Posted on 04/09/2015 4:35:32 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The music died because Buddy Holly merely wanted what every touring musician wants: to do laundry.
Shoved into unheated buses on a “Winter Dance Party” tour in 1959, Holly — tired of rattling through the Midwest with dirty clothes — chartered a plane on Feb. 3 to fly from Clear Lake, Iowa, to Fargo, N.D., where he hoped he could make an appointment with a washing machine. Joining him on the plane were Ritchie Valens and, after future country star Waylon Jennings gave up his seat, J.P. Richardson, a.k.a. “the Big Bopper.” Taking off in bad weather with a pilot not certified to do so, the plane crashed, killing everyone aboard. The toll was incalculable: The singers of “Peggy Sue” and “Come On Let’s Go” and “Donna” and “La Bamba” were dead. Holly was just 22; incredibly, Valens was just 17. Rock and roll would never be the same.
Thirteen years later, Don McLean wrote a song about this tragedy: “American Pie,” an 8½-minute epic with an iconic lyric about “the day the music died.” Now, the original 16-page working manuscript of the lyrics has been sold at auction for $1.2 million.
“I thought it would be interesting as I reach age 70 to release this work product on the song American Pie so that anyone who might be interested will learn that this song was not a parlor game,” McLean said in a Christie’s catalogue ahead of the sale. “It was an indescribable photograph of America that I tried to capture in words and music.”
That photograph was always a little bit blurry. At more than 800 words, the meaning of “American Pie” proved elusive even for a generation used to parsing inscrutable Bob Dylan and Beatles lyrics. McLean has said the song was inspired by the 1959
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I like CASTLES IN THE AIR too
Don Mclean is one of the best LIVE musicians ever.
His concerts are like a very skilled troubador telling a story and captivating audience with the sheer poetry and musicianship. No flashing lights, no loud band — just a guitar, banjo or piano or a small string quartet in the background.
No wonder one composer used him as her inspiration for the song — KILLING ME SOFTLY (WITH HIS SONG ) after attending his concert...
“Bob Dylan talked to the counterculture in dense, cryptic, apocalyptic terms.”
And in really bad voice.
That line really did something to me back in the day.
But McDonna makes him sound like Pavrotti.
I could always see “AP” as a double meaning. Literally looking at Buddy Holly et all in the crash, and figuratively transposing it to a more general issue.
Glad he did, because he was right.
Glad he mentions how there is no more romance, not poetry. He is right. Didn’t know he was this perceptive.
I think it's called "poetry".
Ugh, and the worst part (for me) is that he inspired a zillion other wannabe folk singers to try and ape that horrible wheeze.
I have the misfortune of living a block from a folk music school, so these cretins infest half the cafes and restaurants in the area, along with the parks and public squares. If they are not low rent Dylans, they are low rent Neil Youngs.
Well, one of them did some Donovan tunes decently, I could stand him.
I always got that sense of the song, even before I figured out the Buddy Holly reference. Probably because I’m from a younger generation, so I only caught all the historical stuff later. Yet, it always stood out as a different kind of song when it hit the radio. The chorus was catchy, but sad, like a dirge that you wanted to dance to.
It was originally titled American Donut, but that didn’t rhyme with “dry”.
The song is about one man’s struggle to be a pastry chef.
I heard the song explained when it was popular. It was supposed to have been about the crash only. The negative things that are mentioned in this article occurred a fairly long time after the music died (hyperbole).
As a painter, “Starry, Starry Night” was an inspiration. Of course I was only 22 then .....and still have not learned to paint.
It’s about the journey.
Insightful comment. With painting (and golf among many other things) it certainly is the journey.
It was a long time ago...
Am I the only one who thinks buddy holly is insipid and insanely overrated?
American Pie is a crap song that could only appeal to teenage morons — ofall ages.
The music business still had a lot of room for true artists back then. This tune is very much the equal of Empty Chairs.
Killing Me Softly With His Song - by Lori Lieberman
I'd never heard of this singer until a few years ago. I can recall my mother swearing that the Roberta Flack version of this song wasn't the original, but I doubt if Lori's recording ever got much radio airplay. Seeing this video, I now understand how Mom was aware of the earlier version - she always watched Mike Douglas.
So Roberta claimed this Lori's personal experience to be hers which ended being the basis of the song written by Lori's song writers .
No.
I think Buddy Holly is great - for fast tempo. His geeky gooniness showed through in his slow, “romantic” songs, though.
I love his up tempo songs.
He is another example of an act that can do well in one or the other, but not both.
Everly Bros. were great on both counts, slow and fast. One of the few. Just brought it to mind.
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