THAT’LL BE THE DAY
BUDDY HOLLY
& THE CRICKETS
BUDDY HOLLY
& THE CRICKETS
Written by: Allison/Holly/Petty
Recorded by: Buddy Holly & The Crickets (1957)
Recorded by: Buddy Holly & The Crickets (1957)
THAT’LL BE THE DAY’ was the song that
made Buddy Holly & The Crickets
famous even as their line-up gave
rock ’n’ roll the classic ‘group’ template that would
be used by countless imitators. It was Holly on
lead guitar and vocals, Niki Sullivan on rhythm
guitar, Joe B. Mauldin on bass and Jerry Allison
on drums. This was the personnel that recorded a
version of ‘That’ll Be The Day’ in 1956 for Decca
as part of audition sessions that ultimately failed
to impress the label. The hit version was re-
recorded at their manager Norman Petty’s studios
in Clovis, New Mexico and released by Brunswick
who simultaneously signed the entire group (The
Crickets) to its main label and Buddy Holly as a
solo artist to its Coral subsidiary. It was an odd
arrangement, perhaps intended to forestall any
contractual objections from Decca. Bespectacled
Holly (whose surname had been streamlined by
accident or design from ‘Holley’) had strong views
about how the group should sound, and the Clovis
tracks are clearly superior to the Decca recordings.
The sound is bright, clean and confident and
‘That’ll Be The Day’ took its title from a sceptical
phrase repeatedly used by John Wayne in the
previous year’s movie The Searchers. If unglamorous
Buddy Holly was the accessible rock ’n’ roll hero,
‘That’ll Be The Day’ was the simple song that
every aspirant rock band wanted to play. In the case
of The Beatles it was also the transitional number
that, quite literally, saw them begin to shift from
skiffle to rock one day in 1958 when they made a
demo recording of the song. John, Paul and George
dispensed with The Quarrymen’s tea-chest bass
made Buddy Holly & The Crickets
famous even as their line-up gave
rock ’n’ roll the classic ‘group’ template that would
be used by countless imitators. It was Holly on
lead guitar and vocals, Niki Sullivan on rhythm
guitar, Joe B. Mauldin on bass and Jerry Allison
on drums. This was the personnel that recorded a
version of ‘That’ll Be The Day’ in 1956 for Decca
as part of audition sessions that ultimately failed
to impress the label. The hit version was re-
recorded at their manager Norman Petty’s studios
in Clovis, New Mexico and released by Brunswick
who simultaneously signed the entire group (The
Crickets) to its main label and Buddy Holly as a
solo artist to its Coral subsidiary. It was an odd
arrangement, perhaps intended to forestall any
contractual objections from Decca. Bespectacled
Holly (whose surname had been streamlined by
accident or design from ‘Holley’) had strong views
about how the group should sound, and the Clovis
tracks are clearly superior to the Decca recordings.
The sound is bright, clean and confident and
‘That’ll Be The Day’ took its title from a sceptical
phrase repeatedly used by John Wayne in the
previous year’s movie The Searchers. If unglamorous
Buddy Holly was the accessible rock ’n’ roll hero,
‘That’ll Be The Day’ was the simple song that
every aspirant rock band wanted to play. In the case
of The Beatles it was also the transitional number
that, quite literally, saw them begin to shift from
skiffle to rock one day in 1958 when they made a
demo recording of the song. John, Paul and George
dispensed with The Quarrymen’s tea-chest bass
player and one other band member, bringing in a
drummer and piano player for the occasion. The
place was Percy Phillips’ Tape & Disc Recording
Service in Liverpool, the cost was a little less
than one pound (back then not nearly as cheap as
it sounds now) and the outcome was an acetate
demo disc featuring ‘That’ll Be The Day’ as the
‘A’ side and a loping early McCartney/Harrison
composition ‘In Spite Of All The Danger’ on the
‘B’ side. It marked the start of Paul McCartney’s
love of Buddy Holly’s music (the rights to which
Paul would eventually buy) resulting in his marking
Holly’s death with some kind of special event for
several years. As for purblind John Lennon, Holly’s
example not only emboldened him to wear his
glasses onstage from time to time, it also simplified
the composition of some early Lennon/McCartney
songs: ‘When Paul and I started writing stuff, we
did it in the key of A because we thought that was
the key Buddy Holly did all his songs in….’ Despite
all of which the only Buddy Holly song The
Beatles’ ever recorded in the studio was ‘Words Of
Love’ which allowed John and Paul to harmonise
à la Don and Phil Everly on the two parts that
Holly double-tracks on the original record, and
George to impress on the chiming guitar part.
drummer and piano player for the occasion. The
place was Percy Phillips’ Tape & Disc Recording
Service in Liverpool, the cost was a little less
than one pound (back then not nearly as cheap as
it sounds now) and the outcome was an acetate
demo disc featuring ‘That’ll Be The Day’ as the
‘A’ side and a loping early McCartney/Harrison
composition ‘In Spite Of All The Danger’ on the
‘B’ side. It marked the start of Paul McCartney’s
love of Buddy Holly’s music (the rights to which
Paul would eventually buy) resulting in his marking
Holly’s death with some kind of special event for
several years. As for purblind John Lennon, Holly’s
example not only emboldened him to wear his
glasses onstage from time to time, it also simplified
the composition of some early Lennon/McCartney
songs: ‘When Paul and I started writing stuff, we
did it in the key of A because we thought that was
the key Buddy Holly did all his songs in….’ Despite
all of which the only Buddy Holly song The
Beatles’ ever recorded in the studio was ‘Words Of
Love’ which allowed John and Paul to harmonise
à la Don and Phil Everly on the two parts that
Holly double-tracks on the original record, and
George to impress on the chiming guitar part.
If Elvis Presley was rock royalty, TexanBuddy Holly came along to show that regular
guys who loved the music could become stars
too. In a brief career terminated by a
plane crash Buddy Holly exerted
disproportionate in fluence on all who
followed, including The Beatles.