Don McLean has said that he probably would have “drank himself to death” if it weren’t for having asthma as a child.Speaking in a new interview, the ‘American Pie’ hitmaker discussed the longevity of his 1971 classic – which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year – and how things could have been very different for him had it not been for a childhood ailment that kept him out of school.“Children are all naturally creative – until school knocks it out of them,” he told The i.