Listen to the rock’n’roll of the fifties
alive, raw, unfiltered, throbbing
away in your ears, your veins, your pulse
racing along with your feet…
From Elvis to Little Richard
Jerry Lee Lewis to Richie Valens
You’ll squirm, you’ll wiggle, your heart’ll
giggle ~ it’ll keep you off-balance
Don McClean sang of the day
the music died
I say 50’s rock is here forever
to stay ~ never ever to go away
Categories:
valens, history, music, nostalgia,
Form: Rhyme
What sad fate does all of these celebrities likely have in common?
Aaliyah
Aaron Hernandez
Abraham Lincoln
Amy Winehouse
Anna Nicole Smith
Bob Marley
Brandon Lee
Brittany Murphy
Bruce Lee
Buddy Holly
Christopher Wallace - Notorious B.I.G.
Elvis Presley
Frank Zappa
George Washington
Gianni Versace
Grace Kelly
Heath Ledger
Jeffrey Epstein
Jim Morrison
Jimi Hendrix
Joan Rivers
John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy, Jr.
John Lennon
John Todd
King Leopold II of Austria
Kobe Bryant
Kurt Cobain
Lee Harvey Oswald
Lou Reed
Malcolm X
Marilyn Monroe
Martin Luther King Jr
Michael Jackson
Otis Redding
Paul Walker
Pope John Paul I
Prince
Princess Diana
Ritchie Valens
Robert F. Kennedy
Robin Williams
Sam Cooke
Seth Rich
Stanley Kubrick
The Big Bopper
Tupac Shakur
Vince Foster
Whitney Houston
XXXTentacion
Categories:
valens, anxiety,
Form: List
Ritchie Valens sings our way to the country,
Filling the aerostar with boogie woogie.
Ocassionally Pops eyes appear in
The rear view mirror,
Staring intently at us but,
Sidel never notices,
Eyes sunken into Stephen King Novels.
Annoyingly to my mother I fiddle
With flimsy headphones,
Duct taping them at every
Fall from my ears.
“She yells “Carter! One more move and I’ll chuck this at you!”
The browning apple in her hand,
Gripping it like a hammer.
Pops eyes in the rear view mirror again, so
Throwing on the old yellow blanket to hideout with myself
I beg for “Donna” to turn off, but
Mother is always ready to begin it again.
Donna where can you be, where can you be?
As the car shuffles, I notice,
Oh Donna isn’t a love song.
Categories:
valens, childhood
Form: Verse
(Dedicated to Waylon Jennings who died February 13, 2002.)
You were the balladeer in the movie 'Moon runners' that was made in the
seventies.
Several years later you became the balladeer in the Dukes of Hazzard on TV.
You guest starred in an episode of Married with children sometime in the
nineties.
You were a fantastic singer and I'm sure that most everyone agrees.
When you died, the music industry suffered a great loss.
You would've died in 1959 if you had won that coin toss.
Ritchie Valens won and he died in that plane crash instead of you.
You cheated death in 1959 but you weren't so lucky in 2002.
People loved you and they knew that you were a credit to the human race.
You were famous for years and now you're in a better place.
Categories:
valens, death, loss, music,
Form: I do not know?
There has to be a heaven for musicians
A place for old singers to go
Their music still touches our lives
As they did years ago
Ray Charles transcended music type
From country to rock to blues
Ritchie Valens was only seventeen
When his death hit the morning news
Jim Croce sang about Leroy Brown
While Nillson would croon Without You
Janis Joplin would make you rock
And Stevie Ray would make you blue
I still watch old Ozzie and Harriet shows
Just to hear Ricky Nelson sing
Harry Chapin took his last Taxi ride
And Elvis is still the king
John sang of peace and love
While George's guitar would gently weep
Conway's music wasn't Make Believe
I hear their music in my sleep
John Denver's in the Rocky Mountains High
And Del Shannon seeks his Runaway
Rainy Days and Mondays made Karen sigh
While Otis sat On the Dock of the Bay
Jimi Hendrix played the meanest guitar
Roy's voice couldn't get any higher
Bobby Darin searched Beyond the Sea
And Jim Morrison said Light My Fire
There has to be a Heaven for musicians
For all those who have paid their dues
Where the music will live forever
From rock n' roll to rhythm and blues.
Categories:
valens, music, nostalgia, old, music,
Form: Rhyme