‘American Pie’ singer Don McLean talks his new George Floyd song, Trump

Lyricist Don McLean refuses to compare today’s political climate to the 1960s, saying despite divisions in the past, “people knew where they stood.”

“There was a rational discussion between the political parties. [Presidents Lyndon Johnson] and [Richard Nixon] “And the people that really divided us were still talking. They still had civility and they still had rules,” McLean said.

“It’s like one big food fight right now,” the famous folk singer, 78, said.

Another big difference, MacLean said in a wide-ranging interview with ITK during a visit to Washington to attend a Kenyan state dinner at the White House last week, is that artists today are afraid to get political.

“If something like George Floyd happened, there are five guys I know who would write a song about it, but they’re too scared of it. Nobody wants to take a side or a position on anything,” said McLean, whose 1971 classic “American Pie” was added to the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry in 2016.

“I’m too old to worry about that anymore,” McLean said, which is one of the reasons he released a new song focusing on Floyd, a Black man killed in 2020 after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes.

Floyd’s death, recorded on video as him crying out for his mother and uttering his final words, “I can’t breathe,” sparked protests around the world.

“The Ballad of George Floyd,” released last weekend on the fourth anniversary of Floyd’s death, includes lyrics such as “George Floyd was no threat. And George Floyd was no threat. George Floyd called out for his mother. That’s something I’ll never forget.”

“George Floyd should have been respected, but he had a knee on his neck,” McLean sings.

He said the lyrics “came naturally” to him after watching the Floyd video.

“This man is not dangerous,” McLean said. “This man can’t breathe. He’s on the ground calling for his mother. It’s sad. I have a heart. I have empathy for people.”

Other artists have also highlighted Floyd’s death in song, from Trey Songz, who sang about police brutality in “2020 Riots: How Many Times,” to Bon Jovi, who powerfully sang “what a long eight minutes it was” in his single “American Reckoning.”

While Democratic lawmakers are renewing their push for federal police reform to mark the one-year anniversary of Floyd’s death, McLean said the ballads on his new album, “American Boys,” are not political.

He said he hopes his audience will take it as: “We’re all Americans. We just need to get violent criminals out of our police departments. We don’t need to cut police budgets.”

“We need an army. We need police. But we don’t need bad people,” said the outspoken musician.

Every time an artist weighs in on politics, MacLean said, “it’s going to upset somebody or disgust somebody.”

“I agree with that, but there’s nothing we can do about it,” he said.

He recalled once being invited by Barbara Bush to perform at a United Nations event, but the then-First Lady requested that he not sing his 1971 song “Orphans of Wealth,” which he described as a “long, powerful song” about poverty in America.

“I sang it,” McLean said with a smile, “and she got mad.”

“It needed to be sung,” he said. “I like fun songs, and sometimes I like dangerous songs. And some songs are dangerous.”

When asked about his thoughts on the presidential election, MacLean’s first response was, “I don’t know what to think. I don’t know what to do.”

He paused and then added, “I think we need to keep Trump out of the White House.”

“I don’t think this guy is fit to be president,” the New York-born performer said of former President Trump. “That’s an understatement.”

“I often put myself in Trump’s shoes and I’m sure he’s thinking: ‘Why did I do this? I owned New York. My name was on every building. People feared me. People worshiped me. I owned everything.'”

“‘And so I decided to step out and try and get my hands on this trophy property called America,'” MacLean continued. “And look what happened to me,” he said.

“I can’t imagine him not asking himself that question.”

MacLean said Biden has a “huge burden on his shoulders. I can’t imagine him doing the job.”

In 2022, MacLean told The Hill that he feared the country’s extreme polarization led to an imminent civil war. When asked if he still felt that way, he replied, “Yes, because if we can’t compromise, we end up at war with each other.”

MacLean said members of the 118th Congress are sorely lacking in the attributes possessed by the country’s past notable lawmakers.

“Where is [late Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen (R-Ill.)]”Where are the funny, smart, English-speaking people?” cried Mr. MacLean.

“They had wit. Nobody has wit. They don’t know what it is. They don’t know how to tell a subtle joke. It’s just anger all the time.”