Posted on 07/20/2022 9:31:11 AM PDT by OneVike
A long, long time ago – five decades to be exact – America was roiled by wrenching generational showdowns, massive street protests, and a blazing array of social justice movements. Now, half a century later, similar events and dynamics dominate the public conversation. So, perhaps, it’s poetic that precisely five decades have elapsed since a song that captured all that cultural turmoil, American Pie, became a smash hit. “It’s a song that spoke to its time,” said Spencer Proffer, who has produced a comprehensive new documentary about the song, titled The Day the Music Died. “But it’s just as applicable now.”
The event, which McLean dubbed “the day the music died”, shattered the pop world of its day and had a formative effect on the songwriter. On a frigid night in 1959, a small plane carrying Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and JP Richardson (The Big Bopper) crashed in a corn field in Clear Lake, Iowa, minutes after take-off, killing everyone on board. The documentary begins with that event, traveling back to the Surf Ballroom, where the stars played their final show. The film-makers scored a coup by bringing on camera a man who saw that fateful concert, as well as the man who owns the aviation company that rented the doomed plane. More, it features a moving interview with Valens’ sister Connie, who we see thanking McLean for immortalizing her brother in song.
…………………..
Buddy Holly was his musical idol. If his death instigated the song’s words, a more personal loss altered the course of McLean’s life. When he was 15, his father died suddenly of a heart attack. “That had a profound effect on him,” Proffer said. “He has carried the death of his father in his soul.”
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
““The Book of Love” was a hit in 1968 by the Monotones.”
Uhhh.... No.
58......................
What a touching story, OneVike. God bless you.
I do not think the Beatles would have known what a Congressman was
They weren’t stupid.................
I understand Richard Harris recorded MacArthur Park on a drunk bet he’d made with Richard burton, or one of his other drinking buddies.
Donna Summer had no excuse and did it in disco, even.
Leave Led Zeppelin out of this.
Okay.
No, but US congressmen? I would think they would comment on British politicians.
I just found your blunt response comical. No need to get in an uproar about it.
I like Donna Summer’s version, probably because I like the Giorgio Moroder sound.
Just did a quick lookup on Moroder - the guy was ubiquitous in the 70s & 80s, he was involved in everything!
Not an uproar to have a different opinion. Why not explain what is comical?
Over 40 years ago, I was on a shuttle between New York and Boston, back when you could show up at 8:55 for a 9 o’clock flight. Two businessmen in the row ahead of me were talking about their kids and their growing up pains. One concluded the conversation with, We all muddle through. I remember thinking those were words to live by.
I told this story to a new client just yesterday. This thread and some personal troubles have me feeling a little down, but I will muddle through.
Freegards.
Oh, there were far worse songs from the ‘70s, such as:
Billy, Don’t Be a Hero
Seasons in the Sun
Wildfire
Yep - some even worse than those you’ve mentioned.
It always bothered me that he mispronounced the word “February” as “Feb-u-ary”.
It’s funny, isn’t it, the pieces of life advice we pick up along the way that stick with us.
When I was 16, I started working for 7-11 as a clerk. One day, when I was stocking the shelves with Butterfingers, I found a card that someone had obviously placed in the box. It was a printed card that said:
Don’t worry about the future,
The present is all thou hast.
The future will soon be present,
And the present will soon be past.
For some reason, that simple verse has stuck with me, now for almost 50 years.
I hope you’re able to successfully muddle through your current issues.
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