Song buddy holly oh boy1/8/2024 ![]() ![]() The treatment is also beautifully stripped down. Gary Osborne, lyricist for The War of the Worlds, agrees: "'Peggy Sue' is the most basic and simple of love songs and when 'basic and simple' works, it really works. ![]() The singer is overwhelmed and reduced to showing off." Peggy Sue comes over as quirky and slightly unattainable, plus we discover that she is pretty. Sir Tim Rice says: "Well, in 1957, few pop songs dug deep into emotional psychology and anyway, records were only two minutes long! However, the other aspects of the record, notably the different vocal timbres and gimmicks that Buddy adopted, that are almost comic at one point, were considered more important features to convey her character. I asked two leading songwriters why Holly's song doesn't tell me much about "Peggy Sue". The "pretty, pretty, pretty Peggy Sue" section retains its nursery-rhyme origin, as does the way Holly keeps singing her name differently. ![]() When Sullivan couldn't match his guitar on "Words of Love", Holly double-tracked his part.īuddy Holly's first hit under his own name would have been "Cindy Lou", a nod to his young niece, but Allison persuaded him to rewrite it to impress the girl he wanted to marry, Peggy Sue Gerron. It's unfortunate that Holly lost Sonny Curtis (who had joined Slim Whitman's band) and Bob Montgomery (who was studying), but The Crickets consisted of Allison, the double-bass player Joe B Mauldin and, for most of 1957, the guitarist Niki Sullivan, who wasn't up V C to the job. Holly's hit-making career only lasted 18 months, but his output was double that of comparable musicians. Most top acts released four singles and an album a year, but Petty realised that Holly was productive and arranged for solo records, still backed by The Crickets, on Coral, another Decca subsidiary. His records are almost without exception terrific. He looked gangly and geekish with those glasses but that guitar made him unbelievably cool, and he knew how to play it. While we were skiffling away, trying to find a fourth chord, Buddy was giving us the opening bars of 'That'll Be the Day' with unbelievable expertise and on an instrument that was the equivalent of a bullet-finned '59 Cadillac. "That'll Be the Day" topped both the British and American charts, incidentally topping the US chart when Holly only had 500 days left to live.įrank Allen of the 1960s band The Searchers loved the record: "To be a star, you obviously need a desirable amount of talent, but the most important factor is individuality – and Buddy was distinctive and unmistakeable, both visually and aurally. In a curious move, Petty signed Holly and his group, The Crickets, to a Decca subsidiary, Brunswick Records. I wish things had been different but they're not and I can't change it." Unlike the Nashville producers, Petty didn't record by the clock, allowing each track to take as long as it took, a perfect environment for an experimental musician like Holly. He took a half or a third of almost every song he could, plus the publishing rights. Norman had the power and he did that to so many guys. After I'd heard Buddy's version of 'Oh Boy!', there was no way I could turn it down. Sonny West is philosophical about sharing his credit for "Oh Boy!" and "Rave On" with Norman Petty: "Norman gave me no choice. But he appreciated Holly's talent and was no worse than other managers of the day. With the confidence of youth, Holly told Petty: "If you can get Buddy Knox a hit, you can get me one."Īs their manager and producer, Petty is often portrayed as a villain, adding his name, for example, to the songwriting credits for "That'll Be the Day". He knew about Norman Petty's studio 90 miles away in Clovis, New Mexico, as the 40-year-old Petty had produced a current million-seller, "Party Doll" by Buddy Knox. We will keep you in our prayers."īy 1957, Holly wanted to escape from his Decca contract. We have never known before the grief and suffering from the death of a loved one but we do know now, and our hearts go out to you because we know what you are going through. She did not cast any blame, although the accident occurred largely owing to his inexperience, and she said: "We are crushed by this terrible tragedy and the loss of our son, and we know you are suffering the same. However, what makes the correspondence extraordinary is that she wrote a similar letter to the widow of the pilot, Roger Peterson. They are beautifully composed letters, expressing her bewilderment and grief, and they reveal her conviction that they will be reunited in Heaven. On Valentine's Day in 1959, just 11 days after the air crash that killed her son, Ella Holley wrote to the families of the other performers who had died, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens. ![]()
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