American Pie: The Best Song Ever? Yes.

Listen to it. Try to figure out what it means. It's really long, yet it doesn't get boring. Plus, it is really cryptic. If you do some research though, you figure out that it's about the death of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and "The Big Bopper". The whole song then goes on to trace the downward history of rock and music in general after their deaths, mainly Buddy Holly. It's amazing how well the song flows when the whole thing is filled with metaphors and puns referring to musicians. Some references that stand out:

• Miss American Pie: The rock and roll of the '50s. It's virgin, innocent music (hence Miss) that is as big a part of America as apple pie, therefore it's the "American Pie". With the death of Buddy Holly, this music went with him.
• The line, "Did you write the Book of Love and do you have faith in God above" is a reference to the hit, "The Book of Love" by The Monotones in '58. We are getting in to the end of the '50s.
• "I was a lonely teenage bronkin' buck \ With a pink carnation and a pick up truck \ But I knew I was out of luck, \ The day, the music, died." This makes reference to "A White Sport Coat (And a Pink Carnation)", a hit from Marty Robbins in '57. He finds himself lonely because this type of music is no more.
• Bob Dylan is the jester. He took the place of Elvis after Elvis died.
• The football metaphor refers to The Rolling Stones.
• The "girl who sang the blues" is Janet Joplin. She sings the music that used to be.
• In the verse that makes reference to Janet Joplin, this song (American Pie) is taken to the sacred store (the record companies) to be recorded. He is told that the music won't play anymore. The long songs from back when with interpretive lyrics won't cut it anymore. It's all about the money now. The quality doesn't matter as much. (Scary accurate when looking at our record companies today.)
  
• "The Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost" refers to Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens.
• "They caught the last train for the coast" means that this kind of music is dead now. Buddy Holly, Elvis, and the rest are gone. Rock'n'Roll is dead in its original form. It's no longer what it used to be.

There are many more references than this in the song, but these are a few. The song follows the path of rock so accurately and without a single straight out reference that it definitely is among the top songs in the history of America. Could it be the best? Yes it could.