Summer is pie season. With ripened strawberries, blueberries, peaches, strawberry and rhubarb all hitting your local growers’ markets, now is the time to surprise your honey with a freshly baked pie. No matter how sweet or savory you like your slice of Americana, here’s six classic songs about pie that will have you singing, if not dancing, while baking this summer.
#6 “I Want Some of Your Pie” – Blind Boy Fuller
Proof that the Blues is as American as pie. The North Carolina-born Blind Boy Fuller performed this blues classic way back in the 1930s, and his lyrics inspired Led Zeppelin’s pie tune (see #4). “I’m not joking, and I’m gonna tell you no lie, I want to eat some of your custard pie.” Blind Boy’s finger picking style is as addictive as pie itself, meaning one can’t help but sing along, “You gotta give me some of it, you gotta give me some of it, before you give it all away.”
#5 “Cherry Pie” – Warrant
Admit it, you listened to Warrant. This hard-rocking big hair band put out their anthem “Cherry Pie” on their album of the same name way back in 1990, and their video received heavy airplay on MTV. Not our favorite song, but we knew we’d be inundated with comments if we omitted it.
#4 “Custard Pie” – Led Zeppelin
We all know Robert Plant wanted to be your back-door man, but who knew he was also a pie man? Just everyone who has the classic album “Physical Graffiti.” This hard swinging tune pays homage to a number of classic bluesmen, including Blind Boy’s Fuller and his classic “I Want Some of Your Pie.”
#3 “Honey Pie” – The Beatles
The sweetest of the pie songs on our list, this song debuted on the Fab Four’s famous “The White Album” and was written by Paul McCartney. The song recalls a simpler time, with the opening line of “She was a working girl,” before the scratchy lyrics fade in. A breezy, timeless love song that’s as sticky as its name. “Honey Pie, you are making me crazy.”
#2 “Country Pie” – Bob Dylan
From Bob Dylan’s “Nashville Skyline” album in 1969, this little diddy wins for dropping the greatest variety of pies, as the folk icon warbles, “raspberry, strawberry/lemon and lime, what do I care?/Blueberry, apple, cherry, pumpkin and plum.” We agree with the legend, all these pies are delicious. Here’s a cover of the song by Beck.
#1 “American Pie” – Don McLean
Before the raunchy teen comedy with Jason Biggs, there was Don McLean’s classic tune blasting on AM radio stations in 1972. The singer-songwriter penned this classic as a remembrance of rock ’n roll icons Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper, who all perished in a 1959 plane crash. “But something touched me deep inside, the day the music died/So bye, bye, Miss American Pie.” The song allegedly made its debut during a concert at Philadelphia’s Temple University.
