Only Twenty-Two
By David Glenn Cox
The chances that you will ever be mentioned in an encyclopedia are about one in four hundred thousand. The chances that you will change the world in any way, shape, fashion or form are one in a million. The chances that you will have a hit record before your twenty-first birthday are incalculable, so what are the chances that you will have twenty hit records before your twenty-third birthday?
There are those who are the fountainhead; no matter what age or generation you are from, your life has been affected by the work of a skinny boy from Texas named Charles Hardin Holley, better known as Buddy. While Elvis was channeling black rhythm and blues, this lanky kid from West Texas was creating a synergy, mixing black rhythm and blues with white country and gospel creating what at the time was called rockabilly, but which became better known as rock and roll. Rockabilly, hillbilly (country) and rock n' roll.
So impressed were the teenagers of the era that John Lennon’s second band was named the Silver Beatles in homage to Buddy Holly and the Crickets, later shortened to the Beatles. But there were many others, the Turtles, the Hollies, his influence is everywhere because Buddy was eclectic; he could rock out on “Peggy Sue” or “Oh Boy" or he could play with an orchestra on “True Love Ways.”
At twenty-two years of age, Buddy was a musical genius. His 1957 version of "Slippin' and Slidin'" would still bring the house down today; it hasn’t aged a bit after fifty-three years because it literally oozes with pure talent. Buddy had this wild-eyed idea that set the music business on its ear. He would write and produce and perform his own original material and perform it as he saw fit. At the time performers just performed and producers produced and never shall the twain meet. But in Buddy’s genius he could see the finished product and he refused to be muzzled or controlled because his music carried a free spirit.
Videos at the link
http://open.salon.com/blog/david_cox/2010/01/29/only_22
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