Saturday Night Attitude Dancing at the 2024 Birthday of the Immortal Buddy Holly
by Robert Wilkinson
We begin our dance early because this music's too good to wait! September 7 would have been the 88th birthday of one of the pioneers of modern pop music, a star who blazed out of West Texas, the legendary Buddy Holly. One of my favorites for over 66 years, his music really does have the power to make you happy. This is truly some of the best music ever written!
Today we have lots of links. I hope you will take the time to listen to even 5 or 10 of these, since his music really is timeless and universal! For those who weren't around in that long-gone era when rock and roll was in its infancy, here's a little backstory from previous tributes.
In the beginning of Rock and Roll, there were 5 major performers that set every seminal element into motion. I know other influences helped these performers both before and during the genesis of rock and roll, but these 5 took it wide and made it a universal force majeure!
Bill Haley came first in 1954 with "Rock Around the Clock," featured on a movie soundtrack and capturing an image of youth in that noir era. Just after that, a duo of black men arrived in 1955 who jump started everything. Chuck Berry gave the form its licks and some of its most memorable tunes, while Little Richard, piano wild man known as "the architect of rock and roll," dished out immortal tunes plus an overt sexuality.
Elvis arrived in a blaze of electric glory, the world's first superstar who brought rockabilly to white America and had them screaming and fainting in the aisles. Then there was Buddy Holly (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), who blazed out of West Texas and changed the face of popular music forever.
Today we wish him a very grateful Happy Birthday for being here such a short time and giving us so much forever. It is impossible to state the effect Buddy had on pop music.
He was the first major pop star, along with Chuck Berry, to compose AND perform his own music, and was hugely prolific in his songwriting. He was a creative genius who with Norman Petty produced and arranged his own music, almost unheard of in those days. He expanded the scope and depth of rock's musical parameters in his compositions. The man who made the Stratocaster THE guitar to play if you were a rock and roller, it is part of pop history that when he went down in a plane crash at 22, it was "the day the music died."
On February 2, 1959, at Clear Lake Iowa, the legend of rock and rollers dying young was set into motion. His career only lasted from the Spring of 1957 to February 1959. Though he was only here for a short time, his tunes are still considered among the finest ever written, and some that others wrote with him or that he performed have become immortal.
A brief list: "Peggy Sue," "Maybe Baby," "Not Fade Away," "It's So Easy," "That'll Be the Day," "Well All Right," "Words of Love," "Every Day," "Rave On," "True Love Ways," "Learning the Game," "Crying, Waiting Hoping,' "Lookin' for Someone to Love," "You Know Love's Made A Fool of You," and many, many more. His songs have been done by dozens of the top artists in music history, including the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Grateful Dead, Linda Ronstadt, Blind Faith, and many others.
So today we revisit an era that is no more, but at times could be innocent, hopeful, passionate, and very tender despite the lack of human rights and cold war paranoia pervading the planet.
First, here's a treat! A live video clip of Buddy. For your enjoyment, Buddy Holly Live Performing "Peggy Sue" at the Paramount Theater Arthur Murray Dance Party in NYC, 29 Dec, 1957
We now go to 3 clips of Buddy performing on The Ed Sullivan Show. Here's a short clip of "That'll Be The Day" from The Ed Sullivan Show on December 1, 1957. From the same show, here's "Peggy Sue." We close with a great clip, from The Ed Sullivan Show of January 26, 1958, with Buddy doing an awesome performance of "Oh Boy."
(Backstory from various sources: Ed wanted him to do a different song, but Buddy insisted on doing this one. It made Ed so mad he made the sound man cut the volume on Buddy's guitar solo, which is why you can't hear anything even though Buddy is strumming furiously. After that "When they were invited back to play the TV marquee again, 'Buddy told Sullivan’s people you can’t afford us.” The Lubbock boys didn’t need him anymore,' Robert Draper wrote in Texas Monthly 'Holly and Sullivan had clashed during the show’s rehearsal. Holly’s band went AWOL, temporarily. “I guess the Crickets are not too excited to be on The Ed Sullivan Show,” the host said. “I hope they’re damn more excited than I am,” Holly replied.")Here's an extremely rare find from 1958! It's Buddy live at the BBC in a great audio-only performance of "Maybe Baby."
Here's an equally rare find! It's an audio-only live performance at the London Palladium from March 1958! 2 years ago I had a solo clip of “That’ll Be the Day,” but it’s disappeared, as has the 9 minute “screen caps” of that amazing performance. This year we also lost their performance of “Peggy Sue.” The set list was “Maybe Baby,” “Oh Boy,” “That’ll Be the Day,” and “Peggy Sue.” This year we have a single clip of "Oh Boy," where you hear the "rhythm-lead" Buddy played that Ed Sullivan turned down in that clip. I also found this from that 1958 tour, live on the BBC’s Off the Record, the very warbly audio of " “Maybe Baby”."
I found these BBC Radio 2 radio documentaries from that 1958 tour of England.
Buddy in Britain Pt 1. (29 min.)
Buddy in Britain Pt 2. (26 min.)
Here's a brief home movie of Buddy and the Crickets meet Elvis very early in both Buddy and Elvis' careers with voice over explaining how this historic moment came to be.
Unfortunately, back in the 50s we didn't have widespread video technology, so there are really aren't many videos out there. But there are quite a few rare sound recordings that have surfaced over the years, so I thought I'd give them to you here. Most are accompanied by pictures of Buddy and his various band mates, and some are done really well. Have a blast tripping through the past via pictures from another time and era in our world, the late 1950s. All of these songs were written by Buddy, so enjoy!
Here are studio versions of some of his best known songs with pictures:
One of his biggest, here's "Words of Love," which just happened to be a HUGE hit for the Beatles! Here's what they gave the world on The Beatles For Sale! "Words of Love."
Here's the studio version of "Oh Boy." (I still haven't figured out why it made Ed Sullivan so mad!)
Some more studio versions of major hits!
"Every Day""Not Fade Away " (an early hit for the Rolling Stones, who you can see here in a live 1964 tv performance of "Not Fade Away")
Another of my favorites! Here's "Love's Made A Fool of You" (Bobby Fuller's version downstream a ways)
"You're the One" This rare track from December 1958 features Buddy singing a song co-written by him and Waylon Jennings, (yes, THAT Waylon Jennings!) who at the time was the bass player for the Crickets when he wasn't working for KLLL radio in Lubbock, Texas. Waylon was on the tour that killed Buddy, and only survived through a twist of fate. You can find more in the interview below. And according to the video link, you can find out more about Buddy and Waylon from Jimmy Rabbitt at kociradio.com.
Here's a rare treat from 1958! It's Waylon Jennings first record, where he does the vocals, Buddy's on guitar, and the legendary King Curtis wails on sax! "Jole Blon."
We'll close this section of Buddy's friend and bassist Waylon Jennings with an interesting clip. This is a three-fer! The first section is Waylon's 1963 version of "Rave On," the second is Buddy's original studio version cut in 1958, and the third is Waylon's 1964 version of "Rave On"
More great songs, some hits, some obscure, some early, some late:
This is what Norman Petty released with overdubs. The original apartment tape is below in the section devoted to those raw tracks. "That's What They Say"
This one is one of my favorites from long ago. "Umm Oh Yeah (Dearest)" (which doesn't have a clear songwriting credit, but seems to have much in common with the 1957 Mickey and Sylvia hit "Love Is Strange"). For your comparison, here's Buddy doing "Love is Strange." Not the same song, but..... [ADD: I just found this attribution for the song: (Ellas McDaniel/Prentice Polk/Mickey Baker). Of course Ellas McDaniel was Bo Diddley, so who knows?]
Here is another Buddy Holly composition, and it sounds a lot like he wrote this and "Words of Love" around the same time. A beautiful song, here's "Listen To Me"
Two songs performed by Buddy that were written by him and Jerry Allison of the Crickets:
A little more backstory: "Peggy Sue" and "That'll Be The Day" were also co-written by these two. Even though Norman Petty attached his name to most of the compositions for royalty purposes, he basically had nothing to do with writing them.
Here is Buddy performing some songs he didn't write. These were all rock and roll standards done by many in those days.
Buddy doing Chuck Berry's "Brown Eyed Handsome Man"
I found two more interesting performances of the song. Here's a 12 minute clip from December 4, 1956 at Sun Records, where "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" done by "The Million Dollar Quartet" of Elvis, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash. as part of a jam session. Then we finish with a great performance of this amazing song by the Master himself, Mister Chuck Berry and Robert Cray doing "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" live!
Here's Buddy doing the amazing Bo Diddley rocker "Mona" from 1957, very early in his career. Here are some alternate takes from the studio: "Mona - Version 1," then Version 2, and Version 3
Time for more Rockabilly, R&B, and Rock and Roll! Everybody who was anybody back then did everybody else's hits as well as their own material. For your enjoyment, a couple of Little Richard standards!
Here's Buddy doing different versions of a great Little Richard song. The first one is the one that was released (set to a live performance that isn’t this song!) “Slippin' and Slidin.'" However, there are also slow versions. Here's Buddy doing a slo-mo heavily reverbed acoustic version of "Slippin' and Slidin' with another slo-mo, clearer version of "Slippin' and Slidin" from Yhe Apartment Tapes sessions. Here's another solo acoustic version from "the Apartment Tapes" of "Slippin' and Slidin'." Here's the original recording by the Man who set the rock and roll world on fire, Little Richard doing "Slippin' and Slidin'" The very live funky Naw’lins groove version by Little Richard I had last year is gone.
Let’s go back to the beginning! Literally! From 1949, a 13 year old Buddy offering us a respectable version of Hank Snow’s “My Two Timin’ Woman”
From 1952 and 1953 when they were “Buddy and Bob” (Bob Montgomery) this is as country as it gets! (Well, they were from Lubbock! What did you expect?) We begin with “I’ll Just Pretend” and the flip side “Take These Shackles From My Heart," followed by another proto-country tune, “Footprints in the Snow,” and close this very early period with two more Buddy and Bob tunes, “I Gambled My Heart” and “Flower of My Heart."
Here are more from early on!
First, a Skiffle song written by his mom, Ella Holley, and recorded by Charles "Buddy" Holly (guitar): and J.I Allison (drums), in December 1955 in the Holley family garage of Lubbock, Texas. One of his earliest, "Holly Hop"
We are told this Early demo version of "Baby Won´t You Come Out Tonight" is one of four songs recorded by Buddy Holly at the Petty Studio in the Jan-Apr 1956 sessions. The song was written by Don Guess. Buddy's on rhythm guitar and vocals, Sonny Curtis plays lead, Don Guess is on slap-bass and (of course!) Mister J.I Allison is the drummer. They tried to use the echo effect to get the same sound as Elvis' Sun Records productions. The poster feels this song was actually a cross between "Good Rockin' Tonight" and "Baby Let's Play House."
"I'm Gonna Put My Foot Down," recorded between February and April 1956.
Another very early one clearly written as a country ballad, the dramatic (undubbed version) "Gone."
In the same vein, from his debut album The Chirping Crickets, Buddy giving us a tune Roy Orbison wrote titled "An Empty Cup (and a Broken Date)”
From Buddy Holly’s 1956 Nashville Sessions, his first single, released 1956 on Decca, "Blue Days & Black Nights" Here is the “B” side, a standard rockabilly throwaway titled "Love Me"
That Summer he went back and recorded "Ting-a-ling " and "Changing All Those Changes," along with a country version of "That'll be the day." This is the “B” side of “That’ll Be The Day,” written by Sonny Curtis, and is the first "sax version" of "Ollie Vee," released in 1957. "Rock Around with Ollie Vee"
This is NOT Nashville! This was a standard for rock and rollers in the mid-50s! (I have a great live version by Elvis at his birthday tribute where he maxes out the microphone diaphragm!) Buddy’s is slightly more subdued but still cooks! "Good Rockin' Tonight"
Here's his version of the rock and roll classic Carl Perkins wrote and made a hit in December 1955. This sounds like fairly early in his career, given the sound. For your rockabilly dancing pleasure, the iconic "Blue Suede Shoes."
This Lieber-Stoller classic made big by the Robins in 1955, here’s Buddy’s version of "Smokey Joe's Cafe"
The B-side of Buddy's first Coral record "Words of love," "Mailman Bring Me No More Blues"
Buddy recorded some other lesser material along the way which Norman Petty occasionally butchered with overdubs (along with the classic tracks) in an attempt to squeeze every dime out of Buddy's legacy. Here's a classic example in "Take Your Time." He did a slightly better job on "Little Baby," which sounds like something Buddy put together with some guy on the spot. Then we have this one written by Bobby Darin, "Now We're One," fairly representative of what was being written for the pop charts in the middle late 50s. This may be one of the better times Petty used his studio productively, and is a worthy if toothless offering of the Bill Doggett hit "Honky Tonk," which sounds like Buddy was noodling around in the studio.
I'll close with a tune I truly love, but the overdubs in the first clip are over the top. This was the one he wrote with Waylon at the radio station on a bet, and classic. What I gave you earlier was the original. In this one Norman chose to reissue, just about everything which could be off in a production is. "You're The One." By way of comparison, here's the original, which is a masterpiece. "You're the One"
Toward the end...
On a much better note, I found some real treats of the original undubbed recordings from December 1958 in his NYC apartment just before he left for the fated Winter tour that took his life just a few weeks later. These were the tracks that Norman Petty did extensive overdubbing on (using the Fireballs) to create the stream of Buddy Holly hits released after his death. Again, sometimes the magic worked and sometimes they needed less production. These are the raw materials Norman worked with before the overdubs. This year several clips give multiple takes, from the undubbed to the commercial releases years after Buddy died.
Here are 5 versions of this beautiful song. It begins with the original undubbed acoustic recording, and then offers us other versions of "Dearest." We follow it with the original undubbed acoustic version, and two overdubbed versions of "What To Do." We also have multiple versions of "Peggy Sue Got Married." We close this set of 7 original recordings with four more great ones, "Crying, Waiting,Hoping," followed by "That Makes It Tough," the undubbed version 2 of "That’s What They Say,” and finally "Learning the Game." For dessert, here's a short instrumental clip with Buddy noodling around with reverb called "Buddy's Guitar," which no doubt would have become a song had he not died so soon after.
He loved King Curtis, and gave him credit for writing this tune so he would have some royalties (a rare thing for sax players at the time). Featuring on of my favorite sax men of the 50s, "Reminiscing" and from what sounds like the same session, "Come Back Baby."
Last year I had the rare unreleased song “Ah Ha” but it’s disappeared. We are told this was done at the Brill Building under some mysterious circumstances.
Near the end, Buddy recorded this great Bobby Darin composition, "Early In The Morning"
This was his last hit, released just a few weeks before he died. Written by Paul Anka, it was Buddy’s first posthumous hit, capping an amazing musical journey. It’s a long way from “Holly Hop” to this last very prescient tune. "It Doesn’t Matter Any More."
We close this birthday tribute with the “B” side of “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore,” the beautiful "Raining In My Heart"
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For more of the legend, here are some clips of the guys that went down with him, as well as those who didn’t.
Here's a video of The Big Bopper live lip-synching "Chantilly Lace" on American Bandstand in 1958.
Here's the original studio version of Ritchie Valens doing "La Bamba"
From the Alan Freed jukebox movie Go Johnny Go, here’s a treat! We have Chuck Berry cranking out the end of "Little Queenie," (with Alan Freed on drums) followed by Ritchie lip-synching a performance to the standard "Ooh My Head."
Here's a rare live audio clip of Ritchie doing his monster hit, "Oh Donna." which we’ll follow with the studio version of his first big hit, THE breakthrough Cal-Mex sound of "Come On Let's Go."
We’ll close Ritchie’s tribute with a live performance at Pacoima Jr. High of the legendary Eddie Cochran hit "Summertime Blues."
In a interview that runs almost 7 minutes, Tommy Allsup tells of the coin flip with Ritchie Valens. Tommy was Buddy's guitar player in that phase of his career, and on the Winter tour that killed Buddy. His is the classic solo on "It's So Easy." As I mentioned earlier, Waylon Jennings was the bass player, and as per the legend he had given up his seat on the plane to the Big Bopper, who had the flu. What is not so known is that Tommy had the 3rd passenger seat. Ritchie was not supposed to be on the plane. How did Ritchie Valens become part of history? Check out the clip.
Here's a Radio interview with Buddy by Alan Freed. A legend in his time, he was the New York DJ that made sure that Rock and Roll would never die.
I found it again! This is a classic! On November 2, 1958 in Denver, there was a show, and a DJ came up from Nebraska to interview Buddy after the show. The clip is 11+ minutes of Buddy and the Crickets partying in Eddie Cochrane’s hotel room, with Freeman “Free” Hover showing up with his recorder. A frozen moment in time, here’s ”Free” Hover interviewing Buddy Holly and the Crickets in Denver.
Here are a few video performances of Buddy's music by other stars:
Here's The Bobby Fuller 4 performing "You Know Love's Made A Fool of You" on Hullabaloo, complete with the Hullabaloo go-go dancers! This one’s an interesting montage of pictures set to the same tune, "You Know Love’s Made A Fool Of You"
For an extra treat, here they are doing their biggest hit, "I Fought the Law," written by Cricket Sonny Curtis. Here's Sonny and The Crickets doing their 1960 original version of "I Fought The Law"
Speaking of Sonny Curtis, here's a live acoustic version of him doing "The Real Buddy Holly Story" in Clear Lake, IA on 2/1/09. As already noted, Clear Lake was where the plane crashed all those years ago.
On a related theme, here's Don McLean in a live 1972 BBC performance of his ode to Buddy and "the day the music died," "American Pie."
Buddy's big fan Paul McCartney doing a video acoustic solo of "Words of Love."
From 1974 in the garden at Abbey Road Studios, Paul McCartney doing a video acoustic solo of three tunes, the latter two a couple of Buddy classics! ”Blackpool,” "Peggy Sue" and “I’m Gonna Love You Too”
Besides the Rolling Stones version back at the beginning, here's another great performance in 1989 by the Grateful Dead of "Not Fade Away." And from Oakland Coliseum on New Year's Eve 1991, another fantastic Grateful Dead performance of "Not Fade Away." (they start playing about 2 minutes in, even though the beat's there from the beginning.)
Here’s Carlos Santana live doing his version of Blind Faith’s arrangement of Buddy’s classic "Well Alright" (followed by “She’s Not There”)
Here's a live performance (audio only) by Blind Faith (Eric Clapton, Stevie Winwood, Rick Gretch, and Ginger Baker) in 1969 of Buddy's "Well All Right" If you want the entire 1 hour live performance, here's 1969 Blind Faith Hyde Park Concert.
A great music video of Linda Ronstadt live performing "It's So Easy."
Paul McCartney live in Dallas doing "It's So Easy" (Video isn't great, but it's the only time he performed the song on that tour.) Another video of that same performance. The sound's a little better. Paul McCartney doing "It's So Easy."
We close today's birthday celebration of this Master of his craft with The Beatles doing "Cryin' Waitin' Hopin' in the Live At the BBC sessions.
Here's to you, Buddy. You are one of the immortals, and your music will live forever. You inspired about a hundred songs I wrote, and no doubt thousands written by others. RIP and Happy Birthday.
Copyright © 2024 Robert Wilkinson
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