Peggy Sue
Peggy Sue is a song by American rock 'n' roll musician Buddy Holly from 1957. The title was written by Holly, Jerry Allison and Norman Petty . In the year of its publication, Peggy Sue was ranked number three on the Billboard Top 100 . The Rolling Stone magazine leads Peggy Sue at number 194 of the list of " 500 Greatest Songs of All Time ."
Emergence
Originally the title of the song was Cindy Lou , named after Holly's niece, the daughter of his sister Pat Holley Kaiter. The title was later changed to Peggy Sue , now named after the friend and later wife of the Cricket drummer , the writer Peggy Sue Gerron (1940-2018). Originally only Allison and Petty were named as authors of the song. It was not until after Holly's death in 1959 that Holly's authorship was mentioned on Allison's endeavor.
Holly and the Crickets played Peggy Sue on June 29th / 1st. July 1957 at Norman Petty's studio in Clovis, New Mexico . In addition to Holly ( vocals / electric guitar ), Joe B. Mauldin played the double bass and Jerry Allison played the drums as musicians. A striking feature of the recording of Peggy Sue , which was produced by Norman Petty, is, among other things, Allison's striking technique, who continuously played so-called Paradiddles on the floor tom , the dynamics of which were supported by rhythmic volume changes during production. His drums were so loud that they had to be played in the hallway, leaving the door to the recording studio open. In addition, the hitting noises that Holly's plectrum caused on his electric guitar were recorded separately, so that his guitar sound sounds a bit percussive . Petty turned the echo chamber off and on to give the drums a rolling sound.
In the lyrics, the singer tells how much he longs for the girl Peggy Sue, how beautiful she is, and he confesses his love to her. The name Peggy appears in almost every line of the chorus , even repetitively several times in a row.
Publication and Success
The piece was released on September 20, 1957 by Holly's record company Decca Records on her sub-label Coral Records with the B-side Everyday (Coral 9-61885) - the Crickets were not mentioned, the single was only released under Holly's name. The piece was also included on Holly's LP Buddy Holly , which was also released under Coral in 1958. Billboard magazine rated the single in its September 30, 1957 issue and ruled: "Holly, one of the Crickets, makes a strong solo bid on 'Peggy Sue', a rockabilly item that can cop plenty of pop and c & w coin . " the single reached number three on the Billboard pop charts and became one of Holly's largest and best-known hits. With a record turnover of over 1.5 million copies, it was his bestseller .
Peggy Sue Got Married
Holly wrote shortly before his death a continuation of Peggy Sue entitled Peggy Sue Got Married ( Peggy Sue Got Married ). He recorded this song - accompanied only by his guitar - in his apartment in New York City in December 1958 . After his death, this tape was discovered and added vocals and other instruments, which, however, almost completely covered Holly's original version. The original version only appeared on the compilation The Complete Buddy Holly and was used in 1986 for the soundtrack of the feature film of the same name Peggy Sue got married .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Billboard, September 30, 1957, Tips on Coming Tops - Review Spotlight on Pop Records , p. 56
- ^ Joseph Murrells, Million Selling Records , 1985, p. 107