Peggy Sue Gerron – Buddy Holly’s Peggy Sue
Everyone knows Buddy Holly’s song called “Peggy Sue”. The stories throughout the years sometimes get mumble jumbled around. Some even wonder if Peggy Sue is alive or was a fictional character. Music Charts Magazine® is proud to bring Peggy Sue directly to you to tell you the story of the Buddy Holly’s song “Peggy Sue”.
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“Peggy Sue” is a rock and roll song written by Buddy Holly, Jerry Allison, and Norman Petty, and originally performed, recorded and released as a single by Buddy Holly in early July of 1957. The Crickets are not mentioned on the single (Coral 9-61885) but both Joe B. Mauldin (string bass) and Jerry Allison (drums) are known to be featured on the recording. The song was also released on Buddy Holly’s self-titled 1958 album. The song is ranked #194 on the Rolling Stone magazine’s 2004 list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
The song was originally called “Cindy Lou”, and was named for Buddy’s niece, the daughter of his sister Pat Holley Kaiter. The title was later changed to “Peggy Sue” in reference to Crickets drummer Jerry Allison’s girlfriend (and future wife), Peggy Sue Gerron, with whom he had recently had a temporary breakup.
Appropriately, Allison played a prominent role in the production of the song, playing paradiddles on the drums throughout the song, the drums’ sound rhythmically fading in and out as a result of real-time engineering techniques by the producer, Norm Petty. Many music critics regard this as Holly’s all-time best recording.
The song went to #3 on the Billboard Top 100 chart in 1957. The song is currently ranked as the 106th greatest song of all time, as well as the third best song of 1957, by Acclaimed Music.
Initially only Allison and Petty were listed as the song’s authors. At Allison’s insistence, Holly was credited as a co-writer after his death.
In 1999, National Public Radio (NPR) included “Peggy Sue” on the NPR 100, a list of “The 100 most important American musical works of the 20th century”.
The song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.
Holly wrote a poignant sequel called “Peggy Sue Got Married”, and recorded a demo or practice version in his New York City apartment on December 5, 1958, accompanied only by himself on guitar. The tape was discovered after his death, and was “enhanced” for commercial release, by adding background vocals and an electric guitar track that drowned out Holly’s own playing (and almost his voice as well). The rarely heard original version was released on a vinyl collection called “The Complete Buddy Holly”, and was later used over the opening credits of the 1986 Kathleen Turner film Peggy Sue Got Married. After Holly’s death The Crickets would also release their own cover single in 1960. They followed the original Peggy Sue arrangements with the only difference being David Box, a Buddy Holly soundalike, singing as the lead vocalist.
Read more at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peggy_Sue_(song)