February 3rd is known as the Day the Music Died. Coined famously by Don McLean in his song “American Pie,” it refers to three music legends who perished in a plane crash in 1959.
Gal’s Guide focuses on women of history, so you might think this odd, posting about Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper, and pilot Roger Peterson. So why would we shine a spotlight on them on February 3rd?
Do you know where the plane was heading after midnight on February 3? Moorhead, Minnesota. Which just so happens to be the new home of Gal’s Guide. So we thought we’d share a little history, as well as words of wisdom from our founder, Leah.
A Little History
Buddy Holly and his band were on a “Winter Dance Party” tour. On that tour with him were Richie Valens, the Big Bopper (J.P. Richardson), as well as Dion and the Belmonts. The tour was a bit grueling. It was cold, people got frostbite and the flu. When the tour bus was working, it was uncomfortable. The heater stopped working on February 1 between Duluth, MN, and Appleton, WI, when it was -40 degrees. So after performing in Clear Lake, Iowa, on February 2, at the Surf Ballroom, Buddy wanted to charter a plane to get to Moorhead, Minnesota, to allow for time to rest. In Moorhead, they had a show booked at The Armory on February 3. Moorhead is very close to Fargo, North Dakota, and so the plane was scheduled to land at Hector Airport in Fargo. The show was going to be broadcast on KFGO.
There was a twist of fate in who got the seats on the plane. Buddy chartered the plane for his band members, but the Big Popper got a seat because he had the flu, and Richie won the seat in a coin toss.
The plane took off at 12:55 am on February 3 from Iowa. It would be 9 am when the wreckage was spotted in a corn field less than six miles from the airport. No one survived.
One aspect of the story that isn’t commonly mentioned is what happened to the show in Moorhead? A 15-year-old kid named Bobby Vee stood in because, in a biography, it states “[he] knew all the words to all of the songs.” That had to be a lot for a young kid.
Don McLean was also a young kid when he read the news of the plane crash. He was a 13-year-old paperboy in New York. A few years later, he’d buy his first guitar. He would work on what became “America Pie” for a while before it was released in 1971. The eight-and-a-half-minute epic was about many things, but Don said it was about a loss of innocence.
Fun woman history fact – “American Pie” was the longest song to reach #1 for almost 50 years…until Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well (10 Minute Version)” broke that record in 2021. The song also mentions a loss of innocence.
Leah’s Personal Story
My husband, Josh, loves to find historical places for road trips. He has a myriad of Google map pins saved so that each time we’re on the road, we have interesting places to rest, learn, and grow. While driving to Moorhead, Minnesota, for our son to check out MSUM, we traveled through Iowa. We stopped at my 3rd Great-grandparents grave, and we stopped at the crash site where the music died. We played the song, we sang real loud, we paid our respects, and then we Googled some more. And that’s when we saw it, “[Buddy] Holly chose to charter a plane to reach their next venue in Moorhead, Minnesota.” We were heading to Moorhead, Minnesota. I can’t tell you exactly how we felt about it, but it was a mix of sad grief and connectedness. It’s weird to be connected to a place that wishes someone would have arrived safely, only to realize that if they did arrive safely, there wouldn’t be the song. To be clear, I’d choose a person’s life over a song.
“American Pie” is a song that Josh and I have sung with passionate verve since we first memorized the lyrics in our youth. It was a song that, if it came on the radio and you arrived at your destination, you stayed in the car until the song was done. It was a song that rightfully demanded your time. I remember the first time our kids heard “American Pie” because I was there. We were in the car – Josh and I singing – and the kids were amazed at how much of the lyrics we still knew of this “really long song.” Then came a day when the song was playing on the radio, we arrived at our destination, parked, and we just kept singing. The kids didn’t ask to get out of the car; they just vibed in the feelings of “American Pie.” Both my kids keep this tradition alive. We don’t get out of the car until the end of “American Pie” or “Purple Rain”. It’s always worth the wait. It’s as if there is a new lesson in the song each time you hear it.
So why share this when it’s not (on-brand) women’s history? Living in Moorhead, and knowing this is the destination three artists were trying to reach and didn’t, makes me sad… but I also feel a little lucky. I made it to Moorhead to rest. I wish they had too. So today, on February 3rd, I play the song, I think about the men, and I think about the physical spaces that remain to remind me of the Day the Music died; markers of the crash site tributes, the memorials, the KFGO radio station still broadcasting, and I wonder if the Armory (in a woo-woo way) still awaits their arrival.
I feel like this wonderful city is the keeper of lost innocence. But because music can connect across time and space, we are all the keepers of lost innocence. If we remember and share our history, we keep memories and traditions alive. Because of those pains for lost innocence, we realize how important it is to treasure the moments of music, dance, and togetherness. Because we remember how the music used to make us smile.
History is woven into the music.
The music doesn’t die,
It’s reborn in each generation.
Books & Love,
Leah Leach
Founder of Gal’s Guide
Gal's Guide 