“A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if they are to be ultimately at peace with themselves.”
Abraham Maslow
Fifty one years ago, on Feb 3, 1959, a plane crash in an Iowa cornfield took the life of a young musician, Buddy Holly. He came from an unlikely place for a rock and roll musician – the wide open plains of the Texas panhandle, far from any major city. He didn’t have the looks and star power of Elvis; he was a skinny kid with dark horn rimmed glasses.
He only had a two year career. But he changed music forever. He found ways to use the crude electronics of the time to get new sounds. He wrote songs that you couldn’t get out of your head.
He had fans world wide. When an unknown Liverpool England band called The Beatles paid to record their first song, it was Buddy’s “That’ll Be The Day.” When another unknown British band called The Rolling Stones had their first big hit, it was Buddy’s “Not Fade Away.” He was immortalized by Don McLean who wrote in “American Pie” that Feb 3 was the day the music died.
Why am I writing this? Because if this skinny kid from Lubbock had not followed his inner guidance, we would have all been poorer. So if a guy from a small town in the middle of nowhere can change the world just by following his inner dream, what about you?
If you don’t follow yours, you could be cheating all of us out of a real treat. Don’t say “Who, me?” Say “Why not me?” Buddy didn’t set out to change the world, he was just doing what he loved.
Why don’t you do what you love? We’ll all be very grateful you did.
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