Latest posts by Devin McKinney (see all)
- What John Lennon Thinks of Donald Trump - November 14, 2016
- The Meaning of Fun: The Paul is Dead Rumor - February 3, 2016
- BEATLES-STREEP-SHEA SHOCKER: IT’S NOT HER!!!! - August 13, 2015
DEVIN McKINNEY • Greil Marcus sends a link to this rare footage from 1972: John Lennon playing “Rock Island Line,” with snatches of two Buddy Holly numbers, “Maybe Baby” and “Peggy Sue.” Yoko provides handclaps for the first number (in rhythm!) and vocal interjections for the latter. But mainly it’s just John’s voice and raunchy guitar reaching out in time, coming back with a feeling you can see in his face.
In return, I sent Marcus this photo I took on April 22, 2011, outside the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, where Buddy Holly played the night before his plane went down.
Great!
In other news, I am not done reading this interview with GM:
http://lareviewofbooks.org/article.php?type=&id=591&fulltext=1&media=
After over 30 years of researching the mystery that is the story of Buddy Holly, I learned that (like the story of John&Yoko) the official story is wrong.
The official story is: After some unsuccessful records in Nashville, Buddy falls under the influence of a genius producer who co-writes his hits. Buddy falls in love, marries and moves to Greenwich Village. His wife is pregnant at the time of his death.
In truth, Buddy’s producer took songwriting credit without writing a thing. Buddy wrote songs with his band, the way Lennon & Mac collaborated later. Buddy was the principal songwriter, and the others contributed lyrics here and there. Buddy was trying to get a divorce at the time of his last tour. His wife was not expecting a child.
– Hologram Sam