Ritchie Valens: "Donna" / "La Bamba"

February 2, 1959 (4 weeks)

As you no doubt just noticed, Ritchie Valens hit the number one spot on Canada's CHUM chart on the second day of February in 1959. It would also be the last full day of his life as the chartered airplane carrying himself, Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper crashed in the early hours of the 3rd. All three were killed instantly along with pilot Roger Peterson. While it would be nice to think that he learned of his smash hit up north, it's probable he had no idea. News didn't travel as quickly back then and it's likely that having a number one up in Canada wasn't even that big of a deal.

(The advantage Valens had north of the border was that "Donna" and "La Bamba" had been paired together rather than as separate chart entries like on the Hot 100. Had they been counted as one, it's quite possible he would have repeated the feat in the United States)

Ritchie Valens is a difficult individual to evaluate fairly. He died before reaching his eighteenth birthday so it's fair to say he had the potential to do a great deal more than the memorable and highly influential version of Mexican folk song "La Bamba", the fun and rollicking "Come on Let's Go" and the very much of-its-time syrupy love song "Donna". While it isn't ludicrous to suggest that Buddy Holly absolutely would have gone on to do a great deal had weather conditions been better in Iowa that fateful night, it's tough to make a similar claim for fellow passenger Valens. Just compare the very idea of what they might have done: Holly never got the chance to write or record his finest song but with Valens it's impossible to say either way.

A big part of my skepticism is with "Donna" being such a wet, near-caricature that would be funny if not for my feeling guilty at laughing at a doomed musician's tribute to his high school sweetheart. It's a heartfelt number no doubt but it sounds all too much like the product of teenage puppy love. Had he lived to a ripe old age it's quite possible it would have been forgotten or dismissed or apologized for as a twee bit of juvenalia by a respected songwriter who would go on to make many far better songs. Dying so tragically young gives an otherwise trivial tune far more weight than it deserves.

"Donna" was the side that most purchasers came for but its flip side "La Bamba" is its superior in every way - and I like to think that more than a few young people preferred it even then. Los Lobos' version — we'll be getting to it in time — from the 1987 Valens biopic of the same name is the better of the two but there's enough to enjoy in this "original". While "Donna" is by numbers rock 'n' roll balladeering, "La Bamba" actually brings out the best in Ritchie Valens as he merged modern day beat music with traditional Mexican folk. The playing could be a little more forceful but perhaps it was meant as a taster for how he could rip up a theatre when playing live. Fun, spirited, unique and the sort of song that gets stuck in your head and you really don't mind.

Ritchie Valens never got to grow as a songwriter, never developed musically, never really got the chance to explore styles beyond those he'd already covered and never blossomed creatively. He also never stalled, never became a parody of himself, never tried out embarrassing fads like having a disco period and never went downhill. He should have been able to have had a career that allowed for all of these things to happen (especially a disco run twenty years in the future). All we have are a couple of really good recordings — "Come on Let's Go" is his other excellent song — one that isn't up to much and a handful of serviceable tracks. Not much to go on. He deserved to rise and/or fall far higher and/or lower.

Score: 6