Vincent (Don McLean song)
| "Vincent" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Cover art of UK vinyl release, also used for the US, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and New Zealand releases | ||||
| Single by Don McLean | ||||
| from the album American Pie | ||||
| B-side | "Castles in the Air" | |||
| Released | February 1972 | |||
| Genre | Folk rock | |||
| Length | 3:55 | |||
| Label | United Artists Records, BGO Records | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Don McLean | |||
| Producer(s) | Ed Freeman | |||
| Don McLean singles chronology | ||||
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| Music videos | ||||
| Vincent on YouTube, by Don McLean. (3:58 minutes, with lyrics) | ||||
| Vincent on YouTube, by Don McLean. Live performance (1972). (3:57 minutes) | ||||
"Vincent" is a song by Don McLean, written as a tribute to Vincent van Gogh. Its commonly known opening lyric, "Starry, Starry Night", is a reference to Van Gogh's 1889 painting The Starry Night.
McLean wrote the lyrics in 1970 after reading a book about the life of Van Gogh. It was released on McLean's 1971 American Pie album; the following year, the song topped the UK Singles Chart for two weeks, and peaked at No. 12 in the United States, where it also hit No. 2 on the Easy Listening chart. Billboard ranked it as the No. 94 song for 1972.
The song makes use mainly of the guitar, but also includes the accordion, marimba, and violin.
A new, longer recording of the song was released in McLean's 1992 album Classics.
In July 2020, the original handwritten lyrics went up for sale for $1.5 million.