 'Till Tomorrow' video, 1971 Here is a little snippet from the rare 'Till Tomorrow' video. It shows the infamous bomb scare that Martin Maguire describes on his Belfast page: "During the song one of the theatre staff walks onstage, says something to Don and then takes the mike to ask the audience to check around them and under their seats for suspicious packages (ie a bomb scare). The audience seem bemused by it all, whilst the guy on stage insists that it is serious and not a joke. Minutes later, Don returns, continues the song from where he left off and receives rapturous applause." 6480