For the few who don't know already, the "day the music died" in "American Pie" was February 3, 1959 when a plane crash killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper.
"Vincent" is a song about painter Vincent Van Gogh. McLean had read a biography of Van Gogh and decided he had to write a song arguing that Van Gogh was not crazy as commonly believed. The song was a favorite of Tupac Shakur.