Chords for Tommy Allsup tells of the coin flip with Ritchie Valens

[G] Just off Interstate 35 in Northern Iowa, [C] in the town of Clear Lake, sits [G] a legendary performance venue, the [D] Surf Ballroom.
Over the years, thousands [G] of acts have performed on this [C] stage and signed the walls of [D] what's known as the Green Room.
[G] Here, Don McLean performed American Pie.
His tribute to Buddy Holly, whose last performance [C] was here at the Surf Ballroom, February 2, [G] 1959.
The [Ab] pictures on [D] the walls of the Surf Ballroom are testimony [G] that the music hasn't died, but rather changed,
[C] with each artist taking what's gone before and [G] making it their own.
But the Surf Ballroom will [Dm] always be known for February 2, 1959,
[G]
when a coin flip between [B] Ritchie Valens and [C] Buddy Holly's guitar player, Tommy Alsup, changed [G] so much for so many. _
[C] _ [D] Exactly 48 years later, Tommy Alsup [G] returned to perform at [C] the Surf Ballroom's annual 50's in February concert.
He relived the events of [G] that night, and how he came to be on the Winter [Gb] Dance Party Tour with Buddy Holly.
[Bb] _ _
[E] [Am] Buddy called, said, are you going to be _ around _ after [Fm] the first year?
I need to come down and talk to you.
So he [C] came down, [Bb] I was working in Odessa at the club, he came down there the night before New Year's Eve,
_ [Ab] 58 going into 59, [Bb] _ [Bbm] [C] and we talked, he said I've got a tour [Gm] starting up, the Winter Dance Party,
_ [Ab] and there's going to [G] be five [Ab] acts on it, and it's going to be up in the island, _ [Eb] [E] and [C] it's going to be pretty cold up there.
He counted me in, [Ab] and he said I heard Waylon was going to [Am] play bass, and [E] that was the first thing he'd done without J.I. and Joe [F] Viga.
_ [Gb] [Ab] He wanted a drummer, [F] and I said well there's a pretty [Bb] good little [Ab] rock drummer named Carl Bunch here in town,
he's working with a kid named [Gb] Ronnie Smith, [F] and I had [Ab] recorded with him, and I [A] knew Carl could [Ab] do what we had to [Gb] do.
_ [A] He said well see if he wants to [E] come up there and go on the tour.
_ [Ab] That led to [N] the Winter Dance Party Tour.
We played here at the Surf on Monday night, and Green [F] Bay the night before we played there,
[G] and coming over here that day [E] we had to change buses.
The _ booking agency [D] out of New York City, [G] GAC, had [A] contracted some bus company here [C] in Chicago to furnish [A] buses.
[Gb] The heating system [G] was terrible, you could [E] barely feel a little bit of heat,
and if it hadn't been for some coal it would have probably worked, but it was coal.
Some of these days it was 25 below zero, [Em] _ [Gb] [C] and they kept, every [A] other day they'd send another [E] bus out,
and it was the same deal, it wouldn't work.
[F] _
After 12 days of that, [Bb] Buddy said let's fly up [C] to Fargo, so we came in here [Ab] to surf that night,
and [G] _
he [A] chartered a plane for me and him and [E] Waylon, and well the big bopper had got _ [Bb] the flu,
[E] and our drummer Carl Bunch two nights before got frostbite on the bus,
it was installed out there in the country, it was coming out of Duluth, Minnesota, he got [F] frostbite.
He was in [E] the hospital at the time.
_ _ [C] So Buddy said, you know, we'll [Bb] charter a plane [Am] to fly us up [G] to Fargo,
[A] that's where he's going to be the next night, [Bb] flying across the river in Moorhead.
He [C] chartered a plane for [Ab] me and him and [G] Waylon, and early in the evening, the big bopper [Am] was sick,
[Em] so Waylon said, man, why don't you fly up there with [A] Buddy tonight and get your doctor and we'll [Gb] get you shot,
because we knew the bus [Bb] would be getting in there like a minute or later.
[E] _ _ And that night, [D] Richie had to play drums [Em] for Buddy, and [D] Buddy played drums for Richie,
and they squished [G] around, you know, and [Bb] _ [G] I saw a little [Dbm] more of Richie that night than I [Bb] had been, you know,
we was [Ab] backing him on [G] the show, but he was [E] in and out there playing drums,
so he [D] asked me four or five times, can you fly?
_ [E] _ _ _ [Em] No, I'm going to get [Gb] up there too.
I had a lot [Dm] of dirty clothes.
[Dbm] [Am] So got off the bus, it was out here, kind of around the side of the ballroom,
and _ walked over, [E] got my little bag, pulled off [C] the bag, pulled my dirty clothes,
went over to the station [Ab] wagon that's parked right here at the back door,
[Bb] and Buddy and Mr.
Anderson was in the front [Abm] seat of the station wagon,
[Bb] _
and the big box was in the second seat, so I [E] slid in and put my [F] bag there,
and Buddy [Ab] said, Tommy, go back in and check and [G] make sure [C] we've got everything loaded [E] out.
_ He'd never said [Bb] that before.
We loaded our own stuff every night, we didn't have roadies back in those days.
So I came [Am] back in here, in this room right here, [Ab] here's the door I came in,
[F] and Richie was standing [D] right behind you, [C] in the doorway [Bb] there, signing an autograph.
He [Ab] seen me come in here, and I walked over [Bb] and looked in that closet,
and he said, come on, guy, [Am] let me fly.
[F] So [Bb] for some reason I just pulled a [E] half an hour [F]
lock and flipped it and said, [Bb] call it.
He said, hey, [G] I said, hey, [F] I said, [B]
I went [F] back out to the station wagon and told [B] Buddy,
I said, I'm not going, [C] me and Richie flipped the car, and he's going to [Gm] my place.
Buddy said, [Ab] that's cool.
[G]
I said, well, will you go to [A] the post office?
My mother sent me a letter [Bb]
back then, and he [Db] sent it to general [C] delivery.
_ [Bbm] He said, give me some IDs.
So [E] I took my wallet out and fixed it [Bb] around for my patient's license,
or somebody [E] had an ID on the driver's [F] license. _
[Ab] He said, I'll just give you [F] all this.
So he took it and he put it in his inside pocket.
_ Well, the next one that [E] found the bodies the next morning,
they [B] found five [Bb] wallets with different IDs.
[B] _ [Gm] They had [B] my name on them, Associated Press.
[Am] _ [B] Then Mr.
Anderson came [N] out there and he said, _ I talked to him a [Abm] few years ago,
and he said, I came out there and identified the bodies for you.
I told [Ab] him that you weren't on [Bm] the point.
_ _ _ _ [Am] _
[D] _ _ [E] _ _ [A] _ _ [D] _ _
[E] _ [A] _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [A] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[B] _ _ _ _ [E] _ [Am] _ _
That's [E] so easy [D] to [E] fall [A] in love.
[D] That's so [E] easy to [A] fall in love.
[Am] _ [Em] _
_ [D] _ _ [E] _ _ [Am] _ _ [D] _
[E] _ _ [A] Well, [D] it's so easy.
It's so easy.
_ It's a [A] doggone easy.
Doggone easy.
It [D] seems so easy.
Seems so easy. _ _
[C] [B] Well, where you concerned [E] now? _ _
[A] It's [E] so [D] easy to [E] fall in love.
[A] [D] It's so easy [E] to fall [A] in [F] love.
[Cm] _
_ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _ _
_ _ [C] _ _ _ _ _ _