Vincent

"Starry Starry Night" redirects here. For the Don McLean live album, see Starry Starry Night (album).

"Vincent" is a song by Don McLean written as a tribute to Vincent van Gogh. It is also known by its opening line, "Starry Starry Night", a reference to van Gogh's painting The Starry Night. The song also describes different paintings done by the artist.

McLean wrote the lyrics in 1971 after reading a book about the life of the artist.^{[citation needed]} The following year, the song became the number one hit in the U.K. and No. 12 in the U.S^[1].

In 2000, PBS aired Don McLean: Starry, Starry Night, a concert special that was filmed in Austin, Texas.

Song interpretation

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Van Gogh's painting "Starry Night"

The song clearly demonstrates a deep-seated admiration for not only the work of van Gogh, but also for the man himself. The song includes references to his landscape works, in lines such as "sketch the trees and the daffodils" and "morning fields of amber grain" - which describe the amber wheat that features in several paintings. There are also several lines that may allude to van Gogh's self-portraits: perhaps in "weathered faces lined in pain / are soothed beneath the artist's loving hand", McLean is suggesting that van Gogh may have found some sort of consolation in creating portraits of himself. There is, too, a single line describing van Gogh's most famous set of works, Sunflowers. "Flaming flowers that brightly blaze" not only draws on the luminous orange and yellow colours of the painting, but also creates powerful images of the sun itself, flaming and blazing, being contained within the flowers and the painting.

In the first two choruses, McLean pays tribute to van Gogh by reflecting on his lack of recognition: "They would not listen / they did not know how / perhaps they'll listen now." In the final Chorus, McLean says "They would not listen / They're not listening still / Perhaps they never will." This is the story of van Gogh: unrecognised as an artist until after his death. The lyrics suggest that van Gogh was trying to "set [people] free" with the message in his work. McLean feels that this message was made clear to him: "And now I understand what you tried to say to me," he sings. Perhaps it is this eventual understanding that inspired McLean to write the song.

It is also thought that the song intends to portray van Gogh's tough relationship with his family. They were a wealthy family who did not accept him for his schizophrenia ("for they could not love you") and never understood his will to help the poor. It is thought that van Gogh felt that in killing himself he would make the point to his parents. This is seen in the line "Perhaps they'll listen now."

There are also references to van Gogh's sanity and his suicide. Throughout his life, van Gogh was plagued with mental disorders, particularly depression. He "suffered for his sanity" and eventually "took [his] life, as lovers often do." In theory, the word "lover" puts into context how McLean saw the relationship of van Gogh with his art – a relationship of love. This love was strong enough for van Gogh to persevere with his art even without acceptance from his contemporaries: "For they could not love you, but still your love was true."

Another theory is that the lines refer to van Gogh's sordid relationship with Paul Gauguin,^[2] with whom he had, as with many others, a complex sort of relationship, which was so intense as to lead Van Gogh to think it rational to cut off a part of his left earlobe as a sign of cutting Gauguin out of his life and heart. That led Gauguin, who had also had severe bouts of depression and suicidal tendencies, to distance himself from van Gogh, tumbling the already troubled artist into a schizophrenic depression, the theoretical straw that broke the camel's back.

Notable covers

• Chuck Loeb in his 2001 album "In A Heartbeat" with his wife Carmen Cuesta-Loeb.
• Josh Groban on his debut album, Josh Groban.
• The artist Chloë Agnew, a member of the Celtic Woman musical group and the youngest one, released a version of this song on her CD Walking In The Air. The music video of this song for her inspired DVD reveals that she wears a gray and white outfit and sits in the valley looking at the sky.
• Tori Amos covered this song live on various dates during her 2002-2003, 2005 and 2009 tours.
• Julie Andrews sings the song in an episode of The Julie Andrews Hour.
• Justin Hayward in his solo album Classic Blue with Mike Batt.
• This song is covered by Declan Galbraith in his 2006 album Thank You.
• Brian Kennedy sang the song at George Best's funeral.
• The punk band NOFX released a version of this song on a rarities and b-sides double album, it also appears on the Survival of the Fattest compilation released in 1996.
• Jane Olivor covered the song on her 1977 album First Night.
• The band Spot 1019 released a version of this song on their 2002 CD In Her Satanic Majesty's Secret Service Entrance.
• Daniel Selby covered the song on his forth-coming 2009 album Another Town, Another Time, Another Face.
• Chyi Yu covered the song on her 1988 album Whoever Finds This, I Love You.
• Chet Atkins covered this song in a fingerstyle guitar arrangement.
• Julio Iglesias covered this song in his album My Life: The Greatest Hits (disc 1).
• Vonda Shepard for the TV show Ally McBeal and its companion album, Heart and Soul.
• Garth Brooks performed an acoustic version of this song during his November 12, 2007 concert in Kansas City, MO.
• Roberto Vecchioni, an Italian singer-songwriter, released an Italian covered version of this song on his 2000 album Canzoni e cicogne.
• Raymond Lam sang the opening in the show Heart of Greed and has also performed the same lines live.
• David Roth covered this song on his album Pearl Diver.
• Vienna Teng covered this song at a number of live performances
• Chet Lam on his "Travelling Live" live album.
• Joanna Wang on her "Joanna & 王若琳" album.
• Sam Hui in his 2008-2009 concerts.
• Damien Leith performed a cover of this song on his 2008 album Catch the Wind: Songs of a Generation
• Nana Mouskouri covered this song on her 2005 album I'll Remember You.
• Ronan Keating performed a cover of this song on his 2009 album Songs For My Mother
• Rick Astley covered this song on his 2005 album Portrait.
• Fightstar featured their cover of this song as the B-side for the A City on Fire EP, released 21st December 2009.

Trivia

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"Vincent" has been featured on the soundtracks of several TV shows, including Heart of Greed, Nip/Tuck, and The Simpsons, in the episode EABF11, Scuse Me While I Miss the Sky.^{[citation needed]}

Rapper and activist Tupac Shakur was born nearly the same time as the song, one of his favorites, was recorded. He wrote a poem dedicated to Vincent Van Gogh, to whom he felt a deep connection.^{[citation needed]}

In Tupac Shakur's final hours in hospital, the song was played over and over.

The Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam played the song daily in the 1970s and a copy of the sheet music, together with a set of Van Gogh's paint brushes, is buried in a time capsule beneath the museum.^[3]

In a 2001 McSweeney's Internet Tendency piece, humorist Kevin Guilfoile reinterpreted the song's lyrics in a carefully constructed conceit: ignoring all accepted connections with Van Gogh, he interprets its lyrics as being about American football.^[4]

This song was the favourite of the legendary British footballer George Best and was sung at his funeral in 2005 by Brian Kennedy.

The song was used as the soundtrack of a video entitled "Watch the World(s)" by artist Robbie Dingo, showing his 3D recreation of The Starry Night in Second Life.

References

1. ^ http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:kifuxqe5ldfe~T51
2. ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Gogh ,see article for further references
3. ^ Don McLean's official website, "Vincent (Starry Starry Night)".
4. ^ Kevin Guilfoile, Beyond American Pie: Interpreting Symbolism and Allegory in the Other Songs of Don McLean, McSweeney's Internet Tendency.