It doesn't matter any more?

Before the Beatles there were the Everly Brothers, the New York girl groups and ... Buddy Holly. Famously, when the Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, the first question John Lennon asked was, "Is this the stage Buddy Holly played on?". Growing up on Merseyside pre-Beatles (these were not to hit me until I was in London in my first employment), I took to Holly more than any of the other breaking acts from America and I was not alone. The monitors' room at Oldershaw Grammar was always a noisy place. The only time I can remember it being reduced to silence is when "Peggy Sue" started up on our radio. Bookending that memory is one from the summer of 1959 when I was scoring for the school cricket team and "It doesn't matter anymore", his posthumous hit started playing at the same time as my mate Graham went out to bat. After four 4s his innings came to an end and the record finished. Both lasted just over 2 minutes. Holly's tracks were always short, but intense.

The deaths of Holly, "Big Bopper" Richardson and Richie Valens 60 years ago today were personal tragedies. They were also needless. It is ironic that we are remembering the plane crash at Clear Lake, Iowa, a week after another hastily-arranged plane hire came to a bad end in poor weather. Holly's death was an even greater tragedy because he was still developing as a recording artist, experimenting with backing and different source material. He had written most of his previous hits (though his producer Norman Petty was wont to claim a co-authorship credit), but Paul Anka was responsible for "It doesn't matter anymore" and the Bryants the B-side, "Raining in my Heart". Who knows what he would have gone on to achieve? Even so, his influence was great.

It was also symbolic. As Don McLean has said, although the news of the 1959 crash triggered the writing of  "American Pie", the message of his classic hit is not merely mourning the loss of three musicians but also of American innocence.