Happy American Thanksgiving and a special hello to my family and extended family living in the US. I have a lot of favorite songs I do admit and with Buddy Holly it is hard to pick just one. His original song “Heartbeat” was credited to Buddy’s highschool friend, bandmate and his first writing partner, Bob Montgomery. While I can’t provide any concrete evidence, I feel Buddy also played a large part in the writing as it was from a time when the two worked very closely together and it is so similar to some of Holly’s other songs such as “Words of Love” that Buddy had recorded earlier. To take nothing away from Bob who recorded an unreleased demo of the song with Norman Petty (who would take a song credit) and he wrote other songs such as “Misty Blue” and a song for Patsy Cline, but it was Buddy that moved on to greater things. Buddy was known to be generous with songwriting credits. Part of the reason Bruce Springsteen used to (maybe he still does) listen to Buddy Holly before going on stage was a reminder to “keep it simple” and this song is a perfect example. Straightforward lyrics and vocals with a great accompaniment gives us this beautiful little song.

I did say it was hard to pick just one! “True Love Ways” was written by Holly and recorded on October 21, 1958. Written for his soon to be wife, Maria Elena Santiago it is another simple but beautiful song. It was one of the last songs Buddy recorded but never performed and it was released after his death in March of 1960.

The Beatles loved to cover Buddy Holly songs during live performances. On the album Beatles For Sale, released in 1964 (UK only) they covered Carl Perkins, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Dr. Feeelgood and (as noted above) Buddy Holly’s song “Words of Love”. Very few artists could write and sing Rock and Roll Ballads like Buddy Holly.

Thanks for reading, so many more great covers of Buddy Holly songs but that’s the end of Holly Days! Next we move on to Happy Holidays and first featuring the extraordinary Billie Holiday.