Airdate – Jan 30, 2022
Born in 1936, Buddy Holly was a mere 22 years old when he passed away in the fatal airplane crash on Feb 3, 1959. Incredibly, his rich body of work resulted in him making it onto the Billboard Hot 100 twelve times between 1957 and 1959 with two of his songs, “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore” (written by Paul Anka) backed with “Raining In My Heart” being release posthumously in late February and late March of 1959 respectively.
Holly’s second Billboard release was “Peggy Sue” which went to #3 on the charts. Today, a lot of well-deserved recognition is given to the B-side of that recording.
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The B-side of “Peggy Sue” was an up-tempo ballad about love and life. The song is ranked #238 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “500 Greatest Songs Of All Time.”
The song was recorded in May of 1957 and was released the following September. The original label on the 45 rpm single, which was pressed for Coral Records, only shows Buddy Holly’s name on it.
However, his group, the Crickets, were definitely on the recording. In terms of instruments on the recording, Holly plays acoustic guitar, Joe B. Maudlin plays a stand up acoustic base and a keyboard instrument with a glockenspiel-like tone, known as a celesta, was used. Accompanying all this was something that was somewhat different … drummer Jerry Allison adding percussion by slapping his hands on his pants which were miked.
In addition to this the sheet music cover for this record feature a rare picture of Buddy Holly without his signature glasses on.
The record and sheet music were something you didn’t hear or see “Everyday,” this week’s Tom Locke moment in time.
YouTube video of this song: