Bye, Bye Miss American Pie

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the death of 3 music legends - Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and J.P. Richardson (The Big Bopper). While Valens (shortened from Valenzuela because his real surname was thought to be "too Hispanic", therefor lessening his commercial appeal in the bigoted fifties) had a couple of hit records, The Big Bopper was a one hit wonder with "Chantilly Lace".

Buddy Holly, however, was huge. His hit songs were many: Peggy Sue, True Love Ways, That'll be the day, Worlds of Love, Not fade away, Everyday, Oh Boy, and Maybe Baby are just a few of his chart busters.

Though I was only 12 when he passed away, I remember listening to his songs on my little transistor radio. All kids my age had them. It was the only way we really had to listen to "Our" music in the mid to late 50's. Our music, of course, was that new stuff our parents absolutely hated - Rock and Roll. They (our parents) were still stuck on Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, Mitch Miller, and the like - and, while I enjoy Sinatra quite a bit, Rock and Roll burned into me like most kids.

Holly set the tone for a lot of musicians to come. His beat was different from most, and future mega-groups, like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones have paid tribute to Holly, and named him as one of their early influences. At the time, Buddy Holly was every bit as big as Elvis though he certainly didn't have Elvis's good looks. In fact, Holly looked like what we would term a geek, or Nerd today. Yet, years after his death recording artists are still covering his songs.

There have been few songs written about singers. One of the best, in my opinion, is American Pie by Don McLean. (also I think it's one of the greatest sing-alongs ever)
Check this out:
http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=584cfcaf08fd7c751a05">

We'll never know how much more success might have come their way if the plane they were on hadn't crashed that night. We do know that, by the luck of the draw, one of country singers legends survived because he lost a coin flip, and had to take the bus instead - Waylon Jennings.