Following a heartfelt rendition of "American Pie" for President Joe Biden, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has received a special invitation to sing the song again — sort of!
Don McLean, the man behind the classic, has since joked about performing with the politician in the future.
"I intend to go over to South Korea next year and sing it with the president, so that's probably going to be another news story," McLean said to CNN. "He wanted me to sing the song at the White House, but I'm currently on tour in Australia."
South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol grabbed a mic and sang the Don Mclean classic “American Pie” to an astonished audience at the White House state dinner.
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) April 27, 2023
“I had no damn idea you could sing,” Biden told his counterpart. https://t.co/MIYlQuZvwk pic.twitter.com/uFhJBymKEP
McLean's remarks come just two days after South Korean President Park Geun-hye, 62, sang a karaoke rendition of the song at the White House state dinner. At the dinner, Biden, 80, told the audience about how his sons would sing the song on the way to school, before telling Yoon, "we know this is one of your favourite songs."
The lawmaker was then given a guitar signed by McLean, 77, the writer of the 1971 song.
"It has a melody, which is something that is pretty hard to find these days, and that's just the opening part of the song - I mean, the song is eight and a half minutes, and it's a rock and roll song," McLean added.
"I get a kick out of the fact that the song is still alive," he went on to say. "Musicians deal with alchemy; we deal in magic, and some of the things we do fall flat on their faces, while others, if we're very lucky, are magical and live forever."
McLean praised Taylor Swift in December 2021 after she beat his record for longest No. 1 hit with her 10-minute version of "All Too Well," saying the musician a "major rock and roll force of nature."
"Taylor takes the whole new form of entertainment to the peak by making these phenomenal videos and records and doing these massive tours that are successful, and so on and so forth," he said at the time.
"It's fantastic for young people who want to work in this industry." If you find out what Ed [Sheeran] did, you can make it as a vocalist with a guitar. And if you want to, you can make it as a major rock and roll force of nature, like Taylor Swift."
McLean earlier said on Instagram that "class act" Swift, 32, sent him a bouquet of flowers as well as a unique card in which she wrote that she "will never forget that I'm standing on the shoulders of giants."
The musician stated at the time that while "nobody ever wants to lose that No. 1 spot... if I had to lose it to somebody, I sure am glad it was another great singer/songwriter such as Taylor."
McLean is optimistic that the two will collaborate in the future. "Anything is possible if done correctly," he said at the time. "I'm always up for trying new things."
