First, a quick review of how we got to this point…
As I was completing the post on The Free Design, I was contemplating what theme might “amuse” me for a while. And it was then I decided just to meander from song to song…
My starting point was The Free Design’s arrangement of Where Do I Go, a song from the musical Hair. That brought me to Three Dog Night and their take on another song from the show…Easy to Be Hard. And then, because the subject of “dog” came up, I segued into Jane Siberry’s Everything Reminds Me of My Dog. Siberry‘s venture into alternate identification (Issa) took me to Pet Clark‘s Who Am I. With a “who” in that title, who else could I choose but The Who and their first hit, I Can’t Explain. Incidental viewing of The Great Pottery Throw Down (where that Who song was the theme of the first series) led me to Pictures of Matchstick Men by Status Quo (referenced in the second season). Then emerged other picture-related songs (Pictures at an Exhibition, Paint Me a Picture and, finally, Vincent). And that is our starting point for today’s musical meander…
Although Vincent was a big hit for Don McLean in 1972, it was still second to his classic track, American Pie. In case you haven’t heard it or would like to do so again, check it out…
There continues to be discussion of McLean‘s lyrics in American Pie but it is apparent that “the day the music died” references the untimely death of Buddy Holly in a plane crash in 1959. McLean wrote (in 2015) that “Buddy Holly would have the same stature musically whether he would have lived or died, because of his accomplishments… By the time he was 22 years old, he had recorded some 50 tracks, most of which he had written himself …in my view and the view of many others, Buddy Holly and the Crickets were the template for all the rock bands that followed”.
1936-1959
Charles Hardin Holley was born in Lubbock, Texas and, in his brief lifetime amassed over a dozen hit songs in just three albums. One of his biggest of those hits was That’ll Be The Day, recorded (with The Crickets) and released in 1957.
His song Everyday was the B-side of a single which actually featured another Holly classic, Peggy Sue.
I mention this because another influential musician, James Taylor, decided to make his own tribute to this particular song. While Taylor has chiefly achieved fame for his own compositions, when he chooses to cover another artist, he can be relied upon to provide a fresh and appealing interpretation. From his 1985 album, That’s Why I’m Here, here’s his Everyday (from a recent 2016 live performance)…
And here’s a Taylor-penned “day” song titled Another Day (here in another live performance)…
Now that I think about it, the word day figures into many song titles (not just Holly and Taylor)… I’ll wander through several further examples in my next post…
The Morgan Musings 