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American Pie (Madonna version)

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"American Pie"
Song

"American Pie" is a cover of the classic rock song originally released by singer-songwriter Don McLean and covered by Madonna. In the year 2000, Madonna released her cover of the song as a single for the soundtrack to the film The Next Best Thing. Madonna's cover however is noted for being much shorter in length (it contains only the beginning of the first verse and all of the second and sixth verses) and for being recorded as a pop-dance song.

Song information

In a scene for The Next Best Thing, the main character Abbey and her friends attend the funeral of a friend who has died of AIDS. At the funeral they all start singing "American Pie". After shooting this scene Rupert Everett convinced Madonna to record her own version of the song and include it in the soundtrack to the film. The song was then recorded as a dance-pop genre instead of its original pop-rock format. The song was produced by William Orbit and Madonna and it was released as a single in February 2000.

The song was not included in the North American release of the Music album, however, it was added as a bonus track on the international releases. In an interview with BBC's Jo Whiley in late 2001, Madonna admitted to regretting that decision saying "a certain record company exec twisted her arm into doing it", because the decision to include "American Pie" in the album Music was not self willingly, Madonna decided not to include the song in her second compilation, GHV2.

Music video

File:AmericanPieVideo.png
"American Pie" video frequently uses splitscreen, showing Madonna dancing and brief scenes of other people.

The music video for "American Pie" was directed by Philipp Stolzl and was shot on January 10, 2000 at a Twickenham studio in London, England. The video itself pays a tribute to the seventies (the decade the song was recorded). The video features Madonna dancing in front of a large American flag. Other shots include ordinary people, playing children, a lonely woman in a store, interracial families standing together for a family portrait, lesbians embracing, a gay male couple kissing, and what appear as marines flexing. All these shots are shown in between shots of Madonna. Rupert Everett makes a cameo appearance in the video, with Madonna sitting on his lap, however there are no scenes from the movie.

  • Director: Philipp Stolzl
  • Producer: JP Fox
  • Director of Photography: John Mathieson
  • Editor: Sven Budelmann
  • Production Company: Oil Factory Inc.

Formats and track listings

Canadian CD Maxi-single

  1. American Pie (Album version) – 4:34
  2. American Pie (Richard "Humpty" Vission radio mix) – 4:27
  3. American Pie (Calderone filter dub) – 6:00
  4. American Pie (Richard 'Humpty' Vission Visits Madonna) – 5:45

German CD single

  1. American Pie (Calderone filter dub) – 6:00
  2. American Pie (Calderone vocal dub) – 6:15
  3. American Pie (Richard 'Humpty' Vission Visits Madonna) – 5:45
  4. American Pie (Album version) – 4:34

Japanese CD single

  1. American Pie (Calderone filter dub) – 6:00
  2. American Pie (Calderone vocal dub) – 6:15

UK CD single

  1. American Pie (Victor Calderone vocal club mix) – 9:07
  2. American Pie (Victor Calderone extended vocal club mix) – 10:35
  3. American Pie (Richard "Humpty" Vission visits Madonna) – 5:43
  4. American Pie (Richard "Humpty" Vission radio mix) – 4:27
  5. American Pie (Album Version) – 4:33

Official versions

Remixes of the song were produced by Richard "Humpty" Vission and Victor Calderone.

  • Album version – 4:35
  • Richard "Humpty" Vission Visits Madonna – 5:43
  • Richard Humpty Vission Radio Mix – 4:26
  • Victor Calderone Extended Vocal Club Mix – 10:35
  • Victor Calderone Filter Dub Mix – 6:04
  • Victor Calderone Vocal Club Mix – 9:05
  • Victor Calderone Vocal Dub Mix – 6:17
  • Dan-O-Rama Remix #2 – 4:05
  • D.U.I. Extended soft vox – 10:50 (Unreleased)
  • D.U.I. Extended dub – 9:37 (Unreleased)
  • D.U.I. Mad Vocalonna mix – 3:51 (Unreleased)
  • Jonsi & Bix (titled JB) Mix - 3:56 "(Didn't meet the deadline, so it remained unreleased)"

Charts

Chart performance

"American Pie" was a number-one hit in several countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia (her first #1 since "Vogue" in 1990), Germany (her first # 1 since "La Isla Bonita" in 1987) , Italy, Spain, and Finland. The single was not released commercially in the United States, but it reached number twenty-nine on the Billboard Hot 100 due to strong radio airplay. The song also reached number-one in the United World Chart staying at the top for 8 consecutive weeks and becoming her first song to top the world chart since its debut in 1999.

Chart positions

Preceded by ARIA (Australia) number one single
March 12 2000 - March 19 2000 		Succeeded by
Preceded by United World Chart number one single
March 18 2000 - May 6 2000 		Succeeded by
Preceded by UK number one single
March 5, 2000 - March 11, 2000 		Succeeded by
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