B-side "Castles In The Air" Recorded May 1971 Length 3:55 | Released June 17, 1971 Genre Folk
baroque pop | |
Label United Artists Records, BGO Records | ||
"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. It was created on the 100th anniversary of the midpoint of Van Gogh's life.
Contents
McLean wrote the lyrics in 1971 after reading a book about the life of the artist. The following year, the song became the number one hit in the UK Singles Chart and No. 12 in the US. Coincidentally, it spent 12 weeks on the HOT 100. In the US, "Vincent" also peaked at number two on the Easy Listening chart. Billboard ranked it as the No. 94 song for 1972.
The song makes use of the accordion, vibraphone, strings, and guitar.
In 2000, PBS aired Don McLean: Starry, Starry Night, a concert special that was filmed in Austin, Texas.
Production
McLean said the following about the genesis of the song:
“In the autumn of 1970 I had a job singing in the school system, playing my guitar in classrooms. I was sitting on the veranda one morning, reading a biography of Van Gogh, and suddenly I knew I had to write a song arguing that he wasn’t crazy. He had an illness and so did his brother Theo. This makes it different, in my mind, to the garden variety of 'crazy’ – because he was rejected by a woman [as was commonly thought]. So I sat down with a print of Starry Night and wrote the lyrics out on a paper bag.”
Song interpretation
The song 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. There is also a single line describing Van Gogh's most famous set of works, Sunflowers: "flaming flowers that brightly blaze" draws on the luminous orange and yellow colours of the painting and creates powerful images of the sun, 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 alludes to Van Gogh not being recognised 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.
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."
Van Gogh was a hypergraph and the lyrics "Now I understand, What you tried to say to me, and how you suffered for your sanity, and how you tried to set them free, they would not listen, they did not know how, perhaps they'll listen now" and "They would not listen, they're not listening still, perhaps they never will" may be an acknowledgement of Van Gogh's writing.
Critical reception
The Telegraph wrote "With its bittersweet palette of major and minor chords, Vincent’s soothing melody is one of high emotion recollected in tranquillity". Allmusic retrospectively described the song as " McLean's paean to Van Gogh... sympathiz[ing] with Van Gogh's suicide as a sane comment on an insane world. " The site also said McLean performs "a particularly poignant rendition of "Vincent" " on the live album Starry, Starry Night.
Legacy
Suede frontman Brett Anderson named "Vincent" as the song he wished he had written, describing its lyrics as "perfect" and saying that the track "manages to find that bittersweet holy grail the songwriter is always looking for".