My Favorite Rock & Roll Cameo

Posted: February 3rd, 2026 | Filed under: Culture, Music, Rock & Roll Rewind | 1 Comment »

I shall end up with a reveal of my favorite cameo in a rock & roll song, promise.

But it shall take some meandering to get there.

For context, and certainly appropriate for today’s date, let me start here, with what for me is an indelible if just imagined image.

The morning after the plane crash in ’59, Dion DiMucci learning the news, sitting forlorn somewhere in or near frigid Moorhead, Minnesota staring at Buddy Holly’s guitar. Which the tour headliner had given him for safe keeping because of weight restrictions for the plane that took down Holly and Richie Valenzuela and J.P. Richardson.*

*Sidenote. The continuation of that tour was the first rock & roll show produced by long time Louisville concert promoter Martin Cohn.

I’ve always sensed a bit of melancholy in Dion’s voice, along with his reverence for rock & roll’s origins and the days of his youth on the New York streets.

The romantic in me believes that perceived hint of sadness comes from the moment with Holly’s guitar.

 * * * * *

I’ll get back to Dion eventually.

But want to share how much I adore songs which name check other classic tunes or other rock & rollers, especially the founding fathers.

Ms. Lucinda: I see you know at the piano/ Your back a slow curve/ Playing Ray Charles and Fats Domino/ While I sang all the words.

Tom Petty: It was a beautiful day/ the sun beat down/ I had the radio on/ I was a-drivin’/ Trees flew by/ me and Del were singin’/ little Runaway/ I was a-flyin’

Van Morrison too many times to mention.

OK, one: Jackie Wilson said it was Reet Petite/ Kind of love you have/ Knock me off my feet.

Which is not to even mention ever underrated lyricist Chuck Berry: Roll over Beethoven/ Tell Tchaikovsky the news

You got some favorites too I trust.

In another parallel vein, I’ve always been fascinated by the cover songs major artists chose to perform.

I’ll save the dive down that rabbit hole for another time.

 * * * * *

This twisting and turning makes sense to me. Hope you won’t ask me to pull over and let you out. The destination is worth the circuitous route.

A little history of my own very first record player.

Which I stared at longingly for months in the window of Ben Snyder’s Department Store on Market Street. It was down the street from my parent’s mom & pop ladies handbag store, where I spent my Saturdays and summer days of late adolescence and early pubescence, washing windows, sweeping the floor and spending hours in the dank basement breaking down cardboard boxes.

My pals — who toiled at their folks’ stores in the neighborhood — and I would lunch at Williams Food Shop at 5th & Market. Along the way, I couldn’t stop glancing with longing at that $19.95 music box that played 45s.

Soon enough I’d saved the money and bought it.

After which I played 45s in tape loop fashion. Which I assume drove my parents and big brother crazy. But kept me centered and serene and sane.

One staple was the Doc Pomus/ Mort Shuman tune “Hushabye” done by the Mystics.

Another was the Elegants’ “Little Star.”

 * * * * *

Which brings me back to Dion and the cameo I teased at the top,.

My favorite of Dion’s albums is “Yo Frankie” was released in ’89, long after most of the Golden Oldie crowd had moved on from the great singer.

The long player includes the sublime “Written On The Subway Wall.”

Paul Simon’s cameo gets me every single time.

(The video’s pixalated. But Dion’s standing in front of a Buddy Holly poster. Taking it back to where it always belonged.)

— c d kaplan

---