White Lightning (The Big Bopper song) approximately 80 takes. This was perhaps understandable since his lifelong friend the Big Bopper – whose composition he was recording – had been killed during the preceding week on "the day the music died". To make matters worse, Buddy Killen, who played the upright bass on the recording, was reported as having severely blistered fingers from having to play his bass part 80 times. Killen not only threatened to quit the session, but also threatened to physically harm Jones for the painful consequences of Jones' drinking. Ultimately, producer Pappy Daily opted to use the first take of the song, even
American Pie (Don McLean album) McLean’s second album; his first, "Tapestry", having been released to only moderate commercial success and acclaim in 1970. McLean was a protégé of Pete Seeger, having played with him in the 1960s. The album "American Pie" was intended as a unified work, as McLean has said that he was influenced by the Beatles' "Sgt Pepper" album and envisioned "American Pie" to be a similar album. Believing that an artist's work should stand by itself, McLean generally did not offer explanations for his work's themes or meaning, though he did describe the title song as involving "a sense of loss". McLean