THE DAY THE MUSIC DIED

Sunday is my spiritual day, and I many times post on religion.  Life and Death...God...our ultimate future.  Don McLean was recently interviewed, and while I have written about him on numerous occasions, for his American Pie is about the death of Buddy Holly (22), Richie Valens (17) and the Big Bopper (28), this article evoked sufficient emotions as to inspire me to do this one more time.

I was not aware that McLean had a premonition when he was 15 that his father was going to die.  A few days later, showing no particular symptoms, he dropped dead right in front of him.  His father was his hero.

Now 75, he talked further of his 1971 American Pie he wrote at the age of 24.  Said he cried for two years and blamed himself for his father's death.  Thus the song of the '60's from that plane crash, the day the music died.  His original handwritten lyrics sold in 2015 for $1.2 million.  A broadway show is planned to open next year, plus a children's book.  Also a film, The Day the Music Died.

Never said what the music meant before...nor during the interview.  And he has never been happy,  The song is devoid of hope.  Back in the 60's, a terrible decade for the nation, he didn't see America improving intellectually or politically.  The decline was to continue, and too the music.  He had a long marriage that lasted until divorce in 2015, to an ex-wife who he says is the worst person he ever knew.

Certainly, American Pie followed the death of that trio in 1959.  Buddy Holly was his hero, but so was his father.  While Holly was inspirational, the lyrics were more about America.  But this was also a biographical song.  The jester was Bob Dylan, but was it?

The plane was a 1947 Beechcraft Bonanza, and was NOT named American Pie.  The person who gave up his seat for J. P. Richardson, the Big Bopper, was Waylon Jennings, who was then 21 and went on to become a noted country western singer, eternally troubled by his fate:

When Holly learned that his bandmates had given up their seats on the plane and had chosen to take the bus rather than fly, a friendly banter between Holly and Jennings ensued, and it would come back to haunt Jennings for decades to follow: Holly jokingly told Jennings, "Well, I hope your ol' bus freezes up!" Jennings jokingly replied, "Well, I hope your ol' plane crashes!"^[32]

Jennings felt compelled to to write and record The Stage (Stars in Heaven), a tribute to the three, and Eddie Cochran, who died in a car crash at the age of 21 a year later on a British singing tour.  I still remember his Summertime Blues and Sittin' in the Balcony.

Dion and his Belmonts were the opening act of the Winter Dance Party.  He was offered a seat on the plane, but at a cost of $36.  Dion felt that was too much, for he remembered growing up that the rent for their apartment was $36/month, and their parents fought all the time over it.  His father did not work much.  Of course you must know them:  The Wanderer and Runaround Sue.

 “American Pie” was voted number 5 in a poll of the 365 “Songs of the Century” compiled by the Recording Industry Association of America and the National Endowment for the Arts.

The top five were:

1. “Over the Rainbow” by Judy Garland
2. “White Christmas” by Bing Crosby
3. “This Land Is Your Land” by Woody Guthrie
4. “Respect” by Aretha Franklin
5. “American Pie” by Don McLean.

About The Day the Music Died, it will be a documentary.  He indicated he would tell the the real story of American Pie (this version by Madonna 17 years later).  Release of TDtMD?  End of the year.  Possibly to be a feel good production, or better than that, which could mean anything.

Why is everything coming together now?  This is the 50th anniversary of America Pie.  Want more?  Here is short interview with Dan Rather last year.  Maybe could be too much, but there is an R-rated rockumentary made in 1977 that is entitled The Day the Music Died.  That was the whole 100-minute movie.  A more meaningful short conclusion is The Day the Music Died. 

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