Say a prayer for Buddy Holly
(This is Buddy's song, so sing along)
Style new, an an-o-MA-ly
(Buddy now is gone, and so, we mourn)
Music brought us all together
(R & B, hill-bill-y, rock 'n roll)
Wish they'd flown in better weather...
(Blessings on his soul; such tragic toll)
Crashed on flight, Clear Lake to Fargo
(I-o-wa bound to... North DA-ko-ta )
Left a widow, Santiago [1]
("Widowed bride" Ma-ri...-a E-le-na)
Took poor Buddy, Ritchie, Bopper
(Holly, Va-.. Lenz-uel-a, Rich-ard-son) [2]
Sadly, single sure show-stopper
(Since his plane is down, show can't go on)
Known to Nassau, Nome, and Needles [3]
(Never been to Spain? To Needles, go)
"Crickets" 'spired name for "Beatles"
(John and Paul were fans, at UK show) [4]
Also, for Graham Nash's "Hollies"
(Envy: none; trib-ute done, 'eighty-one) [5]
Passing gave us melancholies
(See his image in... the setting sun)
Beatles' "Words of Love": they pick up [7]
(Quite de-lib-er-ate...-LY make mim-ic)
Holly's sound - the "vocal hiccup" [6]
(Term that critics gave... to his gim-mick)
Fade away, not! Stones saw to that
(Rolling Stones cover "Not.... Fade A-way") [8]
Other covers: Linda Ronstadt
("It's So Easy"; "That... 'LL Be The Day") [9] [10]
Fame forever through space hurtles
(Rave On, Peggy Sue, in True Love Ways) [11] [12] [13]
Influenced The Byrds, The Turtles
(Raining In My Heart, 'most Everyday) [14] [15]
And, among those Turtles, I ---
(Paradise (not for Fools): Buddy's rest) [16]
That'll be the day we di-ie!
(Matters evermore - we're all so bless'd!) [17]
That'll be the day that we all die!
[1] Holly's wife, nee Maria Elena Santiago, the "widowed bride" of "American Pie".
[2] Ritchie Valens' full last name was Valenzuela.
[3] Needles, California, in the desert east of Los Angeles, immortalized by Elvis Presley/Three Dog Night in "Never Been to Spain".
[4] Lennon and McCartney, as teens, were said to have been in the audience for Holly's 1958 UK tour, though other sources indicate that it was actually a friend of McCartney's and George Harrison's who was in the audience, met Holly, and introduced the three of them.
[5] "Buddy Holly", The Hollies, 1981
[6] The "vocal hiccup", as in: "Rave On": "Weh-UH-eh-UH-ell, the little things you say and do". The Beatles emulated this "gimmick" in their version of Holly's "Words Of Love". "vocal hiccup" info ©
Wikipedia, source of much of the information for this parody/tribute.
More information on Holly is at
the Official Buddy Holly website.
"American Pie" and "The day the music died" © 1971
Don McLean.
Buddy Holly songs referenced:
[7] "Words of Love" (1957)
[8] "Not Fade Away" (1957)
[9] "It's So Easy" (1958)
[10] "That'll Be the Day" (1957)
[11] "Rave On" (1958)
[12] "Peggy Sue" (1957)
[13] "True Love Ways" (1960)
[14] "Raining in My Heart" (1959)
[15] "Everyday" (1958)
[16] "Fool's Paradise" (1958)
[17] "It Doesn't Matter Anymore"(1959)
All ©
CMG Worldwide for the Estate of Buddy Holly.