Saturday, June 7, 2014

Buddy Holly/Downeaster post-script…..

                          

You’re probably still dealing with the frivolities of yesterday’s post, so forgive us for coming to you with more on the subject so soon.  You’ll just have to learn how to handle it; you’ll be a better person for it.

First, as to NNEPRA’s sponsorship of MSMT, it looks like they rank higher on the ladder than we might have first thought.

On page 44 of the Buddy Holly program, you’ll find a portrayal of the major sponsors.  First, Highlands/Highland Green as the “Season/Website” sponsors.  Then Androscoggin Bank and Five County Credit Union as the “Curtain Raiser and Intern” sponsors respectively.

Followed immediately by the “Transportation Sponsor” – the Downeaster.  Below that level are sponsors of the individual shows; at least that’s how we read it.

So we see NNEPRA’s place in the zoo as near the top, just where you might expect an outfit with their kind of operating losses to be.

On another note, we were reminded of the Don McLean song “American Pie” as we looked into Buddy Holly history after seeing the show.  We’ve always liked the song a lot, but found it to be a puzzle of major proportions.  Now that the show was fresh in our minds, and we’d done a bit of reading, we understood more of the lyrics, if not all by any stretch. 

We listened to the song today and appreciated the creativity, and the memories of our teen-aged years, ‘a long, long time ago.’

Shown below are the lyrics we found here: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/donmclean/americanpie.html

You can find any number of performances of the song on YouTube; we suggest you do if you’ve already seen the show or will be

"American Pie"

[Intro]
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
But something touched me deep inside
The day the music died


[Chorus]
So bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
And them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
Singin' "This'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die"

[Verse 1]
Did you write the book of love
And do you have faith in God above
If the Bible tells you so?
Now do you believe in rock and roll
Can music save your mortal soul
And can you teach me how to dance real slow?
Well, I know that you're in love with him
'Cause I saw you dancin' in the gym
You both kicked off your shoes
Man, I dig those rhythm and blues
I was a lonely teenage broncin' buck
With a pink carnation and a pickup truck
But I knew I was out of luck
The day the music died

[Chorus]
I started singin' bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
Them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
Singin' "This'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die"

[Verse 2]
Now for ten years we've been on our own
And moss grows fat on a rollin' stone
But that's not how it used to be
When the jester sang for the king and queen
In a coat he borrowed from James Dean
And a voice that came from you and me
Oh, and while the king was looking down
The jester stole his thorny crown
The courtroom was adjourned
No verdict was returned
And while Lenin read a book on Marx
A quartet practiced in the park
And we sang dirges in the dark
The day the music died

[Chorus]
We were singin' bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
Them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
Singin' "This'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die"

[Verse 3]
Helter skelter in a summer swelter
The birds flew off with a fallout shelter
Eight miles high and falling fast
It landed foul on the grass
The players tried for a forward pass
With the jester on the sidelines in a cast
Now the halftime air was sweet perfume
While the sergeants played a marching tune
We all got up to dance
Oh, but we never got the chance
'Cause the players tried to take the field
The marching band refused to yield
Do you recall what was revealed
The day the music died?

[Chorus]
We started singin' bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
Them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
And singin' "This'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die"

[Verse 4]
Oh, and there we were all in one place
A generation lost in space
With no time left to start again
So come on, Jack be nimble, Jack be quick
Jack Flash sat on a candlestick
'Cause fire is the devil's only friend
Oh, and as I watched him on the stage
My hands were clenched in fists of rage
No angel born in Hell
Could break that Satan's spell
And as the flames climbed high into the night
To light the sacrificial rite
I saw Satan laughing with delight
The day the music died

He was singin' bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
Them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
And singin' "This'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die"

[Outro]
I met a girl who sang the blues
And I asked her for some happy news
But she just smiled and turned away
I went down to the sacred store
Where I'd heard the music years before
But the man there said the music wouldn't play
And in the streets, the children screamed
The lovers cried and the poets dreamed
But not a word was spoken
The church bells all were broken
And the three men I admire most
The Father, Son and the Holy Ghost
They caught the last train for the coast
The day the music died

And they were singin' bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
And them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
Singin' "This'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die"

[Chorus]
They were singin' bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
Them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
And singin' "This'll be the day that I die"

Just reading it and taking it all in is a challenge.  It’s like a half dozen songs rolled into one.

A brilliant work.  Hearing it play as we exited the theater would have been a stunning touch, but we’re guessing that gets into intellectual property issues that were never able to be resolved.

At the creative level, it would have been a magnificent move.  Too bad it didn’t happen.

But if you play the song before you go, you’ll hear it in your mind on the way out.

                                  

You can trust us on this; we’re not like all the others.

No comments:

Post a Comment