Tag: Dion

The Day the Music Died & American Pie

Watch a video filled with images explaining possible references in Don McLean’s song “American Pie.”

day the music died buddy holly book On this date of February 3 in 1959, a small plane crashed in a cornfield near Clear Lake, Iowa, killing the pilot Roger Peterson along with his famous passengers: Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper. The three were on “The Winter Dance Party” tour throughout the Midwest, a tour that also included Dion and a young bass player named Waylon Jennings. The tour traveled by bus, but for the trip to Moorhead, Minnesota, the three performers chartered a plane.

In the future, Chimesfreedom plans to revisit more of the story, but for today check out this cool video that someone put together for Don McLean‘s song, “American Pie.” The song is celebrating its fortieth anniversary, as around this time in 1972 following the song’s release a few months earlier on Nov. 27, 1971, the song had climbed the charts so you could not turn on the radio without hearing “American Pie.”

Through the years, McLean has been notoriously vague about specific meanings of the imagery in the song, but it is widely accepted that the opening and refrain of the song centers on his memories of hearing about the death of the three singers in the plane crash. In his memory, he wondered what would happen to rock and roll after such a great loss, which led to an era of Pat Boone and Fabian songs.

Of course, now we know, unfortunately, that rock an roll has survived many such losses since then, but these were the early days. Anyway, the video does a good job of explaining some of the imagery, and even if it is not 100% correct about the images, it provides an interesting interpretation to much of the song. Check it out.

What do you think “American Pie” means? What is your favorite song by Buddy Holly or the others? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Pop Culture Roundup (9 Jan. 2012 Edition)

    Kathleen Edwards In case you have been deep in the NFL playoffs or if you live in Iowa or New Hampshire and have been too busy listening to presidential candidates, here is this week’s roundup of some of the stories about music, film, and pop culture that you might have missed.

    — Music —

    Patti Smith has written a song about Amy Winehouse and will include the tune on her next CD.

    Cee Lo Green manaaged to anger religious leaders, atheists, and John Lennon fans with a New Year’s “Imagine” lyrics change. He later explained why he changed the lyrics.

    Jump! Van Halen — including David Lee Roth — played a small club this week to warm up for their upcoming tour.

    Rodney Crowell’s website has three live acoustic songs for free download. Nice.

    Kathleen Edwards’s new CD, released later this month, was co-produced by Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) w/ guest artists.

    For the first time ever, in 2011, digital sales of music topped the physical sale of music.

    Grammy-winning musician Youssou N’Dour will run in Senegal’s presidential election next month.

    Charlie Louvin’s new memoir recounts Oasis-type disharmony with his brother when the Louvin Brothers toured.

    Terry Ardolino, the drummer with NRBQ from 1974-2004, passed away at the age of 56. RIP.

    Freddie Milano, one of the Belmonts who sang with Dion on a number of classic rock and roll songs, passed away this week. After Dion left the original Belmonts behind (and a falling out and litigation followed), Milano continued to sing with the group while pursing his education. When he passed away he was working with the less fortunate, helping indigent people detained at Rikers Island jail in New York City. After Milano’s death was announced, Dion wrote a short tribute on his Facebook page, stating how Milano played an important role in his younger life: “We had our ups and downs through the years but that’s how things go in families, even rock-and-roll families. I will always remain grateful for his contribution in 1958 & 59 – may he rest in peace and rock on in heaven.” Milano was known for his great harmonies in the group on such songs as “I Wonder Why.”  RIP.

    You may also hear and see Milano (on your right) in this performance of “A Teenager in Love.”


    — Movies —

    This year in movies “might just be the geekiest ever.” — IMDb editor Keith Simanton.

    A Bridesmaids Sequel Without Kristen Wiig?

    Bridesmaids Kristen Wiig The Chicago Tribune listed 10 films to see this winter from Michael Phillips.

    The Tree of Life originally included a planned Adam and Eve sequence.

    War Horse actor Benedict Cumberbatch has signed on to be in the Star Trek sequel, perhaps as a villain.

    Red Tails — an action film produced by George Lucas about WWII African-American Tuskegee Airmen — is out Jan. 20.


    — Television —

    Betty White has a new hidden-camera TV show of seniors pulling pranks.

    Donald Trump     announced his biggest Celebrity Apprentice cast ever.

    What happened to Ted Williams, the “man with the golden voice” who was found homeless last year? (video)

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    Dion Has the Blues

    Dion Bronx in Blue Dion Dimucci has made some wonderful music since the dawn of the rock and roll era. His song “Runaround Sue” is one of my favorite all-time songs, and I love other songs he made with the Belmonts and solo.

    For a long time through the late 1980s and 1990s, though, I assumed he was not around anymore because I had not heard anything about him since those days. And then one night at a Bruce Springsteen concert, Springsteen told how he reworked his own “If I Fall Behind” from his Tunnel of Love album after hearing Dion cover it. It is a beautiful song that Springsteen has played in a variety of ways, including an excellent Irish music version with the Seeger Session band. But his Dion doo wop version of “If I Fall Behind” was a revelation because it made me realize Dion was still around. Being a Springsteen fan and loving old Dion music, I had to track down Dion’s recording, which Dion later put on the album Deja Nu (2000). I liked the album a lot, and I’ve been keeping up with Dion’s new releases ever since.

    Some of his most amazing recent work is on two blues CD’s of classic covers with a few originals: Bronx in Blue (2006) and Son of Skip James (2007). I bought the first one because I had read good reviews of it and saw it on sale at a store. It might first seem odd that Dion is singing blues songs, but he grew up listening to blues music in the Bronx. The albums are excellent. There are not videos for most of the songs, but I did find this one of “Worried Blues”:

    Below is Dion’s take on Howlin’ Wolf’s “Built for Comfort,” which appears on Bronx in Blue:

    His third blues CD, Tank Full of Blues, is due out January 24. This week Rolling Stone premiered one of the songs off the CD, “I Read It (in the Rolling Stone).” Finally, one other thing I love about Dion is that he seems to write his own updates on his Facebook page. And he still writes using 1950s slang. The cat is cool. Give him a “Like.” For crying out loud, he is a legend and has been making music for seven decades. You can at least press a button for the guy.

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    Is That All There Is?: Jerry Leiber, Rest in Peace

    Leiber and Stoller Hound Dog On August 22, 2011, Jerry Leiber, part of the great song-writing team with Mike Stoller, passed away at the age of 78 from cardiopulmonary failure.

    Leiber’s impact on your life may be best summarized by this list of songs he co-wrote, mostly writing the lyrics while Stoller handled the music: Big Mama Thornton and Elvis Presley’s “Hound Dog,” Elvis’s “Jailhouse Rock,” Dion’s “Ruby Baby,” The Drifters’ “There Goes My Baby,” The Coasters’ “Yakety Yak,” The Searchers’ “Love Potion No. 9,” Peggy Lee’s “Is That All There Is?,” Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me” (written w/ Ben E. King and also recorded by John Lennon), Ben E. King’s “Spanish Harlem” (Leiber and Phil Spector), George Benson’s “On Broadway,” and Stealers Wheel’s “Stuck in the Middle With You.”

    Take away Leiber’s work and you have to imagine Elvis without “Jailhouse Rock,” or the movie Stand By Me without the song — or Reservoir Dogs without “Stuck in the Middle With You” (not for the faint of heart).

    Although many may not recognize the name, the above songs and others will be there for generations. Rolling Stone has a nice article about Leiber’s career.  A career that included forming a partnership with Stoller that put them in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.

    Rest in peace Mr. Leiber, and thanks for the songs, including this advice from “Is That All There Is?”:

    For I know just as well as I’m standing here talking to you,
    When that final moment comes and I’m breathing my last breath, I’ll be saying to myself,

    Is that all there is, is that all there is?
    If that’s all there is my friends, then let’s keep dancing;
    Let’s break out the booze and have a ball,
    If that’s all there is.

    UPDATE (Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2011): After the above story was posted, we learned that we lost another great songwriter. Nick Ashford died of cancer at the age of 69. Like Jerry Leiber, Ashford was famous for writing great songs with a partner, Valerie Simpson, who eventually became Ashford’s wife too. Their songs included Diana Ross’s “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and “Reach Out and Touch,” Ray Charles’s “Let’s Go Get Stoned” and “I Don’t Need No Doctor” (covered here by John Mayer and John Scofield), Chaka Khan’s “I’m Every Woman” (covered by Whitney Houston too), and one of my favorites, the Marvelette’s “Destination Anywhere,” which was featured in the movie The Commitments. Ashford & Simpson had success as performers too, including a hit with a song that has a title that described Ashford’s songwriting talent: “Solid (as a Rock).”

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    Tom Waits’s “San Diego Serenade”

    I recently purchased a copy of Dion’s Yo Frankie CD.  The album featured an excellent cover of Tom Waits’s “San Diego Serenade,” although Dion renamed the song “Serenade.” I love the Tom Waits version, which is hard to top, but Dion does a great job.

    Tom Waits Heart of Saturday Night “San Diego Serenade” originally appeared on The Heart Of Saturday Night (1974), which was the second album by Tom Waits. Waits is one of the great songwriters of his generation. I am not sure why more artists do not cover his songs, but it might be because Waits’s vocal style is so distinctive and memorable.

    In addition to Dion, Nancy Griffith also covered “San Diego Serenade” on Late Night Grande Hotel (1991).  But there are not as many covers of the beautiful song as one might expect. Nothing matches the original recording by Waits of this song about regret and about recognizing what you have lost only when it is too late.

    I never saw the morning ’til I stayed up all night;
    I never saw the sunshine ’til you turned out the light;
    I never saw my hometown until I stayed away too long;
    I never heard the melody, until I needed a song.

    The Voice of Tom Waits

    In later live versions, you hear a change in Waits’s voice, as later albums embraced a raspy gravely vocal sound. There are various theories arguing that the change was a choice, that it was due to a change or damage to his vocal cords, or that it was caused by cigarettes, alcohol and/or drugs.

    Waits briefly discussed his voice in this interview on NPR (starting around the 7:45 mark), but he does not clearly answer the question. The live version below was recorded in December 1975, which is less than two years from the release of the original above.  But you can already hear a big difference in his voice. Still, the interpretation is beautiful.

    A Nice Cover Version

    I looked through a number of other covers and amateur recordings. One usually finds interesting amateur recordings of songs on YouTube.  But there may be something about the emotion and voice needed for this song.  It is difficult to find any worthwhile versions of “San Diego Serenade.”

    A band called The Sensitives created one of the best covers of the song.  I had never heard of the band, and from their MySpace page, they are from Australia. Or were. They have not updated their MySpace page in more than two years.

    Since no label apparently singed The Sensitives, and there are some rough signs in this video — like the use of a music stand, I suspect they are no longer performing. But the lead singer has an excellent voice.  He is one of the rare singers who capture the meaning of the song in his performance. Whoever you are, dude, I hope you are still singing somewhere, just as I hope Tom Waits keeps writing and singing these beautiful songs.



    What do you think of “San Diego Serenade”? What do you think of the cover by The Sensitives? Leave a comment.

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