One Magical Night in 1955 with Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Carl Perkins

It's Buddy Holly's birthday today. If he was still alive, he would be 76 today. Sadly, he died in a plane crash at the young age of 22. Don McClean calls that day  "the day the music died" in the song "American Pie". He was only a star for a year and a half before he died, but what an influence he had on rock music! 

I found this video on YouTube that blew me away. It was a home movie shot at a high school in Lubbock, Texas where Buddy Holly was born. I had read on the Buddy Holly Wikipedia page that Buddy Holly opened for Elvis October 15, 1955 in a Lubbock high school, so I wonder if this home movie was shot that night. How LUCKY were the people who got to be there that night in 1955! Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins all performing at the same HIGH SCHOOL?! WOW!! This home movie was shot back stage.

I don't know about you, but nothing THAT exciting ever happened at my high school. My time spent back stage in high school was waiting in line with my saxophone in my hands and a reed in my mouth before band concerts, listening to the band directors scolding us all in advance, certain that one of us would mess up the whole concert for everyone. 

Back stage in 1955 at a Lubbock high school looked WAY more exciting. 

Buddy Holly would have been around 19 in this scene. Elvis was 20. Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash were 23. 

Little did they know that night what a huge influence they would have on music. 

Thank you to ziggystarter for posting this magical moment in American music history on YouTube. 

Carl Perkins wrote the song "Blue Suede Shoes", and the idea for the song was originally brought up by Johnny Cash. Carl Perkins recorded "Blue Suede Shoes" in 1955. Soon after, Elvis recorded a cover version of the song. Here's the Blue Suede Shoes story: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Suede_Shoes

Here's Carl Perkins performing Blue Suede Shoes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79CJON8fv6c

Here's Elvis performing Blue Suede Shoes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrjbwVhQOAw

Here's Buddy Holly's Blue Suede Shoes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88Vr3ccFDZQ

And a much later performance of Blue Suede Shoes, by Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins in 1980: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oN767oPQxPc

Blue Suede Shoes... something else all four of those men had in common in addition to that night at the Lubbock high school in 1955. 

Happy Birthday, Buddy Holly! 

Here's a live performance by Buddy Holly in 1957: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQiIMuOKIzY

Buddy Holly Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddy_Holly