Not Fade Away

Shakin’, Rattlin’, and Rollin’

“How does it feeeeeel

To be all alloooone

Like a complete unknooowwwwnn

Like a rooooooolllling STONE!”

- Bob Dylan

Brad Thomas

The music, and namely three characters, Joshua, Donna, and the ghost in Not Fade Away, are the most important elements to the book. The title alone is a song by the Grateful Dead, and throughout the entire book, music is present. George Gastin is out on the road the entire book, just like a “rolling stone,” and the music is what keeps him upbeat and going. Whether George was chilling out listening to his bud Big Red Loco play the saxophone, or dancing in the car to Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, or Buddy Holly, the music was what made George feel good. George got into the music after a plane crash that claimed the lives of Ritchie Valens, Buddy Holly, and the Big Bopper, J.P. Richardson. He became aware of them when his true love Kacy came crying to him, distraught, after she heard about the crash. That was what opened George up to their music, and to the Big Bopper, the basis of the novel. The characters as well opened George up to new things: Donna’s record player gave George the knowledge of music as well as instant happiness; Joshua’s drugs and insanity allowed George to unwind and live a little more; and the ghost’s passion for having a good time added for interesting events and conversations in the book. Not only did these things make him feel good, but there was significance as well. When not listening to records on the record player that Donna gave him, George was listening to one of three radio stations, KRZY, KROM, or KRZE. The two stations KRZY, and KRZE obviously represent “crazy,” which George was, “Hey you’re my ghost,–you’ve got to be crazy too”(254). The other station, KROM, represents “to roam,” and roam is what George did in the Big Bopper’s Cadillac El Dorado. Along with the radio stations and their on-air personalities, the music plays a big role in Jim Dodge’s novel.

The station KRZE brought George John Seasons, and Captain Midnight, whom George tuned into on All Hallow’s Eve, KRZY allowed George to listen to his good friend, the Reverend Double-Gone Johnson, and KROM had a typical run-of-the-mill DJ, but they played the type of music George had been listening to the whole way. When the music was not playing, making George feel good, the crazy, on-air personalities gave George people with whom George could identify.

In George’s search for anything on the Big Bopper J.P. Richardson, George met many influential characters, namely Donna, and Joshua. Donna Walsh was a woman that George met up with on the road, and he got to know her very well. They soon became close friends, and Donna gave George her record player, and some records. This gift was very dear to George because with her records, and her record player, he got to listen to his music all day, every day, which made him constantly happy. Donna’s record player allowed George to hear the soft, flowing tunes of Ritchie Valens’ “Donna,” and the funky, jazzy beats of Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, and even the Big Bopper’s “Chantilly Lace.” Donna had a rather large impact on George’s journey. In the era of these musicians, drugs were very common, such as the speed that George would take. One day George picked up a crazy, experimental scientist named Joshua. Joshua and George did LSD together, and Joshua craziness rubbed off on George. After meeting Joshua, George had a little more zeal in his life.

Among all the music and all the characters in the book, the most interesting, not necessarily influential, was George’s ghost. A complete clone of George, crazy and all, the ghost added even more humor and comic relief to the book. Just as music made George feel good, the ghost had to have music as well. “Music!” my ghost demanded, suddenly beside me in the passenger’s seat. “Sounds! Give me the beat!”??? “I need the beat!” he demanded. “The sound of f***ing music!”(250-251) George and his ghost had some crazy experiences together, but that was because they are both ‘insane in the membrane.’ From singing together to dancing with him, the ghost was a brilliant addition to the novel.

The music and the characters in the book are strung together to allow George to have fun on his journey, and have fun he does. Despite some of the other, less influential characters like Mrs. Nogardam, who was a real pain in the ass for George, music would always make Mr. Gastin feel better after an encounter with one of these characters. When George was gloomy, all he had to do was put on some music and turn his frown upside down.

“I listened to everything I had of the Bopper, Buddy, and Ritchie, hoping the sound of their music would stir their lingering spirits to help me??? ‘A love for real not fade away!!!’”(221)