This is interesting, but I am not certain that his line-by-line
interpretation is a correct interpretation of the song.  I have thought
about this only breifly, but it seems to me that he misinterpreted some key
aspects of the song, and below I have set out how I would have thought of
them:

A long, long time ago...

I can still remember how That music used to make me smile. And I knew if I
had my chance, That I could make those people dance, And maybe they'd be
happy for a while.
But February made me shiver,
With every paper I'd deliver,
Bad news on the doorstep... I couldn't take one more step. I can't remember
if I cried When I read about his widowed bride
But something touched me deep inside, The day the music died.


*Keith's interpretation - I think that the critic erred in interpreting the
first stanza of the song line-by-line, rather than in its totality.  "A
long, long time ago..." is a common device used in the beginning of fairy
tales to establish temporal and spatial distance from the present moment,
thus implying that the author's childhood lies in some far and away
forgotten place, with which he has real difficulty connecting now.   
Although the remainder of the stanza is ostensibly related to the day Buddy
Holly died, and does establish the historical timeframe, it also serves to
place distance between the current mentality of the author and his past. 
"And I knew if I had my chance, That I could make those people dance, And
maybe they'd be happy for a while" recalls the author's youthful delusion
that he could do something as an adult to make both himself and others
happy, and "the day the music died" represents by synecdoche the gradual
death of dreams.


REFRAIN:

Bye bye Miss American Pie,
I drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry, Them good ol' boys were
drinkin' whiskey and rye Singing "This'll be the day that I die, This'll be
the day that I die."


*Keith's interpretation - I think the critic placed too much emphasis on
historical events that occurred during the period between Buddy Holly's
death and the writing of the song (c. 1970).  A more correct interpretation
of the refrain is that it serves to re-inforce the author's current
alienation from his connected past.  The author presumably was along with
the "good old boys drinking whisky and rye" in 1959, but by 1970 had, due to
his success, moved into a different world than his former peers, and found
himself increasingly alienated from his former milieu.  The "good old boys"
of 1959 were young men who thought that Buddy Holly's death was the "end of
the world", but would realize during the next decade that he was a celebrity
that they didn't know, and that the world would end many times before they
died.



(Verse 2) Did you write the book of love,
And do you have faith in God above, If the Bible tells you so?
Now do you believe in rock 'n roll?
Can music save your mortal soul? And can you teach me how to dance real
slow?

*Keith's interpretation - Once again, the critic attempts to develop a
"grand unifying theory" of rock and roll and historical events, when a more
obvious interpretation is once again to assume that the author was looking
back on beliefs he once held, and examining whether they were still
meaningful in his life.  The author seems to ask rhetorically "do you have
faith in God above" and "NOW [emphasis mine] do you believe in rock 'n
roll?"  In other words, did you discard your belief in God for a faith in
rock 'n roll, and do still believe in even that, or are you empty and devoid
of all belief?

Well I know that you're in love with him 'Cause I saw you dancing in the gym
You both kicked off your shoes
Man, I dig those rhythm 'n' blues
I was a lonely teenage broncin' buck With a pink carnation and a pickup
truck
But I knew that I was out of luck The day the music died I started
singing...

*Keith's interpretation - These lines recall again the youthful innocence of
the author at the time of Buddy Holly's death;  the author is so young and
foolish as to believe that dancing in the gym could signal a lifetime
commitment to another teenager.  Although this is probably quite a common
misinterpretation of dancing from the teenagers' point of view, I think that
the critic missed this badly with his assumption that dancing in the gym
used to signal a greater intimacy than it now does.  The final line, "But I
knew that I was out of luck The day the music died," indicates that the
author was cognizant enough to know that life had changed forever, even if
he knew not in what manner or how completely it had changed.


Refrain - see above for Keith's interpretation



(Verse 3) Now for ten years we've been on our own
And moss grows fat on a rolling stone
But that's not how it used to be When the jester sang for the King and Queen
In a coat he borrowed from James Dean
And a voice that came from you and me
Oh, and while the King was looking down The jester stole his thorny crown

*Keith's interpretation - I think that the critic's interpretation of the
"jester" and "a rolling stone" alluding to Bob Dylan and/or The Rolling
Stones is only partially correct.  I think that the line "moss grows fat on
a rolling stone" is an ironic commentary on the author's own situation - in
other words that a former "rolling stone" is now bogged down by the
commitments and obligations of adult life.    The line "In a coat he
borrowed from James Dean" indicates that the author's generation rebelled
against its predecessors, but probably only after a pattern established by
James Dean or other "rebels" of that generation (such as Marlon Brando).  I
am reminded of an episode of "The Simpsons" in which Bart had his ear
pierced, and Lisa remarked "that is so rebellious in a conformist sort of
way."  This is the point the author makes - his generation rebelled, but
only in the pattern of James Dean, and did not rebel very far in the end. "
Oh, and while the King was looking down The jester stole his thorny crown"
refers to the inevitable fact that while one generation is concentrating on
running the world, it's children (the jester) supplant it by the slow
erosion of time, regardless of their fitness for such a succession.


The courtroom was adjourned, No verdict was returned.


*Keith's interpretation - Although this scene has been played out, the drama
of life will continue ad infinitum.