Buddy Holly:Rave On - BBC 4

I was only 14 when Buddy Holly died in that plane crash in February 1959, and in those days our access to popular music was almost zero. So although this momentous event passed me by, he became, and still is, one of my favourite recording artists. The contributors on this superb programme on BBC 4 ( Don McLean, PaulAnka, Brian May, Hank Marvin, Dion, Robert Wyatt, Duane Eddy, Jerry Allisson (Buddy's drummer), Don Everly, Larry Holley and Bob Harris) all feel the same.

After a section on Buddy's early life as a talented musician, his first recording session at Decca was described as an unhappy experience. This was to change when he arrived at Norman Petty's studio in Clovis, New Mexico. There he recorded That'll Be The Day with some other other songs. This became the first No 1 for The Crickets in both the USA and UK in 1957. Brian May shows his box of the first 45 rpm records he bought. First up was Rock Island Line and seventh was That'll Be The Day. He plays the record and describes the innovative electric guitar playing that Buddy brought to this song. His guitar solo in the middle is still awesome today. (Paul McCartney said elsewhere that in their early days, they couldn't work out how to play Buddy's guitar intro).

Next up Peggy Sue and more innovation, this time with drums, with that consistent beat that never falters. Brain May explains that this time the guitar solo is basically all chords, even more staggering than the previous record. On Everyday the percussion is just the slapping of the knees, then on Not Fade Away it's just a box. Brian, again, loves the intro harmony on Maybe Baby. 

Next came a piece about the tours, and even that visit to the UK in March 1958 with nineteen consecutive dates. Then his influence on The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Elton John before we reach his marriage to Maria Santiago. His music changes to orchestrated ballads during 1958 like Words of Love, It Doesn't Matter Any More. It's Raining in My Heart and True Love Ways.

By the end of the year Buddy split with Norman Petty who he believed was withholding money and, being so short of funds, took to touring again, culminating in that fateful plane crash just after take off on 3rd February 1959. Aged 22 and only eighteen months from when he had that first hit. As many said, who knows what he would have done if he had lived longer.

We might not be able to understand much on Don McLean's American Pie, but now we know what the first part is all about:

A long long time ago
I can still remember how
That music used to make me smile
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And maybe they'd be happy for a while

But February made me shiver
With every paper I'd deliver
Bad news on the doorstep
I couldn't take one more step

I can't remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride
Something touched me deep inside
The day the music died.

Don explains he was a paper boy when the crash happened and read about it on "every paper I'd deliver". The programme was a fitting tribute to that day 60 years ago this month.

Brian May with his prized copy of That'll Be The Day.