Lester Bangs (December 14, 1948 – April 30, 1982) was an American music journalist, author, and musician. Often cited during his lifetime as “America’s Greatest Rock Critic”, he wrote for Creem and Rolling Stone magazines and was known for his leading influence in rock music criticism. (More from Wikipedia)
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’.”
Writing for the Rolling Stone Record Guide, David McGee states: “To get an idea of his indelible contribution to rock & roll, consider the critic Lester Bangs’ citation of [Ritchie] Valens as the prototypical punk guitarist whose signature ‘La Bamba’ riff links Valens to a hard-edged, no-frills style of rock & roll later advanced by the Kingsmen, the Kinks, the Stooges, and the Ramones.” The thrilling Ramones call “Hey Ho, Let’s Go” – from the opening song “Blitzkrieg Bop” on their first album, Ramones – might have been lifted directly from Ritchie Valens’ “Come On, Let’s Go”.
