Buddy Holly: The Music Lives
by Joe LimaUnfortunately, when people recall Charles Hardin Holley, aka Buddy Holly, many think first of the plane crash in which he, the Big Bopper, and Richie Valens died, fifty years ago today. That’s a shame because Buddy’s music was about life, about living bigger than a Cadillac. Buddy’s Sound was not about death. Nor was Buddy about “raging against the machine.” Buddy said, “move over, give me the keys to that machine, I want to see how fast I can make it go.” Buddy’s music is a Yes, not a No.
Perhaps more than any other fifties rock and roller, Buddy displayed a capacity for growth, for pushing the boundaries of The Sound. At the time of Buddy’s death he was living in New York City, married to a young woman born in San Juan, Puerto Rico and hanging out in coffeehouses, where he listened to beat poetry and flamenco guitar; at the same time he had booked a steel guitar player for the recording session that he didn’t survive to attend. Buddy was both growing in new directions and sinking his roots deeper into that fertile American earth from which The Sound had sprung. Who knows what great music this restless creative spirit would have brought forth in the sixties and seventies? Maybe in Heaven Buddy will play us all a new song.
It’s a great day to celebrate the genius of the American muse that gave rise to Buddy Holly, who deeply absorbed both Bo Diddley and Bill Monroe, and then filled the West Texas plains with a new American tune equal parts swampy blues and lonesome mountain pining. Only in America my friends, only in America could The Sound spring forth; a music as traditional as the bluegrass tunes that the Crickets cut their teeth covering, as radical as Buddy’s Fender Stratocaster, which redefined what a guitar could look, sound and feel like. Like another great American rock and roller, Johnny Ramone, Buddy’s guitar style was all about machine-gun fast downstrokes. A Hungry Sound, a Mighty Sound.
It’s funny when people talk about the British Invasion of 1964 as some sea change in the sound of popular music, because at first all those British groups, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones included, sounded astonishingly like…Buddy Holly. Indeed, both Paul McCartney and Keith Richards gratefully acknowledge their debt to Lubbock, Texas’ favorite son. Maybe the truth is that by 1964 the world was finally ready to fully open up its ears to The Sound, and the British Invaders reaped the harvest that Buddy sowed.
But today let’s not grieve or recriminate but remember and celebrate, because on that windswept American plain the car is fast and the girl is beautiful, the music lives and liberates and we’re gonna shake it just a little in the middle of the night…
All Hail Buddy Holly, and His Big American Sound. Rave On!
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24 Comments
I’ve made a few melancholy pilgrimages to the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake and the crash site.
The enormity of Holly’s legacy is doubly amazing when you realize that he was only 22 when he died.
Wow, Joe — great little diddy about the legendary trailblazer. And poetic…romantic, the way you tied it up…I can hear the tinny blast of the AM radio in the dash…the wind in my hair…rock ‘n roll, baby.
Buddy was one of the greats. Truly a Texas legend, much like the Big Bopper. Most of the time you hear about the day the music died, you hear about Holly, and of course Ritchie Valens, but not much is said about the great JP Richardson.
As a Beaumont native, his legacy is keen in my head. As keen as that of Janis Joplin, and equally important to music.
RIP Buddy, Ritchie, and JP.
Why, of course the Beatles were huge Buddy Holly fans. The very name “Beatles” was a tribute to the Crickets.
John Lennon sang Holly’s “Words of Love” on the 1965 “Beatles for Sale” album, and later recorded “Peggy Sue” for his Seventies “Rock and Roll” album.
When he did, he had to pay royalties to… Paul McCartney, who had bought Buddy Holly’s catalogue of songs years earlier!
Nice work.
The thing I love hearing from some musicians is how easy the music of Holly, The Everly Bros., early Elvis, etal is.
Yeah, until they try and play it.
Thanks, Joe!
Buddy was one of my few biggest influences. It’s an amazing emotional experience to spend an afternoon listening to a greatest hits collection in chronological order…right up through the New York String session..and then..gone. Ma, oh man, what was coming next.
this is from the Wiki entry, and if this doesn’t stop your heart for a second:
[Holly's funeral was held on 7 February 1959 at the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Lubbock under the direction of Sanders Funeral Home.[10] His body was interred in the City of Lubbock Cemetery in the eastern part of the city. Holly’s headstone carries the correct spelling of his surname (Holley) and a carving of his Fender Stratocaster guitar.
Maria Holly did not attend the funeral and has never visited the
gravesite. She told the Avalanche-Journal: “In a way, I blame myself. I was not feeling well when he left. I was two weeks pregnant, and I wanted Buddy to stay with me, but he had scheduled that tour. It was the only time I wasn’t with him. And I blame myself because I know that, if only I had gone along, Buddy never would have gotten into that airplane.”
Early in 2008, Maria visited the apartment building where she and Holly lived. There, she observed musicians in nearby Washington Square Park, where Holly often played his guitar. “I gave one musician $9 because 9 was Buddy’s favorite number,” Maria told the Avalanche-Journal. She said that she had never come to grips with his premature death. ]
I will say this, when a young man like that dies, the world cries for a long, long time. If you want to smile over it, rent the documentary McCartney put together. At the end, Norman Petty’s wife is playing the church organ of Rave On (as I recall). Plus, the guys talk about the sessions, Peggy Sue beat on a cardboard box, etc. Just wonderful.
Astorian – Beatles also covered “Crying, Waiting, Hoping,” “Reminiscing,” and “Words of Love.” As the Quarrymen, they covered “That’ll Be the Day,” which was also a hit for Linda Ronstadt, who followed up with “It’s So Easy.” The Stones had a hit cover of “Not Fade Away,” as did Los Lobos, and Tanya Tucker. And James Taylor with “Everyday.” And Otis Redding with “It’s Too Late.” And the Traveling Wilburys (Harrison, Orbison, Dylan, Petty, Jeff Lynne) with “Peggy Sue.”
My favorite Buddy Holly song wasn’t even recorded or written by Buddy Holly — “I Fought the Law,” by the Bobby Fuller Four.
Buddy was the arhcitect of the music that was to come after his passing. There is no telling what kind of music he would have created had he lived. In the mid
sixties I was touring New Mexico with a Rock n Roll band, and our producer showed us much of the terrain where Buddy had played and recorded. Clovis,
Gallup, and other parts of New Mexico. The Torch was passed to Bobby Fuller,
who mysteriously passed away. He grew up around the El Paso area, Buddy was his idol. He too played a sunburst Fender Statacaster. Check Out Bobby Fullers
El Paso sessions Part One and Two on Norton records. Great liner notes as well.
You may also want check out Bobby Fullers box set, Never To Be Forgotten, if you can find it. When You hear Bobby Fuller you can see the strong thread to Buddy Holly. Fuller was inovative as well.
Iowahawk, Delta, now that we’re talking about “I Fought The Law” I must shout out to the great Sonny Curtis, another genius of American and Texan music, who wrote “I Fought The Law” among other tunes, including “Love Is All Around” (that’s right, the theme to the Mary Tyler Moore Show)
In fact, Sonny Curtis was a close friend and musical partner of Buddy Holly, and took his place as frontman for the Crickets after Buddy’s departure.
Believe it or not, “I Fought The Law” was first recorded by the Crickets in 1959.
True story.
I still like Geoffrey Norman’s line from his NRO article on the Beckhams:
“As for rock . . . everything the Brits know, they learned from Chuck Berry.”
Buddy Holly was an excellent musician, because Mr. Holly sang with clear diction, played with a consistent rhythm and influenced a generation of musicians when he toured Britain in March 1958. He is sorely missed.
Well said!
Though it’s from the same soundtrack that gave the world the atrocious “Kokomo,” always thought Mellencamp’s take on “Rave On” did Buddy some justice. I am now off to take a shower after paying Mellencamp a compliment.
“The five-hour program, sponsored by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, was relatively seamless considering how many acts were involved. Cousin Brucie, a legendary New York radio disc jockey, and Sir Tim Rice, who wrote lyrics for Elton John and Andrew Lloyd Webber, served as emcees. An all-star house band featured saxophonist Bobby Keys (Rolling Stones), keyboardist Chuck Leavell (Stones, Allman Brothers), bassist Hutch Hutchinson (Bonnie Raitt) and drummer Kenny Aronoff (John Mellencamp, John Fogerty, Melissa Etheridge, Smashing Pumpkins). Two boom cameras zoomed over the ballroom crowd to capture this show for a possible TV special.
Most of the stars offered three-song sets, usually featuring at least one tune by either Holly, Valens or the Big Bopper. For instance, Wanda Jackson did Chuck Berry’s “Brown Eyed Handsome Man,” which Holly covered on the 1959 tour, while Ely jumped into Buddy’s “Oh Boy.” Graham Nash never mentioned that he used to sing in the Hollies before joining Crosby, Stills & Nash, but he did three Buddy Holly favorites, including “Every Day” with Peter & Gordon. Rocker Pat DiNizio of the Smithereens, who released a Holly tribute album this year, added a nice touch with three violinists on his three songs.
Dave Mason, formerly of Traffic, provided a change of pace with his rock hits, “We Just Disagree” and “Feelin’ Alright.” Los Lonely Boys tore it up with their high-octane brand of blues-rock before downshifting into their hit, “Heaven,” which had the younger folks in the Surf crowd singing along. Bolstered by Keys on sax, Los Lobos rocked the house. Ely sat in with them to do “Are You Listening Lucky,” and then various members of the extended Valens family and Holly’s widow, Maria Elena Santiago, joined Los Lobos for a spirited, long-winded “La Bamba.”
From http://www.cmt.com/news/country-music/1604190/fans-pack-surf-ballroom-for-tribute-to-buddy-holly-ritchie-valens-and-the-big-bopper.jhtml
A good article, read the whole thing.
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