美国国家公共电台 NPR Buddy Holly's Classmates Remember The Pioneer 60 Years After 'The Day The Music Died'

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

One of the favorite sons of Lubbock, Texas, died 60 years ago today in a plane crash. Buddy¹ Holly² left an indelible mark on popular music and culture. Today in Lubbock, you can find plenty of homages to the rock 'n' roll icon³. But it wasn't always that way, as Betsy Blaney of Texas Tech Public Media reports.

BETSY BLANEY, BYLINE⁴: In the early 1950s, Lubbock High student Betty Dotts was into music - classical piano. She sang with Buddy Holly in the school choir⁵ and knew he had grander ambitions.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BABY IT'S LOVE")

BLANEY: She was skeptical⁶.

BETTY DOTTS: When I heard him play, I thought, oh, my goodness, that's not very good music (laughter).

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BABY IT'S LOVE")

BUDDY HOLLY: (Singing) Sixty seconds of heavenly bliss⁷, one minute of your sweet kiss, then my heart was all a mess. It's love, baby, it's love.

BLANEY: George Nelson, another Lubbock High choir member, felt differently. Today he's an attorney. But in his teen years, Nelson also enjoyed songwriting.

GEORGE NELSON: Never had anywhere near the talent that Buddy had. He was just innately⁸ endowed with it. And he could play.

(SOUNDBITE OF BUDDY HOLLY SONG, "BABY IT'S LOVE")

BLANEY: In 1953, he and Holly faced off in a song contest. Nelson's tune⁹ "Someday You'll Pay" won.

NELSON: The only thing that I’ve got in my life that I can brag¹⁰ about musically (laughter).

BLANEY: At the time, rock 'n' roll was starting to shake up the nation. But Holly wasn't there yet.

LARRY BYERS: He sang strictly¹¹ country music back then - country-western music...

BLANEY: That's Larry Byers, a former DJ in Lubbock. He heard Holly's early performances live on local radio and at venues¹² around town.

BYERS: ...Until he saw Elvis Presley and decided¹³ that maybe he ought to change his style a little bit.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LOVE ME")

HOLLY: (Singing) Well, if you love me honey, will you let me know? If you really love me then never let me go. Oh, love me, love me, love me. Well, I'm hoping you do.

BLANEY: Rock 'n' roll got an especially cold reception in Lubbock. George Nelson remembers preachers regularly smashing vinyl records or using cars to crush them.

NELSON: The real ultra-conservative people thought young people were going to hell in a handbasket.

BLANEY: Local teenagers who wanted to listen to rock 'n' roll would circle their cars out in cotton fields, blast the radio and dance.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LOVE ME")

HOLLY: (Singing) Oh, let's go now, man, go.

BLANEY: After high school, Holly threw himself into pursuing a music career. But his success was cut short in 1959. Holly was just 22 when he was killed in a plane crash in Iowa along with two other up-and-coming musicians, Ritchie Valens and JP The Big Bopper Richardson. Holly's old classmate Betty Dotts says his hometown was slow to realize who they'd lost.

DOTTS: Certainly put Lubbock on the map - places all around the world. And Lubbock, it took them a long time to finally step up and recognize because it's really outstanding what he did. That didn't happen every day.

BLANEY: It would be almost 20 years when the 1978 movie "The Buddy Holly Story" was released before the city came around. Today Holly has a park with a bronze statue of him and a street and a museum named after him. And the Crossroads of Music Archive at Texas Tech University houses the research of the late music historian Bill Griggs, who assembled a thorough accounting¹⁴ of Buddy Holly's life - every day of it.

CURTIS PEOPLES: May 31, 1956, Thursday - the John Wayne movie titled "The Searchers" opened at the State Theatre.

BLANEY: Curtis Peoples, an archivist, reads from "Buddy Holly: Day-By-Day."

PEOPLES: Buddy and Jerry Allison went to see it. The movie cost them 65 cents each. During the movie, John Wayne would mutter, that'll be the day, each time he was disgruntled about something.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE SEARCHERS")

JOHN WAYNE: (As Ethan) That'll be the day.

PEOPLES: Buddy and Jerry decided to write a song later that evening. By now you know what the title was.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THAT'LL BE THE DAY")

HOLLY: (Singing) Well, that'll be the day when you say goodbye. Yes, that'll be the day when you make me cry.

BLANEY: Lubbock is still making up for lost time. Construction is underway on the Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts and Sciences in the city's arts district. It's slated¹⁵ for completion next year - not a bad legacy¹⁶ for a guy whose classmates didn't think he'd amount to much musically. For NPR News, I'm Betsy Blaney in Lubbock, Texas.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THAT'LL BE THE DAY")

HOLLY: (Singing) That'll be the day when I die.

1 buddy   

n.（美口）密友，伙伴

参考例句：

• Calm down,buddy.What's the trouble?压压气，老兄。有什么麻烦吗？
• Get out of my way,buddy!别挡道了，你这家伙！

2 holly   

n.[植]冬青属灌木

参考例句：

• I recently acquired some wood from a holly tree.最近我从一棵冬青树上弄了些木料。
• People often decorate their houses with holly at Christmas.人们总是在圣诞节时用冬青来装饰房屋。

3 icon   

n.偶像，崇拜的对象，画像

参考例句：

• They found an icon in the monastery.他们在修道院中发现了一个圣像。
• Click on this icon to align or justify text.点击这个图标使文本排齐。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 choir   

n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱

参考例句：

• The choir sang the words out with great vigor.合唱团以极大的热情唱出了歌词。
• The church choir is singing tonight.今晚教堂歌唱队要唱诗。

6 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。

7 bliss   

n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福

参考例句：

• It's sheer bliss to be able to spend the day in bed.整天都可以躺在床上真是幸福。
• He's in bliss that he's won the Nobel Prize.他非常高兴，因为获得了诺贝尔奖金。

8 innately   

adv.天赋地；内在地，固有地

参考例句：

• Innately conservative, Confucius was fascinated by the last of these disciplines. 由于生性保守，孔子特别推崇“礼”。 来自英汉非文学 - 文明史
• Different individuals are innately fitted for different kinds of employment. 不同的人适合不同的职业，这是天生的。 来自互联网

9 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

10 brag   

v./n.吹牛，自夸；adj.第一流的

参考例句：

• He made brag of his skill.他夸耀自己技术高明。
• His wealth is his brag.他夸张他的财富。

11 strictly   

adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地

参考例句：

• His doctor is dieting him strictly.他的医生严格规定他的饮食。
• The guests were seated strictly in order of precedence.客人严格按照地位高低就座。

12 venues   

n.聚集地点( venue的名词复数 )；会场；（尤指）体育比赛场所；犯罪地点

参考例句：

• The band will be playing at 20 different venues on their UK tour. 这个乐队在英国巡回演出期间将在20个不同的地点演出。
• Farmers market corner, 800 meters long, 60 meters wide livestock trading venues. 农牧市场东北角，有长800米，宽60米的牲畜交易场地。 来自互联网

13 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

14 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

15 slated   

用石板瓦盖( slate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Yuki is working up an in-home phonics program slated for Thursdays, and I'm drilling her on English conversation at dinnertime. Yuki每周四还有一次家庭语音课。我在晚餐时训练她的英语口语。
• Bromfield was slated to become U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. 布罗姆菲尔德被提名为美国农业部长。

16 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。