Songs Possibly Recorded a Bit Late.

[Affair on Touhy Ave.]

I know the title of this posts sounds a bit odd but here's what I mean.

Don Mcleans American Pie.

According to a website of his the album wich was his 2nd was released in 1971 and considering the song was about the 1959 plane crash that Killed B. Holly, R. Vallens and JP Richardson, I wonder if he might of written it 2 years earlier? (1969) which at that point would of marked the 10th aniversary of the inncident. Mclean was in his mid 20s when the 1st 2 LP's were released so he was probably working the club circut for a few years.

I don't know the exact title of this Doors song which was off their 69 Soft Parade LP but it was kind of a tribute to Otis Redding, Starts out like " Poor Otis dead and gone left me here to sing his song." Since Otis' helecopter crash was in late 1967 it's interesting that the song wasn't on their 1968 LP.

[Cathy]

Don's first performance of American Pie was at Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs, NY.

I'm not sure when he wrote it. Evidently, the event was etched into his memory.

I think it's more about his feelings on that day than it is a tribute to the people who died.

It's a great song though. I remember I used to play on the guitar when I was a teenager, although at the time, I didn't have a clue what the song was about.

[RM]

Originally posted by Cathy:

It's a great song though. I remember I used to play on the guitar when I was a teenager, although at the time, I didn't have a clue what the song was about. Does anyone remember any of the "theories" that were being cast about in those days about the subject of the song "American Pie" ? I seem to recall names like Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King.

RMD

[Affair on Touhy Ave.]

Originally posted by Affair on Touhy Ave.:
I know the title of this posts sounds a bit odd but here's what I mean.

Don Mcleans American Pie.

According to a website of his the album wich was his 2nd was released in 1971 and considering the song was about the 1959 plane crash that Killed B. Holly, R. Vallens and JP Richardson, I wonder if he might of written it 2 years earlier? (1969) which at that point would of marked the 10th aniversary of the inncident. Mclean was in his mid 20s when the 1st 2 LP's were released so he was probably working the club circut for a few years.

I don't know the exact title of this Doors song which was off their 69 Soft Parade LP but it was kind of a tribute to Otis Redding, Starts out like " Poor Otis dead and gone left me here to sing his song." Since Otis' helecopter crash was in late 1967 it's interesting that the song wasn't on their 1968 LP. I explained it.

[RM]

Originally posted by Affair on Touhy Ave.:
quote:Originally posted by Affair on Touhy Ave.:
I explained it. [/QUOTE]I'm not sure if I'm talking to the wind here or not. The recent rash of deleted posts makes one wonder.

If you were referring to my post, I'll try to do a better job of posing my question. It's old news what the song is about. I was wondering about the speculations that were rambling about....before the truth was known.

RMD

[ August 27, 2006, 22:56: Message edited by: RMD ]

[Affair on Touhy Ave.]

Oh I see. Sorry for my misunderstanding.

[joveski]

the Doors song is "runnin blue"... great tune

[charlene]

Originally posted by RMD:
The recent rash of deleted posts makes one wonder.
RMD [/QB]yes, it's making me queasy trying to keep up.
;)

[Borderstone]

All you have to do is point to the line in the song,"Now for 10 years,we've been on our own". Which would be 10 years after the demise of Holly,Valens & J.P. Richardson (Big Bopper).

Y'know (off topic here) I don't care how much money they'd offer,you could never get me to call myself The Big Bopper! :D LOL!

[Shutup and Deal, I'm Losin']

What is the song about? Is it about a band that got killed? If so, how did they die? (Plane crash, train crash, etc.) :confused:

Good song, though; I heard Madonna's version of it.

[Borderstone]

Well Fading Away,first of all,Madonna's version is the pits! tongue.gif A dance version?!! Ugh! :mad:

Only version worse than that (no kiddng) is The Brady Kids! :eek:

The song itself is about 2 things really.

One is the untimley "passing" of 1950s "rocker" Buddy Holly ("That'll Be The Day","Peggy Sue") in a Feb. 1959 plane crash that also claimed the life of Richie Valens ("La Bamba","Donna")and the Big Bopper ("Chantilly Lace","Big Bopper's Wedding" ). The plane went down in a winter storm. I believe it landed in a farmer's field.

A young Waylon Jennings was to have also been on that plane but he lost the coin flip and ended up in the frezzing cold tour bus,that had no heat.

Watch the movie,"The Buddy Holly Story" (1978) with a then "saner" Gary Busey as Holly,he's awesome in it! Also,"La bamba" (1987) with Lou Diamond Phillips as Valens. he's good too altough I don't think he really looks enough like him.

The second thing the song is about is Don MacLean's generation (1950's teens like my mom and dad)and their loss of innocence when not just this incient occourd but more so later when President Kennedy was killed on Nov. 22,1963. (Two days after my parents got married!)

Other things mentioned deal with howthe American landscape changed in the face of hippies,the vietnam war,civil rights marches and the violence of the era in general. As well as the music scene,I can only guess "jack flash sat on a canle stick" is a reference to The Rolling Stones or The Doors maybe. I take it he wasn't crazy about the music scene at the time.

All that is why the song is 8 mins. +. The ending is a statement of his own feelings about the state of America in the late 60s & early 70s. America was no longer "innocent" but then again,was it "really" ever?

It was a big #1 hit in January of 1972. I have the CD,it's all great.

[Cathy]

Boy, you are a young 'un, Borderstone.
I remember when JFK got shot. I was sitting a second grade classroom, waiting for the bus to pick me up after school. The bus driver knocked on the window and told Mrs. Jackson about Kennedy, and then she explained it to us. I remember going home and telling Mom that President Kennedy had been shot. Mom turned on the old black & white TV, and we watched the news coverage until late that night.

[Affair on Touhy Ave.]

I've been wondering this for a number of years, was It's Too Late by Carrol King about her and Jerry Goffins Devorce? Which I understand happened in 1967 4 years before the Tapistry LP was released.