The Song of the Day is:
The Big Bopper – “Chantilly Lace”
From the album Chantilly Lace (1958)
Chantilly lace and a pretty face
And a ponytail hangin’ down
A wiggle in her walk and a giggle in her talk
Make the world go ’round
Ain’t nothing in the world like a big-eyed girl
To make me act so funny, make me spend my money
Make me feel real loose like a long necked goose
Like a girl, oh baby, that’s a-what I like
J.P. Richardson
I seem to have accidentally stumbled into a little theme week of music from the 1950’s following the past three days of “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes“, “Pennsylvania Polka” and “Rock Around the Clock“. Why not keep it going? It did occur to me that yesterday marked the 62nd anniversary of the “Day the Music Died” (the colloquial term for the tragic plane crash that claimed the lives of first generation rockers Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Big Bopper in 1959). I have previously paid tribute to that solemn day on more than one occasion, though in those instances, I played the music of either Richie Valens, Buddy Holly or Don McLean’s “American Pie”, which takes inspiration from this tragedy. I’ve thus far neglected to pay respects to The Big Bopper. Perhaps that’s not fair of me, by most account the man born as Jiles Perry Richardson Jr. was a genial and charismatic man, but the general consensus is that he might not have amounted to a legendary artist. The company that accompanied him as he died in that plane crash elevated his status. He was an army veteran and Texas radio DJ who known for stunts such as breaking the record for hosting the longest continuous radio broadcast (over five days). He eventually realized his potential as a songwriter and performer in the late 1950’s with “Chantilly Lace” a top-ten novelty hit. The bouncy hit was instantly recognizable from the very onset with Richardson’s signature cat-call “Hellllooooo Baaaabbby!”. It might not high art, but this record is a lot of fun. The week after he died, another Richardson-written song was released, George Jones’s “White Lightning”, a classic ode to moonshine that Richardson rarely gets proper credit for. He was just 28 at the time of his death, which was much older than Holly, 22, and Valens, 17, but that was enough time for him to be survived by a wife, daughter and unborn son. A few years ago, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame introduced a singles category that paid tribute to some of the less frequent hitmakers in rock history. The institution bungled the category by letting Steven Van Zandt hold too much control over the selection and ignoring its own rules just one year after its unveiling. I always felt that this would be an ideal way to get Richardson recognized by the Hall the along with Valens and Holly. So far, “Chantilly Lace” has not been enshrined by the Hall in that capacity, but a lot of the shine has been taken off the Singles category due to its mishandling (for two out of three years, the category wasn’t even televised), so it might not even be worth the effort, sadly. It’s a shame that we never got to find out how deep his talent ran, I’m sure it was much further than he’s given credit for. Had he survived thus far, he’d have celebrated his 90th birthday this past autumn.
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Hear Today, Grown Tomorrow 