Family story.

Growing up, I idolized my father. He was usually away on business. He traveled to different states and different countries, but I had no idea what his job entailed. On the weekends, we would go places as a family, and he would always have oldies music playing in the car.

One day, while driving to my uncle's house, Don McLean's song American Pie came on the radio. My sisters and I loved the song, so we immediately began singing whatever words we knew. Out of the blue, my dad said that he wrote the song. Although we questioned him at first, he told us that he also wrote Brown Eyed Girl, for my two brown eyed sisters, and Sweet Melissa for me.

Since I did not know what my father did, and his love for music was obvious. I believed him for a few years, until I heard the song with my aunt and she told me that my dad was in accounting and did not write any songs.