The weather conditions were miserable, icy and wintry, and the pilot lost control, the plane went down, killing all three singers, as well as the pilot. These random decisions, humorous and/or kind at the time, had devastating consequences. Valens and Tommy Allsup tossed a coin to see who would get to fly. Waylon Jennings, also on the tour, gave up his seat to Big Bopper, who had the flu. Buddy Holly finally got frustrated enough at the situation that he chartered a plane to get them to Minnesota. The gigs were clustered close together and yet the distances between them were large, putting the pressure on the artists to travel long distances quickly. The tour was being adversely affected as guys lost their voices, had to take to their beds, etc. The artists had been going from gig to gig in busses, but the weather was freezing, and everyone was getting sick. The story of why they all got on that plane, during the “Winter Dance Party” tour across the Midwest, is the story of one ominous mishap after another. The boys from Lubbock played “Peggy Sue Got Married.” ( Here’s a very good article about why that appearance was – and still is – such a big deal. In December, 1957, Buddy Holly appeared on The Arthur Murray Dance Party television program. ![]() It’s not really about love, it’s about the feeling you get for your girl dry-humping in the backseat of your 1956 Cadillac at the drive-in.Īnd here they are, performing “That’ll Be the Day” on The Ed Sullivan Show: But still: “Oh Boy” is ferocious, both in energy and the imagery of the lyrics. He had Elvis on, he had them all on, he introduced The Beatles to America. To give Sullivan credit: despite his misgivings, he had these guys on his show. It’s the only way to understand the revolution of this kind of music. (If you imagine yourself in a conservative 1950s mindset. Here’s “Oh Boy.” You can see Ed Sullivan’s fear of this song. The song has kind of a sweet melody, yes? Peggy Sue. ![]() Here they are performing “Peggy Sue” on The Ed Sullivan Show: Holly wanted to play “Oh Boy,” Sullivan nixed it, it was too get-up-and-go, he wanted something more toned down. Humorously, the song was so huge that the one and only Jayne Mansfield recorded an “answer” to it, where she imagined what the girlfriend was saying on the other end.īuddy Holly appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show three times, and there are a bunch of now-legendary stories about the clashes between Sullivan and Holly. Watch him pretend to have a phone conversation with his girlfriend. A radio voice, mixed with the lunacy of a big personality. He hit pay dirt with “Chantilly Lace.” Here’s such a fun live performance. He started recording his stuff, and the first tunes were country tunes, which failed to gain any traction. He was a big personality (you have to be if you host a radio show). He wrote songs, and those songs became hits for the artists who sang them. He did some time in the Army, studied pre-law, but was drawn back into the radio business. Richardson, Jr.), the third of the Triumvirate, was, like Holly, from Texas, and had started out as a DJ. It could also “take” a folk song, sung entirely in Spanish … and turn it into a hit that teenagers wanted to dance to. While the other country boys – boys from Texas like Buddy Holly, boys from Tennessee like Carl Perkins and Elvis – were taking the songs from their diverse cultural heritage (country, gospel, rhythm & blues) – Ritchie Valens, of Mexican descent, brought his own culture into the mix (reluctantly, at first), and the success of “La Bamba” (how many times has that damn thing been covered? Los Lobos covered it in 1987 and it went to #1 on the Billboard charts … AGAIN) was an example – and maybe even a better example than the other guys – of how flexible the new music style could be. Ritchie Valens, another of the Big Three who died in that crash, is mainly known for “La Bamba”: he turned a Mexican folk song into a rock ‘n’ roll song now ranked 354 on The Rolling Stones‘ list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Speaking of which, here’s “Not Fade Away.” ![]() Holly’s songs never really left my consciousness. It’s two chords, beautiful melody, with a nice message. I was in a band when I was in sixth grade, and we played “Not Fade Away.” You shouldn’t even be in a band if you haven’t played that song. All of this music was just coming out of nowhere - Memphis and Texas. I was just a little kid when I first heard Buddy Holly’s “Peggy Sue.” You may not understand what it was like being about nine years old in 1957 or ’58, but it was quite a treat. Buddy Holly was #13 on Rolling Stones’ 100 Greatest Artists list, and John Mellencamp wrote a very touching couple of paragraphs about Buddy Holly as the ultimate hillbilly, and how important that was:
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