THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

898-Buddy Holly-Peggy Sue.

1957-Number 6 single.

Best Bit-At 1.24. Air guitar for the 1950’s teenager.

Buddy Holly (see also best songs 264) was born Charles Hardin Holley, on September 7th, 1936, in Lubbock, Texas United States, he died in the early hours of February 3rd, 1959, in a plane crash, at the age of 22. In his 1971 song ‘American Pie,’ (see also best songs 4) Don McLean refers to the event as ‘The day the music died.’ Buddy Holly was signed to ‘Decca Records’ in 1956, on the contract, Decca misspelled Holley’s surname as ‘Holly,’ and from then on he was known as ‘Buddy Holly’, instead of his real name ‘Holley.’

Buddy Holly (lead vocals, and guitar) was one of the four original members of the group ‘The Crickets’ who signed that contract with ‘Decca’ in February 1957, the other three were Jerry Allison, (1939-2022) (drums) Joe B. Mauldlin, (1940-2015) (bass) and Niki Sullivan (1937-2004) (guitar.) In total there have been 11 different official members of ‘The Crickets,’ with Jerry Allison being the groups one constant, through until Allison announced ‘The Crickets’ retirement in 2016. The Crickets had noticed that many contemporary groups had taken their names from birds, so they chose an ‘insect-centred name. They almost chose the name ‘Beetles,’ which years later the ‘Beatles’ chose, partly in homage to the Crickets. The Crickets are considered to be one of the most influential groups of all time, especially in the development of ‘Rock’ music, and are considered to be one of the first to perform as a ‘Rock’ group, with two guitarists, a bass player, and a drummer. John Lennon, (1940-1980) and Paul McCartney, have said that they studied Holly’s records, learned his performance style, and lyricism, and based their act on his persona. Other artists who have said that they owe a debt to Holly, include Bob Dylan, who saw Holly perform live, three days before his death on New Years Eve, 1958, in Duluth, Minnesota. Keith Richards has said that he modelled his early guitar work on the 1957 Crickets song ‘Not Fade Away.’ Richards also said that Holly has passed on his guitar playing, via the Beatles, and via The Rolling Stones, Richards has said,’He’s in everybody.’

Due to contractual legal reasons of Buddy Holly having already recorded for ‘Decca’ records in 1956, and the ‘Crickets’ being signed to ‘Brunswick’ records, and ‘Coral’ records, which were both subsidiary labels of ‘Decca,’ it meant that no recordings of the group before Holly’s death were stated as ‘Buddy Holly and The Crickets,’ with releases being by either Buddy Holly, or by ‘The Crickets.’ After the death of Holly, The Crickets continued to record, releasing new music, as well as completing songs that Holy had been working on before his death, that they would add to, and re-record. The discography of The Crickets includes 15 studio Albums released between 1957-2005, and 32 singles issued between 1957-1988. There are also 18 EP’s that were released between 1957-1998, and there are 20 official compilation Albums available. In America on the Billboard Hot 100, five of those songs credited to The Crickets have made the top 40, with their debut single release ”That’ll Be the Day,’ from 1957, reaching Number 1, while in the UK, 12 of their singles, have made the top 40, with ‘That’ll Be the Day,’ also being their only Number 1.

‘Peggy Sue’ was co-written by Jerry Allison, and Norman Petty, (1927-1984) with the production being by Petty, The Crickets are not mentioned on the label, with the song credited to just Buddy Holly. After the death of Holly, at the insistence of Allison, Holly’s name was added to the writing credits. The song was originally entitled ‘Cindy Lou,’ after Buddy Holly’s niece, the daughter of his sister Pat Holley Kaiter, (1929-2008) but the title was later changed to ‘Peggy Sue,’ in reference to ‘Peggy Sue Gerron, (1940-2018) who was the then girlfriend, and future wife of Jerry Allison. Allison and Gerron had had a serious fallout, and ‘Peggy Sue’ is Allison pouring his heart out in the song. The couple would marry in 1958, and divorce nine years later.

One of the incomplete songs that Holly left behind before his death was a ‘demo’ called ‘Peggy Sue Got Married,’ which he had recorded in December 1958. In 1960 The Crickets released their own version as a single. They followed the original arrangements, with David Box, a Holly soundalike, as the lead vocalist, the song was issued as the ‘B’ side to The Crickets ‘A’ side ‘Don’t Cha Know,’ which failed to chart. The Buddy Holly original, undubbed home recording, was used as theme music in the 1986 American fantasy comedy-drama film ‘Peggy Sue Got Married.’ ‘Peggy Sue’ is also name checked in the 1961 hit ‘Barbara Ann’ by The Regents, (Billboard Number 13) and later covered by the Beach Boys in 1965 (Billboard Number 2, and UK Number 3.) ‘Peggy Sue’ is also mentioned in the 1958 novelty hit ‘Splish Splash’ by Bobby Darin (Billboard Number 3 and UK Number 18.)

‘If you knew Peggy Sue, then you’d know why I feel blue without Peggy, my Peggy Sue. Oh well, I love you gal, yes, I love you Peggy Sue.’