The World
According to Jake
The Day The Music Died...
February 3, 2009 marked the 50th
anniversary of the plane crash that
killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens
and the Big Bopper. 50 years later
people still look back and
remember "The Day The Music
Died". Buddy Holly played rock
and roll for only two short years,
but the music he recorded in that
time made a major and lasting
impact on popular music. Buddy
Holly wrote his own material and was among the first to use studio techniques like double-tracking and he pioneered and popularized the now-standard rock-band lineup of two guitars, bass and drums. Holly influenced the Beatles and Hollies (both of whom derived their names from his). Even the Rolling Stones had their first major British hit with Holly's "Not Fade Away."
In the winter of 1959, Holly joined a rock and roll "package tour" called the Winter Dance Party. Following a show in Clear Lake, Iowa, Holly chartered a private plane to the next stop on the tour, Moorhead, Minnesota. Two other performers, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper, joined him. Their plane left the Mason City, Iowa, airport at one in the morning and crashed in a cornfield a few minutes later, killing all aboard. Buddy Holly was only 22 years old at the time of the crash - an event immortalized in Don McLean's "American Pie" as "the day the music died."
It's Don McLean's notion that music died on February 3, 1959. It was the day that Buddy Holly (along with singers, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper) was killed in a plane crash just outside Mason City, Iowa.
McLean makes reference to this sad event near the beginning of American Pie. He says he read the tragic news while delivering newspapers -- which is a key to his age -- on a cold day in February. The "widowed bride," mentioned here is Maria Elena Holly.
Employing song-titles and lyrics of popular songs of the day -- Book of Love, Lonely Teenager, (White Sport Coat and a) Pink Carnation -- McLean conveys the idea that he was typical of his generation. Their idea of a wild "high," was drinking whiskey and rye, and dancing "real slow" at the dance in the high school gymnasium. "Miss American Pie," is McLean's stereotype expression for the young ladies of his youth. They were "girl-next-door," "as- American- as- apple- pie" types, who, like the music and fun of that era, seem to have disappeared.
This Interpretation of Don McClean's song by Rich Kulawiec is one of the best... Check out this American Pie Video
American Pie
A long, long time ago
...
"American Pie" reached #1 in the US in 1972, but the album containing it was released in 1971. Buddy Holly died in 1959.
I can still remember how
That music used to make me smile.
And I knew if I had my chance,
That I could make those people dance,
And maybe they'd be happy for a while
One of early rock and roll's functions was to provide dance music for various social events. McLean recalls his desire to become a musician playing that sort of music.
But February made me shiver,
Buddy Holly died on February 3, 1959 in a plane crash in Iowa during a snowstorm.The news came to most of the world on the morning of February 3, which is why it's known as The Day The Music Died.
With every paper I'd deliver,
Don McLean's only job besides being a full-time singer-songwriter was being a paperboy.
Bad news on the doorstep...
I couldn't take one more step.
I can't remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride
Holly's recent bride, Maria Elena, was pregnant when the crash took place; she had a miscarriage shortly afterward.
But something touched me deep inside,
The day the music died.
The same plane crash that killed Buddy Holly also took the lives of Richie Valens ("La Bamba") and The Big Bopper ("Chantilly Lace"). Since all three were so prominent at the time, February 3, 1959 became known as "The Day The Music Died".
So...
(Refrain)
Bye bye Miss American Pie,
Miss American Pie *is* rock and roll music. Don McLean dated a Miss America candidate during the pageant. (unconfirmed)
Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
Them good ole boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
Singing "This'll be the day that I die,
This'll be the day that I die."
One of Holly's hits was "That'll be the Day"; the chorus contains the line "That'll be the day that I die"
