1 “Vincent” is a folk song by American singer-songwriter Don McLean written as a tribute to Vincent van Gogh. It is also known by its opening line, “Starry Starry Night”, a reference to Van Gogh's painting The Starry Night. The song also describes different paintings done by the artist. It was created on the 100th anniversary of the midpoint of Van Gogh’s life.2 Van Gogh painted “Starry Night” after committing himself to an asylum in 1889. He wrote that night was "more richly colored than the day," but he couldn't go outside to see the stars when he was committed, so he painted the night sky from memory.3 The lyrics, "Paint your palette blue and gray" reflect the prominent colors of the painting, and are probably a reference to Vincent's habit of sucking on or biting his paintbrushes while he worked. The "ragged men in ragged clothes" and "how you tried to set them free" refer to Van Gogh's humanitarian activities and love of the socially outcast as also reflected in his paintings and drawings. "They would not listen/They did not know how" refers to Van Gogh's family and some associates who were critical of his kindness to "the wretched." "How you suffered for your sanity" refers to the schizophrenic disorder from which Van Gogh suffered.4 McLean wrote the lyrics in 1971 after reading a book about the life of the artist. McLean told The Daily Telegraph February 24, 2010 the story of this song: "In the autumn of 1970 I had a job singing in the school system, playing my guitar in classrooms. I was sitting on the veranda one morning, reading a biography of Van Gogh, and suddenly I knew I had to write a song arguing that he wasn't crazy. He had an illness and so did his brother Theo. This makes it different, in my mind, to the garden variety of 'crazy' – because he was rejected by a woman [as was commonly thought]. So I sat down with a print of Starry Night and wrote the lyrics out on a paper bag."5 McLean was going through a dark period when he wrote this song. He explained to The Daily Telegraph: "I was in a bad marriage that was torturing me. I was tortured. I wasn't as badly off as Vincent was, but I wasn't thrilled, let's put it that way."6 The following year, the song became the number one hit in the UK Singles Chart and No. 12 in the US. Coincidentally, it spent 12 weeks on the HOT 100. In the US, "Vincent" also peaked at number two on the Easy Listening chart. Billboard ranked it as the No. 94 song for 1972.7 Talking about the song on the UK show Songbook, McLean said: "It was inspired by a book. And it said that it was written by Vincent's brother, Theo. So what caused the idea to percolate in my head was, first of all, what a beautiful idea for a piece of music. Secondly, I could set the record straight, basically, he wasn't crazy. According to the passage, what inspired Don McLean to write "Vincent"?