There’s a great article by Michael Hall in Texas Monthly, Falling Comet, on the life and Texas days of Bill Haley, one of the founders of rock n roll.
One of my favorite Tom Russell songs also tells the story of Bill Haley’s time in Harlingen, Texas, and here’s a great version of the song by Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women.
The song appears on Dave’s “Blue Boulevard” record and Tom Russell’s “The Long Way Around” album.
The brilliant lyric is below:
“Haley’s Comet” by Tom Russell
“Do you know who I am?” said Bill Haley
in a pancake house near the Rio Grande
the waitress said, “I don’t know you from diddley”
“To me you’re just another tired old man”
He walked alone down on Main street
a hot wind was blowing up from the south
there were two eyes staring in a pawn shop window
and a whiskey bottle was lifted up to his mouth
there was no moon shining on the Rio Grande
as a truck of migrants pulled through town
and the jukebox was busted at the bus depot
when Haley’s Comet hit the ground
He blacked out all the windows in his bedroom
he was talking to the ceiling and the walls
he closed his eyes and hit the stage in 1955
as the screams of the children filled the hall
This cop walked into a pancake house in Texas
and ordered up a couple of cups to go
and he tells the waitress, “Hey, I just found the body
of some guy who was famous long ago”