SUMMERTIME BLUES
Legendary rock critic Lester Bangs has written of this song: “[Ritchie] Valens sang with an unassuming sincerity that made him more truly touching than any other artist from his era. ‘Donna’ is one of the classic teen love ballads, one of the few which reaches through layers of maudlin sentiment to give you the true and unmistakable sensation of what it must have been like to be a teenager in that strange decade. . . . The agonizing sense of frustration which is so crucial to adolescent life is never very far from his lyrics; and in his best songs, like ‘Donna’ and ‘Come On, Let’s Go’, it is right up front, just as it is in Eddie Cochran’s classic ‘Summertime Blues’.” (June 2013/1) |