Remembering “The Day The Music Died”
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- February
- 3
I could not let the day end without acknowledging one of the saddest days in music history. Back on this day in 1959, a small plane carrying the legendary Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson crashed and killed all on board.
The body of work that Buddy put out in such a short time period is remarkable. Mr. Valens was just getting started and had some huge hits of his own. And who doesn’t like “Chantilly Lace” by the Big Bopper?
Don McLean, who wrote “American Pie,” was a 13-year-old newspaper delivery boy who cut loose the twine that was holding his newspapers, The Daily Mirror, together and saw the front page headline. He was floored just like everyone else at that time. (On another note, that is the same way I found out that John Lennon had been killed, I was a paper boy back in 1980 and I too turned over to the front page and remember the shock that came over me.)
Have you ever heard of the game that people associate with the actor Kevin Bacon? “The Six degrees of Kevin Bacon.” Well the same could be said of Buddy Holly. His influence was written all over Bob Dylan and The Beatles. With these two artists, how can anyone associated with music not come back to Buddy Holly? His inspiration still lives on with today’s bands such as The Strokes and The Black Keys.
So do yourself a favor, listen to “American Pie” by McLean again, shed a tear, then go and discover the music of Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Big Bopper. Rest in peace.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009 at 7:54 pm by Errol Arne.
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thanks so much for posting this, errol. it wouldn’t have been right for the day to end without it.
i love buddy holly’s (well, i guess it’s technically the crickets’) “not fade away.” covered by the rolling stones, of course, it’s such a classic.
rip, indeed.
pretty sure it was the New Rochelle standard star he was delivering, not Daily Mirror
from a Journal News story in 2005
As soon as Don McLean discovers that the telephone interview he’s doing is for The Journal News, he quickly notes how boyhood memories of delivering the newspaper helped to inspire the lyrics of “American Pie.”
The New Rochelle native once pitched copies of The Standard Star, a precursor to The Journal News, into his neighbors’ yards.
“In the song, when I sing `February made me shiver, with every paper I’d deliver’... well, that was literally true,” says McLean, who’ll be appearing Saturday night at the Paramount Center for the Arts in Peekskill.
dan
Thanks Dan. The article in the current issue of Rolling Stone magazine with Bruce on the cover states the “Daily Mirror.”
Thanks for posting this, Errol.
Here’s the part of this that always gets to me: the Big Bopper was 28, Buddy Holly was 22, and Ritchie Valens was just 17. Unbelievable. Think of the music we lost out on.