1971 Folk Rock Song Was Inspired by a Classic Van Gogh Painting

Don McLean, who is most famous for his hit "American Pie," released another iconic song 55 years ago. "Vincent," also known as "Vincent (Starry, Starry Night), was inspired by the famous Vincent van Gogh painting from 1889, The Starry Night.

McLean revealed the origin of the song in a 2022 interview with Forbes. "I read this book about van Gogh and his brother," he said. "I thought, ‘Since the brother and Vincent had similar illnesses, wouldn't it be interesting to write that story?' But how am I going to do it? I mean, one man singing to another about his art and death could be really stupid if you didn't find a way to make the song beautiful and elegant. I like beautiful things, have a dash of elegance myself. Then it hit me. All I had to do was look at Starry Night. When I did, the painting wrote the song. I don't do the melody first, then tack the words on. I just sing into a tape recorder, and the song comes right out of me."

McLean also revealed how long the song took to write. "'Vincent' might have taken a couple of hours of fooling around with it," he said. "I still have the lyrics written down on this green paper I used to carry with me."

Those lyrics, scrawled on the green paper, went up for auction for over one million dollars. Gary Zimet, a rare documents dealer, said, "They are written in pencil. There are some corrections. They differ very slightly from the final lyrics, which show he really had the song well thought out in his head when he wrote it."

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When "Vincent" was first released, it topped the UK Singles Chart and rose to No. 2 on the Easy Listening chart in the United States. Billboard also ranked the song one of the 100 best from 1972.

McLean is now 80. He is still touring. When asked why he continues to do so, he said, "It's what I do. I'm not me unless I do it. To not do it would be much more negative and damaging than if I do do it. The work is life-affirming."

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This story was originally published June 7, 2026 at 5:46 AM.