Don McLean is a story teller. I love the imagery in his lyrics. Great vocals, piano and/ or guitar playing on every song. This album makes sense to me to include in this list as a perfect example of the singer/songwriter genre. "Vincent" is the song that sticks in my memory excluding the obvious "Anerican Pie". I love the hook created by the chord progression and rhythm. "American Pie" is a long song that doesn't become monotonous due to the engaging lyrics, emotion change in harmonic context, and the sing-a-long chorus. I rated it a four because it's not a go to album for me but it is a great reference album for writing music.