Buddy Holly, a rising pop music genius not yet 23 years old, died in a plane crash today, 57 years ago.
We can do all we can, and do everything right, but so much in our culture and lives is determined by pure luck, good, bad, and as in this case, terrible.
I think about this every February third.
Here’s Buddy, with one of my favorites:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOTv9jY4X5E
And here is Don McLean:
Ethics Alarms 
so true
Don McLean’s homage to Buddy Holly made me cry. Holly’s impact — in so short a life — is, in fact, measurable. He is still an icon today, almost 60 years later. One example: the early Beatles were tremendously influenced by Buddy Holly, and made no bones about it.
“The day the music died” indeed: it lives on… through those who either remember him or have discovered him anew, and through those he influenced. (It is unfortunate he does not share the cross-generational appeal that the Beatles have, however. I remember going to see Paul McCartney with my 11-year-old son, who had discovered the Beatles on his own… The entire audience was parents and kids.)
But Buddy Holly does live on. Thanks for reminding us, Jack.
Of course, I don’t intend to minimize the deaths of Holly’s companions and fellow pop stars, teenaged Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper, as well the plane’s pilot. They were all young with unknown horizons to journey to; who knows what they might have accomplished, or their children, or grandchildren.
I also hate to think of what Holly’s bassist Waylon Jennings went through for years afterwards because his last words to Holly were “I hope your plane crashes.” When Holly told Jennings he was on the bus not the plane.
Yikes. There’s also a controversy over Dion supposedly flipping a coin to decide if he was going to be on the plane.
There is no real controversy as everyone who was there says Dion wasn’t involved in the coin toss . That along with the fact that Dion never mentioned this before his new book came out in 2011 makes me think he is lying.
This is much better than looking for groundhog shadows. Next year on Groundhog Day I’ll remember the next day is about Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper and Richje Valens instead. I’ve been making library lesson plans tracing the course of popular music through the years. These 3 will play a big part. It’s surprising how much kids as young as kindergarten respond to music from the 1920’s and before. They especially seem to love the blues.
I assumed I’ve been spelling Richie Valens wrong all this time and used
Jack’s spelling. This is the result when a bad speller trusts a bad typer.
Ugh. Sorry.
But what a dumb way to spell “Richie”…
Which was “Ritchie.” I don’t know where the j came from.
I can certainly remember this. I was in Junior High at the time and some girl at my school wanted the flag lowered to half mast to show our grief at losing Holly, Richie Vallens, and the Big Bopper. The Principle wouldn’t allow it of course. Then there were other music disasters: Chuck Berry went to prison, Jerry Lee Lewis’s career took a nose dive after it was discovered he had married his underage cousin, and Eddie Cochran died in a motorcycle crash. We then had to endure soft pop for several years by the likes of Jimmy Clanton.
Don’t forget Sam Cooke.
Although Holly cut some great records, “It doesn’t matter anymore” is not one of my favorites. I liked his stuff with the driving beat that rocked like “Peggy Sue” and “That’ll Be The Day”. One of the girls at my Junior High requested that the flag be lowered to show the students’ grief. The out of touch Principal turned her down.
What I like about it is that it’s so confident and professional for such a young performer…and has all of Holly’s tricks, the hiccup, the change into different registers mid phrase. I think it’s the best kiss-off song ever written.
Interesting he was from Lubbock, Texas. Never realized how much he and Lyle Lovett resemble each other physically, perhaps more than a little musically as well. “It doesn’t matter any more” reminds me of the Haydn piano sonata I’m struggling with right now. Very clean and classical. Similar to the Lennon and McCartney earlier ballads. Nice, interesting melodies well turned out.
I was only eight later in 1959 so Holly was a little before my time. There’s kind of a generational divide between the Elvis dominated era and the Beatles and Stones dominated era. I’m on the younger side of the divide. Frankly, I found Don McLean’s song a little sappy when it came out when I was in college and listening to The Band.
It’s sappy for sure, though clever, and also will keep Buddy’s memory alive a bit. Don just beat up his wife…
It Doesn’t Matter Anymore isn’t a Holly song, it was written by Paul Anka.
Boy, I’m glad he didn’t sing it.
The song is creepy too, because it was released after Holly’s death, and was 13th on the Top 40.
Well, It’s a Holly Song the way “Hound Dog” is an Elvis song. But I should have given Anka credit, because I usually hate his lyrics, like “My Way,” and these are very good.
The only other artist of note who I can remember singing this is Linda Ronstadt.
That explains a lot. That song is nothing like “Peggy Sue” (love the stutter) or “That’ll be the day.” True classics. This song is too sweet, almost precious. And I suppose it only sounded familiar to me because of the Ronstadt version. (Her father was Pima County Sheriff before Clarence Dupnik whom you probably remember from the Gabby Giffords follow up fiasco. Linda’s dad was Carlos Ronstadt. One of the all time great Mexican German names.)
One of the great things about Holly was that he was so versatile. Couldn’t disagree more about this song, but I must point out that Buddy had his sweet and sappy side..which was part of his era. True love’s way? I like it, but it’s automatic diabetes.
Anka in my opinion should have stuck to song writing. His performing “Puppy Love” and “Put Your Head On My Shoulder” represented the insipid pop teen idols that record executives loved and I disliked intensely.
Give him credit, though: he outlasted almost all of his contemporaries.