Korean Job Discussion Forums

[regicide]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsZFiMo8TIc

Viewer writes: Well done and even reading about the Upstate NY thing makes sense (I grew up only about an hour 15 NW of NYC but I know Rye). I remember listening to this song at the age of 12 in Sugar Loaf, NY and knowing it all had meaning but not what any of that meaning exactly was. Now I do.

[stumptown]

[regicide]

[wylies99]

The plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and The Big Bopper was a VERY BIG DEAL in a more innocent time.

[Mashimaro]

Buddy Holly is awesome

[Ya-ta Boy]

Buddy Holly was terrific. There is a movie, The Buddy Holly Story, starring Gary Busey, that came out years ago. Well worth a watch. For people who aren't familiar with his music, it will be a surprise how many really nice tunes he did. Linda Ronstadt did several nice cover versions, as well.

When 'American Pie' came out, there were newspaper stories (and not just in Rolling Stone) about the references.

Thanks for the bit of nostalgia. I've been humming the song all afternoon.

[Rteacher]

The Wikipedia article on American Pie really delves into detail ...

I think it was Dylan who told McClean "you were robbed..." when Pie didn't win the Grammy for "Record of the Year" ...

Here's an interesting tidbit about that from the Wiki article:

Singer Lori Lieberman attended a McLean concert; in describing the experience to songwriters Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox, she said he'd "killed her softly." Gimbel and Fox wrote Killing Me Softly about Lieberman's experience, and the song became a huge hit for Roberta Flack, and many years later for the Fugees. This created a unique Grammy situation: in 1973, Flack won Record of the Year, beating out American Pie, a song by McLean; in 1974, she won the same award for a song about McLean. Flack and McLean have performed Killing Me Softly together in concert at least once...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Pie_(song)

[hogwonguy1979]

shoot i remember when it was a hit and knew all the symbolism of it. you had to if you grew up in the 70's.

also trivia pursuits baby boomer edition had like 400 questions about the song

brings back some good memories of college listening to that song at parties

[wylies99]

[stevemcgarrett]

regicide:

If you never post another thread, this single contribution will suffice. Great link and the musical montage is wonderful.

One can make too much of symbolism, of course. I suspect as McLean wrote this song his mind was itself racing with images of the times.

It's critical to remember that he wrote it in 1971 when the Beatles had disbanded, when rock music was a delicious but deep funk, and when Vietnam seemed to have no end.

Not to gloat, but I came to a realization of all those symbols many years ago on my own. Anyone who either lived through it or studied it should be able to claim the same.

In essence, it's a song about the loss of innocence in America. The part about his lovely young wife and the thought of her receiving the news always breaks me up.

That whole album is superb. I especially like the love songs on it. Nothing close to this being produced today because, well you see, you have to retain some innocence of thought to compose such stuff and there's too much reveling in cynicism nowadays. Which, by the way, is one thing I like about China and even Korea--the ability to retain innocence through childhood, which we've almost lost in America and the West in general. I really feel for the parents who struggle to raise their kids like Buddy Holly in today's sordid world.

This thread helps me to see you in a new light, regicide. I had dismissed you as a cynical conspiracy monger. Now I see that you're a conspiracy monger with a residue of sentimentality.

But please don't get on that Camelot kick. JFK was too much of a player to be compared in the same breath with Buddy Holly.

[Ya-ta Boy]

For those who like Buddy Holly's music, you are almost certain to like Roy Orbison's. I stumbled across a DVD of a live concert of his down in Busan, called "Black & White Night" that is a killer.

Roy does all the singing, and his back-up band is awesome: Jackson Browne, T Bone Burnett, Elvis Costello, kd lang, Bonnie Raitt, JD Souther, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits and Jennifer Warnes.

17 tracks, including Only the Lonely, Dream Baby, Blue Bayou, The Comedians, In Dreams, Crying, Mean Woman Blues, Dream You, It's Over and Oh, Pretty Woman. All in all, not a bad legacy to leave.

[Mashimaro]

[Rteacher]

Since we've gotten to Roy Orbison on this thread, we might as well revisit the Travelling Willbury's as an historic grouping of music legends ...

Despite a couple annoying technical problems, I think this video is worth seeing ...
http://www.veoh.com/videos/v368283fXfKNcHm

When Tom Petty told Orbison that he was "probably the greatest singer of all time", Roy replied, "probably"...
http://www.wilburys.info/quotes.html

And this one featuring Dylan singing "My Back Pages" along with Harrison, Eric Clapton, Willie Nelson, Steven Tyler, Neil Young, Roger McGuinn (and even Stevie Wonder ...) is really classic:
http://www.veoh.com/videos/e146110KXgx6XSQ&source=similarVideo

[stevemcgarrett]

I was re-introduced to Roy Orbison in 1975 after hearing one line from Bruce Springsteen in "Thunder Road" from Born to Run:

"Roy Orbison singing for the lonely. Hey, that's me and I want you only."

I don't find a lot of soul in today's rock. Maybe the singers haven't had to work very hard for it. Where are the great songwriters today?

Another haunting voice from farther back than Roy was Phil Ochs.

[regicide]