[3] It was released on McLean's 1971 American Pie album; the following year, the song topped the UK Singles Chart for two weeks,[4] and peaked at No.

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.

"[3]The Telegraph wrote, "With its bittersweet palette of major and minor chords, "Vincent"'s soothing melody is one of high emotion recollected in tranquillity".

[3] Record World called the song "artful", saying that "the Vincent Van Gogh story is told with melody and poetry.

[11] The song was a particular favorite of the rapper and actor Tupac Shakur, and it was played to him at the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada, the hospital that he was admitted to just before he died of gunshot wounds from a drive-by shooting.

[3] English musician Jake Bugg credited hearing the song in an episode of The Simpsons as his formative musical moment.

In 1996, a punk rock cover by NOFX was published on the compilation album Survival of the Fattest by the record label Fat Wreck Cords.