Today in Music (1959): The Day the Music Died

February 3, 1959 The Day the Music Died

At the onset of 1959, Buddy Holly, J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson, and Ritchie Valens were three of the biggest rockers around. Holly had scored hits like “That’ll Be the Day” and “Peggy Sue.” Richardson’s biggest hit was the top 10 “Chantilly Lace” and Valens, only 17, was just getting started with his #2 hit “Donna” and the iconic “La Bamba.” Along with Dion & the Belmonts, the trio of rockers embarked on a Winter Dance Party Tour set to hit 24 Midwestern cities over three weeks. On February 2, they performed at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa. Holly was frustrated with the unheated tour bus and needed extra time to do laundry so he chartered a plane for himself and his bandmates Waylon Jennings and Tommy Alsup. However, Jennings gave up his seat to Richardson who had the flu, and Alsup lost a coin toss with Valens. Jennings, later of country music fame, joked with Holly, “I hope your ol’ plane crashes.” Jennings has said the words haunted him the rest of his life. WK The Beechcraft Bonanza plane, piloted by Roger Peterson, departed around 1am and crashed less than 6 miles outside of the airport. Everyone died instantly. The crash was attributed to poor weather conditions and pilot error. Peterson was still testing on-flight instrumentation and had not been certified to fly in weather that required sole reliance on the instruments. Don McLean famously eulogized the event in his hit 1972 #1 hit “American Pie” as “the day the music died.” It has been called “the first and greatest tragedy rock and roll has ever suffered.” WK Spotify Podcast: Check out the Dave’s Music Database podcast episode February 3, 1959: The Day the Music Died which highlights four of the songs mentioned in this post. Resources: Dave’s Music Database: “History Index” for more important dates in music history Dave’s Music Database: “Music Makers’ Birthdays” DMDB encyclopedia entry for Buddy Holly DMDB encyclopedia entry for Ritchie Valens DMDB encyclopedia entry for The Big Bopper Fiftiesweb.com: The Day the Music Died: February 3, 1959 History.com: The Day the Music Died WK Wikipedia.org: The Day the Music Died First posted 2/3/2012; updated 2/3/2024.

The Top 100 Songs by Singers/Songwriters

First posted 4/22/2020; updated 5/29/2020.

Singers & Songwriters: Top 100 Songs, 1970-1979

The Singers and Songwriters compilations were a series of albums issued in the early 2000s by Time-Life. The U.S. series covered 445 songs over 19 volumes. The focus of the albums was on the singer-songwriter era of the 1970s. That meant most songs were written and performed by the same artist and most were released from 1970 to 1979 and fit most comfortably into the genre known as “soft rock” or “adult contemporary.” To create this list, Dave’s Music Database took all 445 songs featured on the collections and ranked them according to their overall DMDB status. Non-‘70s songs were left off this list, but songs not necessarily recorded by the same artist who initially wrote them are included. A few other lists were also factored in to include some important songs not featured on any of the collections. Here are the results: 1. Elton John “Your Song” (1970) 2. Rod Stewart “Maggie May” (1971) 3. Don McLean “American Pie” (1971) 4. Carole King “It’s Too Late” (1971) 5. Carly Simon “You’re So Vain” (1972) 6. Harry Chapin “Cat’s in the Cradle” (1974) 7. Warren Zevon “Werewolves of London” (1978) 8. Janis Ian “At Seventeen” (1975) 9. Cat Stevens “Wild World” (1970) 10. John Lennon “Imagine” (1971) 11. George Harrison “My Sweet Lord” (1970) 12. Neil Young “Heart of Gold” (1972) 13. Elvis Costello “Alison” (1977) 14. David Bowie “Life on Mars?” (1973) 15. Jackson Brown “Running on Empty” (1978) 16. Gordon Lightfoot “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” (1976) 17. Eagles “New Kid in Town” (1976) 18. Lou Reed “Perfect Day” (1972) 19. Marvin Gaye “What’s Going On” (1971) 20. Janis Joplin “Me and Bobby McGee” (1971) 21. America “A Horse with No Name” (1971) 22. Harry Nilsson “Without You” (1971) 23. Elton John “Tiny Dancer” (1971) 24. Gerry Rafferty “Baker Street” (1978) 25. Elton John “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” (1973) 26. Roberta Flack “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” (1970) 27. Bill Withers “Lean on Me” (1972) 28. James Taylor “Fire and Rain” (1970) 29. Commodores “Three Times a Lady” (1978) 30. The Doobie Brothers “Black Water” (1974) 31. 10cc “I’m Not in Love” (1975) 32. Elton John “Daniel” (1972) 33. The Grateful Dead “Truckin’” (1970) 34. Gladys Knight & the Pips “Midnight Train to Georgia” (1973) 35. The Temptations “Just My Imagination Running Away with Me” (1971) 36. Elton John “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” (1974) 37. Todd Rundgren “Hello It’s Me” (1972) 38. Stealers Wheel “Stuck in the Middle with You” (1973) 39. Marvin Gaye “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology Song)” (1971) 40. The Doobie Brothers “What a Fool Believes” (1978) 41. Chicago “If You Leave Me Now” (1976) 42. The Doobie Brothers “Listen to the Music” (1972) 43. Daryl Hall & John Oates “She’s Gone” (1973) 44. Peter Frampton “Baby I Love Your Way” (1975) 45. Fleetwood Mac “You Make Loving Fun” (1977) 46. Eric Carmen “All by Myself” (1975) 47. Grateful Dead “Uncle John’s Band” (1970) 48. Commodores “Easy” (1977) 49. Dobie Gray “Drift Away” (1973) 50. Elton John “Someone Saved My Life Tonight” (1975) 51. Gary Wright “Dream Weaver” (1975) 52. Stephen Stills “Love the One You’re With” (1970) 53. America “Ventura Highway” (1972) 54. Todd Rundgren “I Saw the Light” (1972) 55. Three Dog Night “Mama Told Me Not to Come” (1970) 56. America “Sister Golden Hair” (1975) 57. Cat Stevens “Morning Has Broken” (1971) 58. Rick Nelson & the Stone Canyon Band “Garden Party” (1972) 59. Commodores “Still” (1979) 60. Elvin Bishop “Fooled Around and Fell in Love” (1976) 61. Fleetwood Mac “Say You Love Me” (1975) 62. Brook Benton “Rainy Night in Georgia” (1970) 63. Rod Stewart “You Wear It Well” (1972) 64. Commodores “Sail On” (1979) 65. Stephen Bishop “On and On” (1977) 66. Jefferson Starship “Miracles” (1975) 67. Grateful Dead “Sugar Magnolia” (1970) 68. Grateful Dead “Friend of the Devil” (1970) 69. Gary Wright “Love Is Alive” (1975) 70. Stevie Wonder “Superstition” (1972) 71. Paul Simon “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” (1975) 72. Dolly Parton “Jolene” (1973) 73. Terry Jacks “Seasons in the Sun” (1974) 74. Dire Straits “Sultans of Swing” (1978) 75. Gilbert O’Sullivan “Alone Again (Naturally)” (1972) 76. Tony Orlando & Dawn “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree” (1973) 77. Glen Campbell “Rhinestone Cowboy” (1975) 78. Jim Croce “Time in a Bottle” (1972) 79. Elton John & Kiki Dee “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” (1976) 80. Rod Stewart “Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright)” (1976) 81. Olivia Newton-John “I Honestly Love You” (1974) 82. Eric Clapton “I Shot the Sheriff” (1974) 83. Al Stewart “Year of the Cat” (1976) 84. Joe Cocker “You Are So Beautiful” (1974) 85. Johnny Nash “I Can See Clearly Now” (1972) 86. John Denver “Take Me Home, Country Roads” (1971) 87. Charlie Rich “The Most Beautiful Girl” (1973) 88. Starland Vocal Band “Afternoon Delight” (1976) 89. Linda Ronstadt “You’re No Good” (1974) 90. Captain & Tennille “Love Will Keep Us Together” (1975) 91. Christopher Cross “Sailing” (1979) 92. Rupert Holmes “Escape (The Pina Colada Song)” (1979) 93. Bill Withers “Ain’t No Sunshine” (1971) 94. Player “Baby Come Back” (1977) 95. Jim Croce “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” (1973) 96. Blue Swede “Hooked on a Feeling” (1974) 97. Tony Orlando & Dawn “Knock Three Times” (1970) 98. John Denver “Sunshine on My Shoulders” (1971) 99. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band “Mr. Bojangles” (1970) 100. Mary MacGregor “Torn Between Two Lovers” (1976) Resources and Related Links: Time Life Music Wikipedia.org (2020). “Singers and Songwriters (Time Life Music)”

 

Don McLean’s “American Pie” hit #1

American Pie Don McLean

Writer(s): Don McLean (see lyrics here) First Charted: November 19, 1971 Peak: 14 US, 14 CB, 15 GR, 15 HR, 13 AC, 2 UK, 15 CN, 15 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 0.6 UK, 1.6 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 3.0 radio, 170.8 video, 362.11 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: February 3, 1959, is often called “the day the music died” because of a plane crash that killed early rockers Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper. Although singer/songwriter Don McLean doesn’t mention any of them by name, he immortalized the legendary trio with his epic song “American Pie.” McLean has stated that Holly “was the first and last person I ever really idolized as a kid.” FB Holly was, in fact, McLean’s inspiration for taking up the guitar in the first place. TB McLean learned of the tragedy while folding newspapers for his paper route. WK McLean lamented that by 1964 Holly had been largely forgotten, but as McLean said, “I didn’t forget him.” TB In fact, he acknowledged that in writing the song’s first verse, he “exorcised his long-running grief over Holly’s death.” WK The song expresses a general theme about the death of idealism in the 1960s, BBC but its lyrics maintained enough ambiguity to inspire radio stations to devote entire shows to analyzing “American Pie.” HL It has been amusingly suggested that one could “obtain a doctorate by writing on its hidden meaning.” HL McLean has done little to help in the interpretations, saying merely that it was an “attempt at an epic song about America and I used the imagery of music and politics to do that.” KN “American Pie” was an epic in more than just theme; its nearly eight-and-a-half minute running time meant that the song was split into two parts to fit on the 45 RPM single format of the day. Initially, some stations played only the first side, but as the song grew in popularity, stations succumbed to playing it in its entirety. WK Resources: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Don McLean BBC BBC Radio 2 (2004). “Sold on Song Top 100” FB Fred Bronson (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 305. HL Michael Heatley and Spencer Leigh. (1998). Behind the Song: The Stories of 100 Great Pop & Rock Classics. London, England: Blandford Books. Page 62. KN Steve Knight (2007). The Top 25 Rock Songs of All-Time are… TB Thunder Bay Press (2006). Singles: Six Decades of Hot Hits & Classic Cuts. Outline Press Ltd.: San Diego, CA. Page 132. WK Wikipedia First posted 1/5/2012; last updated 11/26/2022.