Vincent by Don McLean

The song “Vincent” was written as a tribute to Vincent van Gogh the artist as he suffered great
depression due to his mental illness that lead him to commit suicide. The lyrics was inspired by Don
McLean after reading the biography of the life of van Gogh. Don McLean wrote the song as a argument
to state that Vincent van Gogh was not crazy because he was suffering from illness after he was rejected
by a woman. The song symbolizes “The Starry night” as a deteriorating mental state and Vincent van
Gogh connection to nature and his interest in traveling to the stars through death.

The song was compose and written by American singer/songwriter Don McLean. Don Mclean made his
debut with the song in 1971 with his first released album called American pie. The song was played in
the modern period and sang poetry. Few years later the song was covered and changed by Josh Groban
to suit his singing style and performed his own version of the song in 2001-11-20.

The original song form structure was like a lyrical or rondo sonata poem. This mean that the there is
repetition of chorus through our the poem. The song is performed in common time with a BPM of 92 in
F Major key. It is sang in moderate ballad as not to rush the importance of the message of the song.