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Many of my Toledo area friends and former classmates may not be aware that for the past few decades, I have been a resident of Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
I mention this for a specific reason.
On January 26th, 1959, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper (J.P. Richardson) came to Eau Claire for a concert at the long-gone Fournier's Ballroom (now a parking lot at the county jail). This was big stuff for young rock & roll fans in a town of this size. (Now close to 70,000, the 1960 population was just under 38,000.)
There are still quite a few folks around here who attended that concert, and they all have stories to tell. Unfortunately, those stories have the same ending: 8 days later, On February 3rd, Buddy, Ritchie and The Bopper died in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa.
In the song, “American Pie” (which we highlighted back on 12/20/19) Don McLean called it “The Day The Music Died.” (Check out my post here): https://www.facebook.com/page/103016317838491/search/?q=american%20pie
Richie Valens and The Big Bopper were just getting started when tragedy struck, and no one will ever know what they might have contributed to the world of Rock & Roll had they survived.
The same goes for Buddy, but in his case, he left a large library of “Great Songs” that have been covered hundreds of times by a VERY long list of artists.
Most of them have been album cuts and many of them were excellent.
However, because this blog is about “Great Songs of the '70s,” I going to highlight a couple of covers that made Billboard's Top 15 during the decade—and both of them are by Linda Ronstadt!
In 1977, Linda took “It's So Easy” (A song that oddly DIDN'T chart for Buddy) to #5 on the Hot 100!
Linda was legendary for her ability to make “Great” covers, and she outdid herself with these two songs---making them “Great Songs of the '70s,” as well as the '50s!
Don McLean was a bit wrong in retrospect: Buddy Holly has been gone for 62 years...but his music has never died!
“That'll Be the Day”
Buddy:
Linda:
"It's So Easy”
Buddy:
Linda:
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