I was recently reading an Eat Our Brains blog archive that told the story about JP “The Bopper” Richardson’s son, after hearing conspiracy stories all his life about his Dad’s death, had his Dad’s body exhumed to lay to rest, in his own and maybe others’ eyes, on how and/or when his Dad died on that fateful day that took the lives of three great music artists:
Helloo, Baaaybee - March 15th, 2007 by Bradley Denton
Today, April 27, 2008, as I was reading through the Bradley Denton’s story from March 15, 2007 where Bradley encapsulated the tragic accident that Don McLean called, “The Day The Music Died.”:
In the early morning hours of February 3, 1959, a single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza aircraft crashed in a farm field near Mason City, Iowa, killing rock’n’roll musicians Buddy Holly (age 22), Ritchie Valens (age 17), and J.P. “the Big Bopper” Richardson (age 28). Also killed was the twenty-one-year-old pilot, Roger Peterson.
I was nearly four years old at the time. I wouldn’t realize the great loss to the art of music and the world in general for a few more years.
And a tragic loss it truly was.
Life is such a strange collection of intersecting lines…
So after the February 2 show in Clear Lake, Iowa, Buddy Holly decided that he would at least give himself and two backing musicians — guitarist Tommy Allsup and bassist Waylon Jennings — a chance to wash their clothes before the next night’s gig in Moorhead, Minnesota. To that end, he hired Dwyer’s Flying Service in Mason City to fly the trio to Fargo, North Dakota (which was the closest airport to Moorhead).
But Tommy Allsup lost his seat to Ritchie Valens on a coin toss, and Waylon Jennings gave his spot to the ailing Big Bopper.
The Bonanza took off in the middle of the night with snow falling, and a few minutes later, it hit the frozen ground in a shallow dive at about 170 miles per hour. All on board died.
Anyway, at the bottom of the story, were links to songs by these music greats (videos on YouTube.com):
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Buddy Holly, “That’ll Be the Day” and “Oh Boy!”
Ritchie Valens, “Ooh My Head” and the 1958 recording session for “La Bamba”
The Big Bopper, “Chantilly Lace”*
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*Clearly, J.P. Richardson didn’t have the deep-to-the-bone impact on subsequent artists that Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens had. Nevertheless, I would argue that “Chantilly Lace,” for all its novelty-tune cheese, is an open and joyous acknowlegement of healthy lust that was both subversive and revolutionary for mainstream pop music of its time. For that alone, every sex-crazed musician since owes the Big Bopper a debt of gratitude.
Well, I went looking for those videos:
“That’ll Be the Day”
This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by SOFA Entertainment
But you can find a video of what appears to be the vinyl of Buddy Holly and The Crickets doing That’ll Be the Day here.
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“Oh Boy!”
This video has been removed due to terms of use violation.
Here’s a tribute video of Buddy Holly’s version on youtube today.
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“Ooh My Head”
This video has been removed due to terms of use violation.
Here’s Ritchie Valens Ooh My Head Full Version 1959 on youtube today.
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the 1958 recording session for “La Bamba”
It’s still there as of today!
Kewl!
Here’s one of the full recorded versions by Ritchie Valens.
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“Chantilly Lace”
This video has been removed by the user.
Here’s Chantilly Lace-The Big Bopper-1958 on youtube today.
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Note, just like the ones in the article. If you find these missing in action by the time you read this article. Just do a search on youtube.com, or Google, or Google Video for the song name and artist’s name and roll the dice, errr, click Search.
You might even find the Meaning of American Pie or the UPDATED Meaning of American Pie video on youtube…or not…depending on how lucky you are in your timing, I guess.