Song of the Week – Words of Love, The Beatles; Well All Right, Blind Faith; I’m Gonna Love You Too, Blondie

Ignored           Obscured            Restored

Buddy Holly released his first record – “Blue Days, Black Nights”/”Love Me” – on Decca in April 1956, when he was just 19 years old.  He died less than three years later, in February 1959, at the age of 22.  In that very short career, Holly recorded eight Billboard Top 40 hits in the US, 3 of which were Top 10.

His discography is so well known and so highly respected that it should be no surprise that his songs have remained alive for generations via cover versions.  Today’s SotW post highlights a few of the best.

The Beatles were huge Buddy Holly fans.  They chose their name as a play on Holly’s Crickets, but not Beetles, instead making a pun out of their “beat group” music.  They also included as many as a dozen of his songs in their early club sets, many of which can be heard on the BBC recordings.  So, let’s start with “Words of Love” from Beatles For Sale in the UK and Beatles VI here at home; the only cover to make it onto an official, studio release.

The Beatles don’t stray very far from Holly’s original arrangement – the “handclaps” are a new feature – but the Lennon/McCartney (Lennon/Harrison?) harmony is sublime.  The boys laid this track down in two takes – no surprise since it was in the band’s repertoire since their days woodshedding in Hamburg, Germany.

In 1969, Steve Winwood, Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, and Rick Grech formed Blind Faith, one of the first rock “supergroups.”  The short-lived band released only one album that had only 6 cuts – but one of them, “Well All Right,” was a cover of a Buddy Holly B-side.

Blind Faith made the song their own, adding a heavy opening riff and an improvisational middle section that extended its play time to a whole 4 ½ minutes!

In 1978, Blondie released their power-pop classic, Parallel Lines.  On it, they covered Holly’s “I’m Gonna Love you Too” and released it as the first single from the album (though it didn’t chart!).

Deborah Harry’s vocal and the bands aggressive backing adds some punk/new wave fury to the arrangement that modernizes Holly’s original, smoother rockabilly approach.

A Buddy Holly tribute album, Rave On Buddy Holly, was released in 2011.  It has covers of Holly songs by contemporary artists The Black Keys, She and Him, Modest Mouse, My Morning Jacket, Fiona Apple, the recently deceased Justin Townes Earle, and classic rockers Paul McCartney, Nick Lowe, Patti Smith, Lou Reed, and Graham Nash.  It proves that Holly’s music remains vital.  The album is worth a listen.

Rave on!

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Crying, Waiting, Hoping, Buddy Holly; Come On, Let’s Go, Ritchie Valens; Chantilly Lace, The Big Bopper

Ignored           Obscured            Restored

Tomorrow marks the 60th anniversary of the plane crash that took the lives of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson, near Clear Lake, Iowa – “the day the music died” as it later became known, thanks to Don McLean’s “American Pie.”

Rather than rehash the details of the accident (I’m sure you’ll be hearing them all weekend) let’s simply celebrate the music made by those artists!

I have dozens of favorite Holly songs but you’ve heard them all a million times before.  So I’ll treat you to something that, perhaps, you haven’t discovered yet – the demo version of “Crying, Waiting, Hoping.

In December 1958, exactly two months before the crash, Holly got his hands on a new Ampex tape recorder.  He used it to record a series of demos in his New York City apartment between December 3rd and December 17th, and again between January 1st and January 19th, before heading off to begin the fateful Winter Dance Party tour.  This version of “CWH” is from the “Apartment Tapes,” captured on December 17th.  It even has Holly’s famous hiccup!

Mexican American singer/songwriter Ritchie Valens had several hits including Donna (#2) and the ever-present “La Bamba” (#22).  But “Come On, Let’s Go” is the one that really rocks.

The Big Bopper is known for only one song – “Chantilly Lace.”  (At least that’s the only one I’ve ever heard!)

On a personal note, “Chantilly Lace” was a bath time favorite when my kids were small children.

Enjoy… until next week.

Mary Tyler Moore has died

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Although Mary Tyler Moore doesn’t conjure up images of rock and roll for most people, she certainly has inspired it in some.

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For instance, take this cover version of the MTM Show theme song — “Love Is All Around” — covered by the Minneapolis based punk band Husker Du.

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And who could forget the reference to MTM in Weezer’s power pop classic “Buddy Holly?”