Don McLean says being an American means trying again after losing: ‘I was down a lot’

"American Pie" singer Don McLean believes being an American means everyone should get "fair play" and "respect" and that you should never give up when you lose.

When Fox News Digital asked for his thoughts on what it means to live in this country ahead of the Fourth of July, the 78-year-old singer said, "You don't have to win all the time, but if you lose, you realize you lost because you weren't good enough, so you've got to make yourself better, and you're going to win next time."

He said that it’s not about "’I always have to be a winner, or I'm a nothing.’ No, you’ve got to be a loser first, man. I lost a lot. I was down a lot. I had a lot of things happen to me where I've been flattened, and I get up, you know, and I dust myself off, just like the song says, and start all over again."

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"American Pie" singer Don McLean believes being an American means everyone should get "fair play" and that you should never give up when you lose. (Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images | Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images)

McLean also told Fox News Digital that songwriters need to experience "pain" to pen music that speaks to people.

"There's a lot of pain, you know, if you want to be a songwriter," said McLean, who lost his father when he was 15. "If you're not hurting, you're no good as a songwriter. You know, if you have everything work out perfect for you, you’ve got nothing to say, you know? And you certainly can't relate to the average person out there who has all sorts of f---ing bad things in his life, you know, he has to deal with kids on drugs and ex-wives and no money, and you name it, one thing after another."

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McLean said that people who are struggling want to find some "harmony with your music so that they can feel that you understand them a little, and I do. I've been there." 

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Frank Sinatra’s ability to start over was "one of the things" that fans love about the legendary Rat Pack singer, he added.

"’If I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere,’" McLean said, quoting Sinatra’s song, "New York, New York."

Don McLean tells Fox News Digital that he's been "down a lot" but never given up. (Gijsbert Hanekroot/Redferns)

"He was always starting over, all those marriages and all that trouble and losing his voice and all the rest of his stuff," he said, "but he had that American grit and that pluck. You get up off the ground, dust yourself off."

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McLean said you can "see the difference between some people" in terms of their resilience, giving himself as an example.

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Don McLean says being an American means getting a fair chance. (Andrew Kelly/Getty Images)

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"I was broke, but I was never poor," he said. "I think people are poorer now [when] they have more money than they ever were when they were broke, because they don't understand how great they are and how much they have inside, and they've given up, and all they think about is the dollars. And so, you can have money and still not have that feeling inside, like, ‘I can make it anywhere.’"

Don McLean says Frank Sinatra exemplified "American grit." (Getty)

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He continued, "I never stop feeling that way. Nobody ever told me – I was always better than all those other guys, OK? Nothing set me back. That's America."