What is the worldview of the song American Pie?

American Pie by Don McLean is definitely a classic and the meaning of the song has been debated for decades since it was written. Now most people will tell you that American Pie holds to a secular humanist point of view. I wish I could come up with an argument against that, because frankly, it's boring agreeing with everyone else. So let's talk about why American Pie holds to the secular humanist point of view.

God and the Universe: Who/What is in power of this universe?

1. It would seem that music is the recurring theme in this universe. There is a reference in the end that says "The Father, son, and the holy ghost, they caught the last train for the coast the day the music died." This entails that when the music died, God left us. This is supported by the line that says "Now for ten years we've been on our own"

Humanity and Identity: What is the nature of humans?

1. Perhaps the most repeated line in the song can best describe the nature of man in American. Pie. Repeated 13 times throughout the song, "This'll be the day that I die" supports one of the main secular humanist views that men are mortal beings.
   

Conflict and Suffering: What are the flaws in this universe?

1. One of the biggest flaws in this universe in the people's reliance on music, rather than God or Christianity. One of the lines in the song says "Do you have faith in God above if the Bible tells you so?". To me, it sounds like a mockery of Christians who believe in God and hold to the Holy Bible.
   
2. Additionally, it says "Something touched me deep inside the day the music died" and "The father, the son and the holy ghost, they took the last train for the coast." This supports the idea that people relied more on the music than God or Christianity.
   

Hope and Redemption: Where do we look for hope?

1. According McLean in American Pie, people can find no redemption in the world because this is "The day the music died". People even go on to say "This'll be the day that I die." Without music, people feel lost and hopeless.
   

Values: What do the people value?

1. In American Pie, it would seem like the people value music the most. Or at least, they used to. At the beginning of the song, he says "I can still remember how that music used to make me smile." and "Something touched me deep inside the day the music died.". This shows the people's love and affection for music and then the affect of the loss of the music "the day the music died".
   

Truth and Reality: What is true/real?

1. The only truth that one can find in American Pie is that evidently, the people of this world are doomed. This is seen through "Can music save your mortal soul?", "Now for ten years we've been on our own" and "We all got up to dance". These support the idea of the gloomy future of man because it shows how much the people loved the music years ago and then the song goes on to explain how the world is empty after the music "died".
   

So after this fairly thorough analysis of American Pie, I think it is a fair assumption that the writer's worldview while writing this was in fact, secular humanism.