Find sources: "Castles in the Air"song– news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR ( April 2018) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Originally recorded in 1970, "Castles in the Air" was McLean's first American single release, preceding " American Pie". The original version of "Castles in the Air" was included on the Tapestry album. In February 1971, it was released as the first single from the album and reached No. 40 on the Billboard Easy Listening/Adult Contemporary chart. After the success of the "American Pie" single, "Castles in the Air" was included as the B-side to its follow-up, " Vincent", and received enough radio airplay to reach the Hot 100 chart as a "flip". Barry from New York, NcFeatured on Mclean's debut album TAPESTRY, there are two versions of the song. The original song, which was recorded in 1969, featured a strings section. This was relesed the following year on Mediarts Records. In 1971, United Aritsts Records re-released the song, but overdubbed a Moog Synthesizer part. The UA version is more common as the Mediarts version is now out of print. This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sourcesin this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.

Philip from Akron, OhOn his live album _Solo_, Don McLean extends the story with the song "Three flights up." It describes the lives of the man's daughter, his wife, and his father-in-law. It is a tour-de-force. In 1970, the album was finally released. Titled Tapestry, McLean beat Carole King to the name by a year. "Castles In The Air" was released as a single, but like the album, had little impact. Soon after, Mediarts ran into financial problems, putting McLean in rough waters. He kept writing songs for his next album, hoping something would work out, and they did: United Artists bought Mediarts and issued McLean's second album. That album was American Pie, catapulted McLean to the big leagues. "Castles In The Air" found a much bigger audience when his new fans dug into his catalog. This is one of many songs McLean worked up in the '60s when he made the rounds on the folk music circuit, playing clubs and festivals on the East Coast. He spent most of his time in New York's Hudson Valley, where he often performed with Pete Seeger. In 1969, McLean was a crew member on a sloop called the Clearwater, which Seeger sailed to pressure politicians into passing clean water legislation. During this time, McLean built a small following as he honed his skills. By the time he made his first album, he had written, rewritten, refined and discarded hundreds of songs, finally settling on 10. When he shopped it to record companies, he got rejection after rejection until Alan Livingston, formerly of Capitol Records, signed McLean to his new label, Mediarts. Dr.johnnyfever from Wkrp In CincinnatiDon McLean released a fresher update on Millennium Records around 1980-1981 and a much smoother easy-going version than the original in my opinion. Barry from Sauquoit, NyThe original version was on the flip-side of "Vincent"; which peaked at No. 12 in 1972...