0:00:02 > 0:00:03This programme contains some strong language
0:00:03 > 0:00:05Now if you haven't heard of these young men then you must be
0:00:05 > 0:00:08the wrong age because they're rock and roll specialists.
0:00:08 > 0:00:11Now, no matter what you think of rock and roll, I think you
0:00:11 > 0:00:14have to keep a nice open mind about what the young people go for.
0:00:14 > 0:00:18Otherwise, the youngsters won't feel that you understand them.
0:00:18 > 0:00:20Now, if we're ready for our rock and roll specialists,
0:00:20 > 0:00:24we have Buddy Holly And The Crickets.
0:00:24 > 0:00:27# Peggy Sue, Peggy Sue
0:00:27 > 0:00:30# Oh, how my heart yearns for you
0:00:30 > 0:00:32# Oh, Peggy
0:00:32 > 0:00:34# My Peggy Sue
0:00:36 > 0:00:37# Well, I love you girl
0:00:37 > 0:00:40# Yes, I love you, Peggy Sue. #
0:00:42 > 0:00:46It was less than 18 months between Buddy Holly topping the charts
0:00:46 > 0:00:51with That'll Be The Day to the point of the plane crash
0:00:51 > 0:00:54on the 3rd of February 1959.
0:00:54 > 0:00:56And he packed so many hit records,
0:00:56 > 0:01:00so many a great songs, into that period of time.
0:01:00 > 0:01:01# Heartbeat
0:01:01 > 0:01:06# Why do you miss when my baby kisses me? #
0:01:07 > 0:01:10It is remarkable to think that Buddy Holly
0:01:10 > 0:01:14created this amazing body of work in just 18 months.
0:01:14 > 0:01:17And not only that, but those songs continue to reverberate
0:01:17 > 0:01:19in all the rock music that we hear today.
0:01:19 > 0:01:22# I want to love you night and day
0:01:24 > 0:01:27# You know my love a-not fade away. #
0:01:29 > 0:01:32He didn't produce his music, he expressed it.
0:01:32 > 0:01:35And there's a difference, you know.
0:01:35 > 0:01:38There's a difference between being entertained
0:01:38 > 0:01:40and having an emotional experience.
0:01:40 > 0:01:44# Every day it's a-getting closer
0:01:44 > 0:01:47# Going faster than a rollercoaster
0:01:47 > 0:01:52# Love like yours will surely come my way. #
0:01:52 > 0:01:56For those of us that love it and look at the full landscape of music
0:01:56 > 0:02:00Buddy Holly was one of the guys that painted that picture
0:02:00 > 0:02:03and allowed the rest to learn from him.
0:02:03 > 0:02:06A genius in his way of cutting through all the thrills
0:02:06 > 0:02:10and conventions and coming up with something so fresh
0:02:10 > 0:02:16and so perfect at expressing the feelings of a whole generation.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27He had hits and hits that we remember.
0:02:27 > 0:02:29And it was a Buddy Holly sound.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31And that was it.
0:02:31 > 0:02:36# Well, that'll be the day when you say goodbye
0:02:36 > 0:02:39# That'll be the day when you make me cry
0:02:39 > 0:02:42# You say you're going to leave, you know it's a lie. #
0:02:42 > 0:02:45The '50s started around 1956, '57.
0:02:46 > 0:02:49Prior to that everything was black and white.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52So to us, anyway, all the music was important
0:02:52 > 0:02:55and then to have it taken away abruptly at such a young age
0:02:55 > 0:02:58was a terrible shock.
0:02:58 > 0:03:00# That'll be the day. #
0:03:05 > 0:03:08Lubbock, Texas, USA.
0:03:08 > 0:03:09We're a busy, friendly town.
0:03:09 > 0:03:13The hub of the vast territory known as the South Plains of Texas.
0:03:16 > 0:03:20Buddy Holly comes from Lubbock, West Texas.
0:03:20 > 0:03:22It's a real flat country.
0:03:22 > 0:03:24We don't have many trees out there.
0:03:24 > 0:03:29It's flat in Lubbock and it's flat outside of Lubbock.
0:03:29 > 0:03:33If a tree grows, they run and cut it down real quick
0:03:33 > 0:03:35so they won't spoil the view.
0:03:35 > 0:03:41Lubbock is such a remote, isolated, desolate kind of area.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44Just this flat little town in the Panhandle of Texas.
0:03:44 > 0:03:46They say there was nothing between Lubbock and Amarillo.
0:03:46 > 0:03:48A fence and it's down.
0:03:49 > 0:03:51The wind blows.
0:03:52 > 0:03:56Lifestyle in Lubbock back in the mid-1950s
0:03:56 > 0:03:59would have been very, very small town.
0:03:59 > 0:04:01It was safe.
0:04:01 > 0:04:03Everybody was orderly and organised.
0:04:03 > 0:04:05Nobody drank too much.
0:04:05 > 0:04:07Lubbock was a poor place.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10It was going through the great depression.
0:04:10 > 0:04:12Daddy worked hard.
0:04:12 > 0:04:15Sometimes he didn't bring in but four dollars a week.
0:04:15 > 0:04:17A friend of mine,
0:04:17 > 0:04:21me and him were sitting on the front porch over on 6th Street.
0:04:21 > 0:04:23It was a dirt street.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26And he said, "Your mother's going to have a baby."
0:04:26 > 0:04:29And I said, "No, they'd have told me.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32"I'm the oldest kid in the family."
0:04:33 > 0:04:38They had Buddy and it got me so I cried.
0:04:38 > 0:04:40We don't have enough to eat as it is
0:04:40 > 0:04:45and now she's got another mouth to feed.
0:04:45 > 0:04:46His mother told me,
0:04:46 > 0:04:50"We want him to learn how to sing and play the guitar.
0:04:50 > 0:04:55"The only thing is we don't have the money to pay for his lessons."
0:04:55 > 0:04:58He was very self-confident. Friendly.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01He was kind of shy in a way.
0:05:01 > 0:05:06Sometimes he could be kind of smart and sometimes he'd be real shy.
0:05:06 > 0:05:12Buddy came to me and said, "Larry, I need a guitar."
0:05:13 > 0:05:16I said "You can't play one."
0:05:16 > 0:05:21He said, "I can learn. A guy taught me some chords on the school bus."
0:05:21 > 0:05:26Larry, I think it was, went down to Adair Music, paid for the guitar.
0:05:27 > 0:05:29And then Buddy came in and picked it up.
0:05:29 > 0:05:32He liked it right off the bat.
0:05:32 > 0:05:34Soon as he got it in his hands
0:05:34 > 0:05:37it sounded like a different instrument completely
0:05:37 > 0:05:41and I said, "Buddy, I didn't know you could do that."
0:05:41 > 0:05:43And he said, "Yeah, I've been learning."
0:05:43 > 0:05:47My dad, Bob Montgomery, was childhood friends with Buddy.
0:05:47 > 0:05:49They met when they were about 11 or 12 years old.
0:05:49 > 0:05:53Learned how to play the guitar together and wrote songs together
0:05:53 > 0:05:56and they were a duo called Buddy and Bob.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59Buddy and Bob had a country or sort of swing band
0:05:59 > 0:06:04or a country and western band and they did local gigs.
0:06:04 > 0:06:06# I love you, I thought you loved me too
0:06:06 > 0:06:09# But you said I'd never do
0:06:09 > 0:06:11# Now you and I are through. #
0:06:11 > 0:06:15Flower Of My Heart was the first song that Dad ever wrote
0:06:15 > 0:06:19and that was one of the songs that they did as a duo, Buddy and Bob.
0:06:21 > 0:06:25# Please come back to me, my darling
0:06:27 > 0:06:31# For I can't live while we're apart
0:06:33 > 0:06:38# Come back, come back to me, my darling
0:06:40 > 0:06:45# For you are the flower of my heart. #
0:06:48 > 0:06:51Bob played rhythm guitar and Buddy played lead.
0:06:51 > 0:06:53So they wanted a bass player.
0:06:53 > 0:06:57I borrowed the school bass and I was in the orchestra
0:06:57 > 0:06:59so I could take it home and use it.
0:06:59 > 0:07:01And that's what I did.
0:07:01 > 0:07:03# Well, you may go to college
0:07:03 > 0:07:05# You may go to school
0:07:05 > 0:07:09# You may have a pink Cadillac but don't you be nobody's fool
0:07:09 > 0:07:11# Now, baby, come back. #
0:07:13 > 0:07:17When Elvis first came to town all of us went, of course,
0:07:17 > 0:07:20and we had never seen anything like that before.
0:07:21 > 0:07:25That was kind of when it first dawned on me
0:07:25 > 0:07:27that music was, erm...
0:07:27 > 0:07:33really a lot more than just about music.
0:07:34 > 0:07:38There's sex involved in this music component, you know.
0:07:39 > 0:07:44I mean, the girls were actually going nuts over Elvis.
0:07:44 > 0:07:47Elvis had the sexuality and when you just looked at him
0:07:47 > 0:07:50we knew none of us were going to be like Elvis.
0:07:50 > 0:07:52He owned that space and that was it.
0:07:52 > 0:07:56He was James Dean with a guitar around his neck and away he went.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59Elvis was the game-changer.
0:07:59 > 0:08:03You know, we didn't have teenage music when I grew up. This was it.
0:08:03 > 0:08:06The music was all brand-new, that's the thing.
0:08:06 > 0:08:08Everything was brand-new.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11Elvis was a great guy, too.
0:08:11 > 0:08:13He was as nice as you could be.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17First time he came to Lubbock we opened up for him.
0:08:18 > 0:08:20At the Fair Park Coliseum in Lubbock.
0:08:21 > 0:08:25And actually we went over to the motel where he was staying
0:08:25 > 0:08:28and we heard Elvis singing in the shower, you know.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31He was getting ready to go out.
0:08:32 > 0:08:35We sang mostly country songs.
0:08:35 > 0:08:37The hits of the day.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40And the next day after Elvis left town
0:08:40 > 0:08:43we started playing rock and roll.
0:08:43 > 0:08:46He had a big influence on Buddy.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49# If you love me, honey Will you let me know?
0:08:49 > 0:08:51# If you really love me never let me go
0:08:51 > 0:08:53# Love me, love me, love me. #
0:08:53 > 0:08:55And Buddy sang like Elvis.
0:08:56 > 0:08:58# Baby, love me, love me, love me
0:08:58 > 0:09:00# Oh, I love you. #
0:09:00 > 0:09:04Then Elvis got a drummer, DJ Fontana.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09And Buddy said, "We've got to have a drummer."
0:09:11 > 0:09:17And so he said, "I heard about this kid, name of Jerry Allison."
0:09:17 > 0:09:20Buddy Holly then went to JT Edson Junior High School
0:09:20 > 0:09:22and I met him on the playground.
0:09:22 > 0:09:24I was just 16 at the time.
0:09:24 > 0:09:28So I started playing with that group and we started working
0:09:28 > 0:09:30and Buddy would sing some rock and roll songs.
0:09:30 > 0:09:34So Buddy signed a contract with Decca.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38It's kind of funny Decca misspelt Buddy's last name,
0:09:38 > 0:09:42missing out the "E" in "Holley" and that's how he became known.
0:09:42 > 0:09:47I'm sure it was hugely exciting and intimidating in a way
0:09:47 > 0:09:50for Buddy Holly to get this record deal with Decca and to
0:09:50 > 0:09:55go to Nashville and the idea of finally breaking in and making it.
0:09:55 > 0:09:59Nashville would have been the big city and they would've been very
0:09:59 > 0:10:05scared and very, you know, hopeful that they could have their big shot.
0:10:05 > 0:10:11The Nashville sessions started January 26th, 1956.
0:10:11 > 0:10:14It just became apparent that the powers that be
0:10:14 > 0:10:19were more interested in Buddy as a solo artist and not Buddy and Bob.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24And so Buddy came to him and they talked about it
0:10:24 > 0:10:29and Dad just said, "Look, you know, go for it. This is your chance."
0:10:29 > 0:10:32And I think that knocked him back a little bit
0:10:32 > 0:10:36and I think he decided to focus on writing
0:10:36 > 0:10:38and producing and publishing.
0:10:38 > 0:10:43Dad wrote Heartbeat, Wishing, Love's Made A Fool Of You, Down The Line.
0:10:43 > 0:10:48There's no telling what they could have done together if they had been
0:10:48 > 0:10:52given that chance, but fate would have it that that didn't happen.
0:10:52 > 0:10:58We recorded those first sessions at Owen Bradley's studios.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02Owen Bradley was probably the biggest producer in Nashville
0:11:02 > 0:11:06for many ,many years and one of the fathers of country music
0:11:06 > 0:11:09and the whole Nashville sound.
0:11:09 > 0:11:13As good a guitar player as Buddy was, they didn't let him play.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16I mean, he just stood at a microphone in the corner and sang.
0:11:16 > 0:11:22We were all so young and naive, we thought, "Man, we've made it."
0:11:22 > 0:11:26Now all we've got to do is go back home and start acting like Elvis
0:11:26 > 0:11:28and wait for the money to come in!
0:11:28 > 0:11:30Which didn't happen, of course.
0:11:32 > 0:11:36The record that first came out was Blue Days Black Nights.
0:11:36 > 0:11:38# Blue days, black nights
0:11:38 > 0:11:42# Blue tears keep on falling for you, dear
0:11:42 > 0:11:44# Now you're gone
0:11:44 > 0:11:47# Blue days, black nights
0:11:47 > 0:11:51# My heart keeps on calling for you, dear. #
0:11:51 > 0:11:57I came three times with Buddy and we recorded That'll Be The Day.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00Buddy actually played on that and I played rhythm on that
0:12:00 > 0:12:04particular session and we had Jerry Allison with us
0:12:04 > 0:12:06who played drums on it.
0:12:06 > 0:12:09We'd seen that movie, John Wayne, The Searchers.
0:12:09 > 0:12:13He said, "That'll be the day" five times I believe somebody told me.
0:12:13 > 0:12:17So Buddy and I were just sitting and practising
0:12:17 > 0:12:21and he said we ought to write a song.
0:12:21 > 0:12:25I'd never written a song before and I said, "That'll be the day."
0:12:25 > 0:12:27# That'll be the day. #
0:12:27 > 0:12:30And about 30 minutes later we got a song.
0:12:30 > 0:12:35# Well, that'll be the day when you say goodbye
0:12:35 > 0:12:39# That'll be the day when you make me cry
0:12:39 > 0:12:43"You say you're going to leave, you know it's a lie
0:12:43 > 0:12:48# Cos that'll be the day when I die. #
0:12:48 > 0:12:51When Buddy was in high school, at Lubbock High,
0:12:51 > 0:12:55there was an old black man across the street who would shine shoes
0:12:55 > 0:12:57and he had a guitar.
0:12:57 > 0:12:59He would play his guitar like...
0:13:03 > 0:13:06Kind of a blues thing that Buddy really liked.
0:13:06 > 0:13:11So Buddy learned it from this black man and then he turned it into...
0:13:28 > 0:13:31And this part here he learned from Sonny Curtis, I believe.
0:13:39 > 0:13:41In that last session we did
0:13:41 > 0:13:47the end result didn't match what we were kind of expecting, you know.
0:13:47 > 0:13:50We wanted it to be somehow better
0:13:50 > 0:13:53and we were so young and inexperienced
0:13:53 > 0:13:55we didn't know how to do that.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58Owen Bradley said that was the worst song he ever heard.
0:13:58 > 0:14:00They didn't do any good there.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03They had a big argument with the producer.
0:14:03 > 0:14:10Buddy had been dropped by his recording label in Nashville.
0:14:10 > 0:14:16They weren't going to finance any more of his recordings.
0:14:16 > 0:14:19Again, we have to remember this was all brand-new.
0:14:19 > 0:14:22There was no concept of an artist
0:14:22 > 0:14:25having control over their own careers.
0:14:25 > 0:14:30That just didn't exist yet and he was sort of breaking ground there.
0:14:30 > 0:14:32He comes back home,
0:14:32 > 0:14:39he finds Norm Petty and he goes to this tiny little studio in Clovis,
0:14:39 > 0:14:43which is another bump on the road in the middle of New Mexico, nowhere.
0:14:43 > 0:14:47Clovis New Mexico is just across the line from Lubbock.
0:14:47 > 0:14:49It's about 93 miles.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52And Norman Petty, who had a studio there,
0:14:52 > 0:14:56was a great engineer and he had new equipment
0:14:56 > 0:14:59and knew how to run it real well.
0:14:59 > 0:15:01The role of the producer is to create a space
0:15:01 > 0:15:05within which the artist is able to express themselves
0:15:05 > 0:15:08with confidence and totally in their own way.
0:15:08 > 0:15:12And there's no doubt about the fact that that's what Norman Petty did.
0:15:12 > 0:15:15He allowed Buddy to flourish for the first time.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18It didn't happen in Nashville.
0:15:18 > 0:15:20Buddy called me one day and said,
0:15:20 > 0:15:24"We're going over to Clovis and cut this thing.
0:15:24 > 0:15:28"You want to go and play bass for me?" I said, "Sure."
0:15:28 > 0:15:30Larry Wellborn played on That'll Be The Day.
0:15:30 > 0:15:33Really good bass player. Really good guitar player now.
0:15:33 > 0:15:36That'll Be The Day, Maybe Baby, Looking For Someone To Love.
0:15:36 > 0:15:38Last night.
0:15:38 > 0:15:43We did those four songs and we probably did them in two hours.
0:15:45 > 0:15:47There was a group called The Spiders and they had
0:15:47 > 0:15:50a record called Witchcraft and we really liked that record.
0:15:50 > 0:15:52So we thought, OK, let's be an insect.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55In that year in Lubbock there was this ton of crickets.
0:15:55 > 0:16:00It was like a swarm of locusts showed up in Texas.
0:16:00 > 0:16:03And one day they said a cricket got in there.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06And they couldn't get rid of the noise
0:16:06 > 0:16:09so they named us The Crickets.
0:16:10 > 0:16:14The people that Buddy had with him was Niki Sullivan,
0:16:14 > 0:16:17Joe B Mauldin, Jerry Allison and himself.
0:16:18 > 0:16:20That was the four. Buddy played lead.
0:16:22 > 0:16:26Niki did the same thing that Bob did and played rhythm
0:16:26 > 0:16:31and Joe B Mauldin was playing bass and Jerry was playing drums.
0:16:31 > 0:16:33Norman became our manager and then we could...
0:16:33 > 0:16:36There was an apartment at the back of the studio
0:16:36 > 0:16:40and we would go to sleep for a couple of hours.
0:16:40 > 0:16:45If you felt like getting up you'd go and practise. It was just great.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48That'll Be The Day, we did two takes at it.
0:16:48 > 0:16:52With Buddy and the Crickets they were so into with each other
0:16:52 > 0:16:57that they could come over and within two or three takes they had it.
0:16:57 > 0:17:02This is my little box from the day where I used to keep my 45s
0:17:02 > 0:17:06and these were the most precious things in my life, really.
0:17:06 > 0:17:09It starts off with Lonnie Donegan, Rock Island line.
0:17:09 > 0:17:14But number seven is That'll Be The Day.
0:17:14 > 0:17:16So the seventh record that I bought.
0:17:16 > 0:17:19And it comes in something that looks like
0:17:19 > 0:17:23a piece of old brown paper and it did at the time. Very basic.
0:17:23 > 0:17:26And it's on Coral. That's a record label I'd never heard of
0:17:26 > 0:17:28at the time until that point.
0:17:28 > 0:17:30And there's your record.
0:17:30 > 0:17:35So I took it home and put it on the record player I had at the time.
0:17:44 > 0:17:48# Well, that'll be the day when you say goodbye
0:17:48 > 0:17:52# That'll be the day when you make me cry
0:17:52 > 0:17:55# You say you're going to leave, you know it's a lie
0:17:55 > 0:17:59# Cos that'll be the day when I die. #
0:17:59 > 0:18:01His singing approach was quite different, you know.
0:18:01 > 0:18:03This sort of hiccupping sound in is voice.
0:18:03 > 0:18:07It isn't any standard way of singing
0:18:07 > 0:18:11that I've ever heard before or since.
0:18:11 > 0:18:15# Well, you give me all your loving and your turtle doving
0:18:15 > 0:18:18# All your hugs and kisses and your money, too
0:18:18 > 0:18:20# Well, you know you love me, baby
0:18:20 > 0:18:22# Still you tell me maybe
0:18:22 > 0:18:26# That some day, well, I'll be through
0:18:26 > 0:18:29# Well that'll be the day when you say goodbye. #
0:18:29 > 0:18:32It still makes me go hot and cold, I tell you.
0:18:32 > 0:18:34You can hear the ingredients there.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37You hear that incredibly incisive guitar.
0:18:37 > 0:18:39It's really metallic.
0:18:39 > 0:18:43He just bared down on that guitar the way he felt
0:18:43 > 0:18:46and you could feel it come right off the record.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49You know, into my head, my soul, my heart, my spirit.
0:18:49 > 0:18:52It just plastered me against the wall.
0:18:52 > 0:18:56I've got my hand on here which is stopping the strings just after they start.
0:18:56 > 0:18:58It's a damping effect, so it goes.
0:18:59 > 0:19:00It's the difference between...
0:19:00 > 0:19:02and...
0:19:04 > 0:19:07It's very rhythmic and Buddy has this instinct to do it that way
0:19:07 > 0:19:10and I don't know where he got it from but it was unusual at the time.
0:19:10 > 0:19:13And it's given way to all sorts of heavy metal riffs
0:19:13 > 0:19:15which do the same thing, you know.
0:19:17 > 0:19:21# Yes, that'll be the day when you make me cry
0:19:21 > 0:19:25# You say you're going to leave, you know it's a lie. #
0:19:25 > 0:19:28Now he's going to unleash himself on the solo.
0:19:30 > 0:19:32GUITAR SOLO
0:19:39 > 0:19:41Now he's back to the damping even in the solo.
0:19:43 > 0:19:45Back out.
0:19:50 > 0:19:54# Well, that'll be the day when you say goodbye
0:19:54 > 0:19:58# That'll be the day when you make me cry
0:19:58 > 0:20:01# You say you're going to leave, you know it's a lie
0:20:01 > 0:20:04# Cos that'll be the day when I die
0:20:04 > 0:20:07# Well, that'll be the day
0:20:07 > 0:20:10# Ooh-ooh, that'll be the day
0:20:10 > 0:20:14# Ooh-ooh, that'll be the day
0:20:14 > 0:20:16# Ooh-ooh, that'll be the day. #
0:20:20 > 0:20:23Buddy's whole style was unique to him.
0:20:23 > 0:20:28Very unique to him, because Elvis wasn't really a guitar player.
0:20:28 > 0:20:32You know, there was strumming and what have you, but Buddy made
0:20:32 > 0:20:36inroads into that whole new rock and roll vibe,
0:20:36 > 0:20:39and it was just...it was him.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47# If you knew Peggy Sue
0:20:47 > 0:20:51# Then you'd know why I feel blue without Peggy
0:20:52 > 0:20:55# My Peggy Sue
0:20:56 > 0:21:00# Oh, well I love you, gal Yes, I love you, Peggy Sue... #
0:21:03 > 0:21:05Peggy Sue...
0:21:05 > 0:21:11That was my first ex-wife, and she and I had dated in high school.
0:21:11 > 0:21:13She didn't like me that good, but when Peggy Sue came out,
0:21:13 > 0:21:15she liked me real good.
0:21:15 > 0:21:18Buddy was writing a song called Cindy Lou, like...
0:21:18 > 0:21:21# If you knew Cindy Lou... #
0:21:21 > 0:21:23And anyway, I said,
0:21:23 > 0:21:27"Oh, man, you know, there's this girl named Peggy Sue."
0:21:27 > 0:21:29And I think he had met her. We changed it.
0:21:29 > 0:21:33I wish we'd left it as Cindy Lou, to tell you the truth.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44# Peggy Sue, Peggy Sue
0:21:44 > 0:21:47# Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty Peggy Sue
0:21:47 > 0:21:52# Oh, Peggy, my Peggy Sue... #
0:21:53 > 0:21:56Drumming on the song was quite complicated, I mean it's...
0:21:56 > 0:21:59on Peggy Sue, but it's amazing, the drumming.
0:22:02 > 0:22:04You know, all the way through. And fuck! Excuse me.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07- Er... Heavens! - HE LAUGHS
0:22:07 > 0:22:10And it's such an eccentric thing to do.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25# Peggy Sue, Peggy Sue... #
0:22:25 > 0:22:29He would go to a guitar solo, and instead of playing single notes,
0:22:29 > 0:22:33he would play a chord solo, which was kind of unusual then.
0:22:33 > 0:22:37GUITAR CHORD SOLO
0:22:40 > 0:22:45To hear that guitar upfront on a record was really revolutionary.
0:22:45 > 0:22:47You know, you're talking about...
0:22:47 > 0:22:53You're coming out of the big band era and swing and Frank Sinatra.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56The guitar, if it was there, would be in the background,
0:22:56 > 0:22:58just chugging away acoustically.
0:22:58 > 0:23:00You didn't have a guitar just kicking in
0:23:00 > 0:23:02at the beginning of the record, electrified.
0:23:02 > 0:23:05His style was unique.
0:23:05 > 0:23:08That's the thing I learned from country artists,
0:23:08 > 0:23:11and Buddy obviously did, too.
0:23:11 > 0:23:15You get your own style, your own sound
0:23:15 > 0:23:18- and do it with authority. - HE LAUGHS
0:23:18 > 0:23:20And feeling.
0:23:20 > 0:23:24# Oh, well, I love you, gal And I want you, Peggy Sue. #
0:23:26 > 0:23:29And I love the way it just ends.
0:23:29 > 0:23:33The end. Cut the tape, it's finished. Off.
0:23:33 > 0:23:38He was one of the very first to use a Fender Stratocaster, which I think
0:23:38 > 0:23:41came out in, like, 1954.
0:23:41 > 0:23:46Buddy was really unique because he had that flat Fender Stratocaster
0:23:46 > 0:23:49and everybody else had a big old Gibson.
0:23:49 > 0:23:53Guitars were traditionally accompanying instruments, and put in
0:23:53 > 0:23:56the middle of an orchestra you would almost not hear them.
0:23:56 > 0:23:59So they began to electrify them a little bit by first of all putting a
0:23:59 > 0:24:03microphone on, but Les Paul pioneered this technique of putting
0:24:03 > 0:24:07a magnet and a bunch of coiled wire under the strings and putting it
0:24:07 > 0:24:09into an amplifier to actually electrify the guitar.
0:24:10 > 0:24:14And you get the very first Fenders and the very first Gibsons.
0:24:14 > 0:24:18Wow! I'd never seen a guitar that looked anything like that.
0:24:18 > 0:24:23I loved the sound he produced, so later on, in 1959, Cliff said,
0:24:23 > 0:24:26"Look, I'd like to buy you a really good guitar." You know, "Great."
0:24:26 > 0:24:28"What do you fancy?"
0:24:28 > 0:24:31And I said, "Well, the Stratocaster has to be it."
0:24:31 > 0:24:34And the thing about the Strat is it's a very versatile guitar.
0:24:34 > 0:24:38If you think over the years since the Strat's come into being,
0:24:38 > 0:24:40it can sound like a rock and roll guitar,
0:24:40 > 0:24:45you can play blues on it like Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck.
0:24:45 > 0:24:46You can even play jazz on it.
0:24:46 > 0:24:49There are some jazz players who use a Strat.
0:24:49 > 0:24:53Jerry was sitting in a chair in the reception room and he was slapping
0:24:53 > 0:24:56his hands and knees,
0:24:56 > 0:25:01and Norman walked in and asked him what he was doing, and Jerry said,
0:25:01 > 0:25:04"I'm just practising the song we're going to do today."
0:25:04 > 0:25:07Norman said, "Let me put a mic to that."
0:25:07 > 0:25:10So he miked it, came back out, told Jerry, he said,
0:25:10 > 0:25:13"Don't play the drums, just slap your hands and knees."
0:25:13 > 0:25:17# Every day, it's a-gettin' closer
0:25:17 > 0:25:20# Goin' faster than a roller coaster
0:25:20 > 0:25:24# Love like yours will surely come my way
0:25:24 > 0:25:27# A-hey, a-hey hey. #
0:25:27 > 0:25:31Norman could hear things like that that most people would not have.
0:25:31 > 0:25:35On Not Fade Away, the drums is a cardboard box.
0:25:35 > 0:25:38HE IMITATES THE BEAT
0:25:38 > 0:25:41# I'm gonna tell you how it's gonna be
0:25:42 > 0:25:46# You're gonna give your love to me
0:25:47 > 0:25:51# I wanna love you night and day
0:25:52 > 0:25:55# You know my loving not fade away. #
0:25:57 > 0:25:59OK, so this is Maybe Baby.
0:26:02 > 0:26:06MUSIC: Maybe Baby by The Crickets
0:26:16 > 0:26:20See, by then, you haven't heard Buddy yet, but it's all set up.
0:26:20 > 0:26:21The magic is there.
0:26:21 > 0:26:24You hear this incredible guitar, you hear the whole band going -
0:26:24 > 0:26:26it's only a small band but it's big-sounding.
0:26:26 > 0:26:29And then you hear this, "Ooooo-oooh."
0:26:29 > 0:26:31And the harmonies are very carefully
0:26:31 > 0:26:34chosen to have that kind of haunting quality to them.
0:26:34 > 0:26:37Bill didn't realise arrangements were important then.
0:26:37 > 0:26:39But they were.
0:26:39 > 0:26:41They were really important.
0:26:41 > 0:26:47And that was a very important part of it, part of the sound, and he
0:26:47 > 0:26:50knew the record before he got to the first lyric.
0:26:50 > 0:26:54When Buddy comes in, the harmonies are with him.
0:26:57 > 0:27:01# Maybe, baby, I'll have you
0:27:01 > 0:27:04# Maybe, baby, you'll be true
0:27:04 > 0:27:09# Maybe, baby, I'll have you for me
0:27:11 > 0:27:15# It's funny, honey You don't care
0:27:15 > 0:27:18# You never listen to my prayer
0:27:18 > 0:27:23# Maybe, baby, you will love me some day. #
0:27:25 > 0:27:29These sort of tours that Buddy Holly went on at that time were very
0:27:29 > 0:27:31common in the United States then -
0:27:31 > 0:27:33these revues that had a whole long list of artists.
0:27:33 > 0:27:36One of the reason it happened is that a lot of these artists only
0:27:36 > 0:27:37had one or two hits.
0:27:37 > 0:27:42You might have a hit in a region, but outside of, say, Georgia,
0:27:42 > 0:27:45nobody knew who you were and you
0:27:45 > 0:27:48had to kind of take these tours to get your name out there,
0:27:48 > 0:27:54to other parts of the country and to other radio stations.
0:27:54 > 0:27:57Tours then are a lot different than what they are now nowadays.
0:27:57 > 0:28:01Nowadays they may last six months to a year.
0:28:01 > 0:28:06They weren't like today with the luxurious lounges
0:28:06 > 0:28:11and beds and couches and televisions and...
0:28:12 > 0:28:16It was just an ex-Greyhound bus,
0:28:16 > 0:28:18with seats, you know. And...
0:28:20 > 0:28:24We all just piled on there - 12, 14 acts, all of us,
0:28:24 > 0:28:27singers and players, we'd get on one bus.
0:28:27 > 0:28:31They had a backup orchestra, like about 25-, 30-piece orchestra on
0:28:31 > 0:28:35another bus because people like
0:28:35 > 0:28:37Dion and Frankie Avalon and
0:28:37 > 0:28:41The Platters, The Coasters who were some of... Sam Cooke.
0:28:41 > 0:28:46They all had charts, arrangements, and they'd pass out their music
0:28:46 > 0:28:49to the band and the band would back them up.
0:28:49 > 0:28:52Now, I was an exception. Bo Diddley was, as well.
0:28:52 > 0:28:55We took our own groups.
0:28:55 > 0:29:00And the 14-piece band was not near as enthusiastic as
0:29:00 > 0:29:02Buddy and Joe B and I were.
0:29:02 > 0:29:05So you'd get a bus or two buses full of these acts,
0:29:05 > 0:29:07send them out on the road.
0:29:07 > 0:29:11The conditions were horrendous, usually, and they'd sometimes do
0:29:11 > 0:29:13two or three shows in a town
0:29:13 > 0:29:16and then overnight drive to the next town.
0:29:16 > 0:29:18They were pretty gruelling, yeah.
0:29:18 > 0:29:21But you didn't have to work that many songs, you didn't have to do
0:29:21 > 0:29:2445-minute shows or 50-minute or 60-minute shows.
0:29:24 > 0:29:27You just did two or three songs.
0:29:27 > 0:29:31No sleeping arrangements, no bathrooms, freezing through some
0:29:31 > 0:29:34states during the wrong time of the year, but here we were, living
0:29:34 > 0:29:39together, singing together, getting to know each other.
0:29:39 > 0:29:42MUSIC: Well Alright by The Crickets
0:29:46 > 0:29:51Nikki Sullivan didn't like the road as much as everybody else did.
0:29:51 > 0:29:55So he finally just quit.
0:29:55 > 0:29:58After he left, then it became a trio instead of four of them.
0:29:58 > 0:30:02It was Buddy Holly, Jerry Allison and Joe B Mauldin.
0:30:03 > 0:30:06One of the Everly Brothers, when they really talked him into
0:30:06 > 0:30:10wearing that type of glasses, the glasses became the issue.
0:30:10 > 0:30:13When he got the horn-rimmed glasses he looked more contemporary,
0:30:13 > 0:30:16and I think we inspired him to do that.
0:30:16 > 0:30:18We told him that was a good idea.
0:30:18 > 0:30:23He had the old wire-rimmed ones, which later became fashionable,
0:30:23 > 0:30:26but then it wasn't fashionable
0:30:26 > 0:30:30and the horn rims with the dark glasses was the best thing.
0:30:30 > 0:30:34The fact that Buddy Holly looked like a math major
0:30:34 > 0:30:37instead of a pop star was something else
0:30:37 > 0:30:40that kind of changed the whole rule book.
0:30:40 > 0:30:43You know, Elton John never would've put on glasses
0:30:43 > 0:30:45if Buddy Holly hadn't come along.
0:30:45 > 0:30:49Elton John didn't need glasses, but he loved the way Buddy Holly looked.
0:30:49 > 0:30:53I remember one situation in 1959, we were doing a gig
0:30:53 > 0:30:56and one of the support acts said,
0:30:56 > 0:31:00"Do not wear your specs on stage."
0:31:00 > 0:31:04He said, "That's not showbiz. We don't wear specs on stage."
0:31:04 > 0:31:07I said, "Denny, I'm almost blind. I'll fall over."
0:31:07 > 0:31:11He said, "It doesn't matter. Don't wear your glasses."
0:31:11 > 0:31:15And I thought, "No, if Buddy Holly can get away with it, so can I."
0:31:15 > 0:31:19He was not a Rock Hudson or an Elvis Presley or whoever,
0:31:19 > 0:31:22but he was so cool, and when he got up there, man,
0:31:22 > 0:31:25he communicated with that audience,
0:31:25 > 0:31:28he made them love him.
0:31:28 > 0:31:33The first of the songs that I wrote was Oh, Boy!
0:31:33 > 0:31:38And I came to the same studio in Clovis,
0:31:38 > 0:31:42at the Petty Studio in Clovis, and I recorded Oh, Boy!
0:31:42 > 0:31:44# All my love
0:31:44 > 0:31:45# All my kissin'
0:31:45 > 0:31:47# You don't know what you've been a-missin'
0:31:47 > 0:31:49# Oh, boy!
0:31:49 > 0:31:51# When you're with me Oh, boy!
0:31:51 > 0:31:53# The world can see
0:31:53 > 0:31:54# That you
0:31:54 > 0:31:56# Were meant
0:31:56 > 0:31:57# For me. #
0:31:58 > 0:32:06And Norman played this demo that I had made of Oh, Boy! to Buddy,
0:32:06 > 0:32:10and he really liked the song, so Norman called me and he said,
0:32:10 > 0:32:12"He wants to do that song."
0:32:12 > 0:32:15And, you know, Buddy had an excitement in his voice
0:32:15 > 0:32:19that I didn't have or probably couldn't have,
0:32:19 > 0:32:21so it was a big deal for me.
0:32:21 > 0:32:22# All of my life
0:32:22 > 0:32:23# I've been a-waitin'
0:32:23 > 0:32:25# Tonight there'll be no hesitatin'
0:32:25 > 0:32:27# Oh, boy!
0:32:27 > 0:32:29# When you're with me Oh, boy!
0:32:29 > 0:32:30# The world can see
0:32:30 > 0:32:31# That you
0:32:31 > 0:32:32# Were meant
0:32:32 > 0:32:33# For me
0:32:35 > 0:32:38# Stars appear and shadows a-falling
0:32:38 > 0:32:40# You can hear my heart a-calling
0:32:40 > 0:32:42# A little bit a-lovin' makes everything right
0:32:42 > 0:32:44# And I'm gonna see my baby tonight
0:32:44 > 0:32:45# All of my love
0:32:45 > 0:32:47# All of my kissin'
0:32:47 > 0:32:49# You don't know what you've been a-missin'
0:32:49 > 0:32:50# Oh, boy!
0:32:50 > 0:32:52# When you're with me Oh, boy!
0:32:52 > 0:32:53# The world can see
0:32:53 > 0:32:54# That you
0:32:54 > 0:32:55# Were meant
0:32:55 > 0:32:57# For me
0:32:57 > 0:32:58# Ow! #
0:33:12 > 0:33:14Buddy Holly is a great interpreter, a great singer.
0:33:16 > 0:33:20He doesn't have to write the song. He sings it as if he wrote it.
0:33:20 > 0:33:23It might as well be written by him because it's his now.
0:33:23 > 0:33:26That's what an interpreter - a really good interpreter - does.
0:33:26 > 0:33:29And Buddy Holly was first and foremost an excellent singer
0:33:29 > 0:33:32and an excellent interpreter.
0:33:32 > 0:33:37And then beyond that he had this vast genius talent as a songwriter.
0:33:37 > 0:33:40And he was great at picking songs, you know, from other people.
0:33:40 > 0:33:44Rave On was a little bit similar
0:33:44 > 0:33:47situation as Oh, Boy! was.
0:33:47 > 0:33:52I was working on the song and I brought it over here to Clovis,
0:33:52 > 0:33:54and it just wasn't right.
0:33:54 > 0:33:57# I know it's got me reelin'
0:33:57 > 0:33:59# When you say, I love you
0:33:59 > 0:34:02# Rave on... #
0:34:02 > 0:34:04A couple of months later Buddy Holly put it out.
0:34:04 > 0:34:07The same thing happened as the one with Oh, Boy!
0:34:07 > 0:34:10I thought his version was a totally different
0:34:10 > 0:34:13rhythm and attitude than mine.
0:34:13 > 0:34:15It's how he did stuff.
0:34:15 > 0:34:17I mean, it doesn't really matter whether it's ones he wrote or not,
0:34:17 > 0:34:23but his way of doing it, his songs, was unique.
0:34:23 > 0:34:25It's all Buddy Holly, when you're listening to it.
0:34:25 > 0:34:27# The way you dance a-and hold me tight
0:34:27 > 0:34:31# The way you kiss and say goodnight
0:34:31 > 0:34:34# Rave on It's a crazy feeling and
0:34:34 > 0:34:36# I know it's got me reeling
0:34:36 > 0:34:39# When you say I love you
0:34:39 > 0:34:41# Rave on
0:34:42 > 0:34:45# A-well rave on a-it's a crazy feeling and
0:34:45 > 0:34:48# And I know It's got me reeling
0:34:48 > 0:34:50# I'm so glad
0:34:50 > 0:34:51# That you're revealing
0:34:51 > 0:34:53# Your love for me... #
0:34:55 > 0:34:57He broke the nice barrier, for me.
0:34:57 > 0:35:01All the music I was listening to was nice.
0:35:02 > 0:35:04And to this guy it was like the kiss of death.
0:35:04 > 0:35:06Nice was the kiss of death.
0:35:06 > 0:35:10It was like, here we go, hold on to your ass...
0:35:10 > 0:35:12# Hey, baby, baby
0:35:12 > 0:35:13# Now the little things you say... #
0:35:13 > 0:35:15You know, it was like, ah!
0:35:17 > 0:35:21In the five months since That'll Be The Day was a hit
0:35:21 > 0:35:24Buddy Holly And The Crickets had toured not only the US,
0:35:24 > 0:35:30but Australia, and in March 1958 arrived for a tour of the UK.
0:35:30 > 0:35:31# But now you're gone
0:35:31 > 0:35:32# I've found I'm wrong
0:35:32 > 0:35:34# And there's a-nothing I can do
0:35:34 > 0:35:37# Except to change up all those changes
0:35:37 > 0:35:40# That I made when I left you... #
0:35:50 > 0:35:54We got to England, Joe B came in the dressing room with a big cigar,
0:35:54 > 0:35:58Buddy and I were scuffling, trying to get it away from him and,
0:35:58 > 0:36:00anyway, so he knocked a cap off.
0:36:00 > 0:36:03"Oh, man, what a fun time for this, before the show."
0:36:03 > 0:36:06And so we got some chewing gum and put it in there and did the show.
0:36:08 > 0:36:09Chewing gum for a tooth.
0:36:11 > 0:36:14Then we played at the London Palladium,
0:36:14 > 0:36:16and Bob Hope was on the show,
0:36:16 > 0:36:18and Bob Hope was about as big a deal
0:36:18 > 0:36:20as you could get in the United States.
0:36:20 > 0:36:25And Bob Hope actually came by and said, "How are you, boys?"
0:36:25 > 0:36:27We said, "Fine, Mr Hope."
0:36:30 > 0:36:36In the United States we did well in the north-east, like New York,
0:36:36 > 0:36:37and the Midwest,
0:36:37 > 0:36:40and weren't ever that hot in Texas or California.
0:36:40 > 0:36:43In the United States, Buddy Holly's only number one hit
0:36:43 > 0:36:45was That'll Be The Day.
0:36:45 > 0:36:47It's hard to believe.
0:36:47 > 0:36:53But in England, we had fans everywhere we went.
0:36:53 > 0:36:57The specific group that had turned onto Buddy at that time
0:36:57 > 0:36:59was the Quarrymen.
0:36:59 > 0:37:02John Lennon, '57, with his group, The Quarrymen,
0:37:02 > 0:37:04meeting Paul McCartney,
0:37:04 > 0:37:06then George Harrison being added to the band,
0:37:06 > 0:37:09the other guys in The Quarrymen beginning to fall away a little bit,
0:37:09 > 0:37:11but by this time now you're beginning to get
0:37:11 > 0:37:13the nucleus of The Beatles.
0:37:13 > 0:37:18And what's the first song that they record when they go in
0:37:18 > 0:37:21and make their first ever demo in 1958?
0:37:21 > 0:37:23It was That'll Be The Day,
0:37:23 > 0:37:28because they were totally turned on to what Buddy Holly was doing.
0:37:31 > 0:37:35# Well, that'll be the day when you say goodbye
0:37:35 > 0:37:37# Yes, that'll be the day
0:37:37 > 0:37:39# When you make me cry
0:37:39 > 0:37:41# You say you're gonna leave You know it's a lie
0:37:41 > 0:37:45# Cos that'll be the day when I die. #
0:37:45 > 0:37:49Later, The Beatles' cover version of Words Of Love is one of
0:37:49 > 0:37:53the nicest covers of a Buddy Holly song ever.
0:37:53 > 0:37:57Not Fade Away, which the Stones covered in '64.
0:37:57 > 0:37:59I love the Stones version of it, actually.
0:37:59 > 0:38:01# I wanna tell you how it's gonna be
0:38:03 > 0:38:05# You're gonna give your love to me
0:38:07 > 0:38:09# I wanna love you night and day
0:38:11 > 0:38:15# Well, you know my loving not fade away
0:38:15 > 0:38:18# Well, you know my loving not fade away... #
0:38:19 > 0:38:24So, you know, that was the kind of deep influence that Buddy
0:38:24 > 0:38:26was beginning to have on the UK music scene.
0:38:26 > 0:38:29The first album I bought was The Chirping Crickets,
0:38:29 > 0:38:32which happened to be the first album that Eric Clapton bought, too.
0:38:32 > 0:38:37So, we were all influenced by that music around that time.
0:38:37 > 0:38:40And of course there was the picture of the Stratocaster on the cover,
0:38:40 > 0:38:44and I thought, "This guitar is from outer space. This is unbelievable."
0:38:44 > 0:38:48The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, Eric Clapton,
0:38:48 > 0:38:52all these people came over and, to a person,
0:38:52 > 0:38:55they talked about the fact that Buddy Holly,
0:38:55 > 0:38:59you know, sparked all this excitement in them.
0:38:59 > 0:39:03One of the things that inspired The Beatles was the fact that
0:39:03 > 0:39:07almost all of Buddy Holly's records sounded a little bit different,
0:39:07 > 0:39:09one to the other.
0:39:09 > 0:39:12The next one wasn't just a copy of the one that went before,
0:39:12 > 0:39:16they were looking to bring different sounds into the mix.
0:39:16 > 0:39:18- So they were prepared to... - SLAPS THIGHS
0:39:18 > 0:39:19you know, experiment with thigh slapping.
0:39:19 > 0:39:23"See what that sounds like on Everyday. Oh, it works. Oh, great," you know.
0:39:23 > 0:39:25And they wouldn't know that four or five years later that
0:39:25 > 0:39:27John and Paul would be listening to this going,
0:39:27 > 0:39:31"OK, so, we're going to make each Beatle track...
0:39:31 > 0:39:32"So that one had a lead guitar solo,
0:39:32 > 0:39:34"let's put harpsichord on the next one,
0:39:34 > 0:39:36"or let's put piano on the next one."
0:39:36 > 0:39:39And they got that absolutely directly from Buddy Holly.
0:39:41 > 0:39:46Everything in Lubbock and Clovis had become too small for him.
0:39:46 > 0:39:50He actually knew that he didn't want to stay there because
0:39:50 > 0:39:52he knew that he would not go anywhere,
0:39:52 > 0:39:55and of course the only place that he would go
0:39:55 > 0:40:01would be Norman Petty's home
0:40:01 > 0:40:02to record.
0:40:02 > 0:40:08And New York represented this new challenge.
0:40:08 > 0:40:14# Words of love you whisper soft and true
0:40:14 > 0:40:18# Darling, I love you... #
0:40:18 > 0:40:21We were just as happy as kids could be.
0:40:23 > 0:40:25That's what it was to go to New York.
0:40:33 > 0:40:37My aunt used to work for Southern Music Publishing Company,
0:40:37 > 0:40:43and then she became the one in charge of a department.
0:40:43 > 0:40:48They had a receptionist and she quit
0:40:48 > 0:40:50and my aunt thought of me.
0:40:50 > 0:40:52And that day that Buddy came in
0:40:52 > 0:40:56with Jerry and Joe B, they said,
0:40:56 > 0:40:59"That's love at first sight."
0:40:59 > 0:41:00That's how they called it.
0:41:00 > 0:41:03Meaning that I saw him and I fell in love with him,
0:41:03 > 0:41:07and he saw me and fell in love with me, without saying anything.
0:41:09 > 0:41:11We went to PJ Clarke.
0:41:11 > 0:41:16At that time they used to have women selling flowers
0:41:16 > 0:41:19and selling cigarettes around,
0:41:19 > 0:41:22and Buddy said, "I'll be right back."
0:41:22 > 0:41:26So he comes with his hands in the bag
0:41:26 > 0:41:29and sat down and put the red flower
0:41:29 > 0:41:32and said, "Will you marry me?"
0:41:32 > 0:41:39I said, "Well, do you want to get married now or after dinner?"
0:41:39 > 0:41:41- I said... - SHE LAUGHS
0:41:41 > 0:41:44And he said, "Well, I'm serious. I want to get married."
0:41:44 > 0:41:50And Buddy said, "I'll be here tomorrow to talk to your aunt."
0:41:50 > 0:41:52He came in and Aunt said, "Who's there?"
0:41:52 > 0:41:55I said, "Oh, it's Buddy,
0:41:55 > 0:41:58"the young man that I went out with last night."
0:41:58 > 0:42:03She said, "What is he doing here on Saturday?"
0:42:03 > 0:42:07Buddy said, "Well, I need to tell you,
0:42:07 > 0:42:10"I asked Maria Elena to marry me."
0:42:10 > 0:42:14And my aunt looked at me, "Are you pulling my leg?"
0:42:14 > 0:42:17He said, "No, ma'am. I want to get married,
0:42:17 > 0:42:20"and I need to do it now because I'm going on a tour
0:42:20 > 0:42:23"and I want to take her with me.
0:42:23 > 0:42:29"I don't think you're going to let her come without being married."
0:42:29 > 0:42:32And my aunt said, "Well, what about your parents?
0:42:32 > 0:42:34"How do they feel about this?"
0:42:34 > 0:42:37"Oh, they don't know anything yet.
0:42:37 > 0:42:41"But if you give me permission to use your phone,
0:42:41 > 0:42:44"I will be able to tell them."
0:42:45 > 0:42:47And...
0:42:47 > 0:42:49my aunt said, "Well, go ahead."
0:42:51 > 0:42:54When I got married in his home,
0:42:54 > 0:42:59Larry and Travis and just the family
0:42:59 > 0:43:00that was there,
0:43:00 > 0:43:04and Peggy Sue was there, and Jerry.
0:43:04 > 0:43:06They were thrilled to be together
0:43:06 > 0:43:09and you could see it written all over him.
0:43:09 > 0:43:13You couldn't get the smile off his face with a, you know,
0:43:13 > 0:43:15with a fist.
0:43:15 > 0:43:18He just kept that big goofy smile all the time.
0:43:18 > 0:43:22My aunt lived on 10th Street and we lived on 11th.
0:43:22 > 0:43:25And during the day Buddy would go to my aunt's apartment
0:43:25 > 0:43:29and play the piano with the songs that he was writing.
0:43:29 > 0:43:33And then at night he would continue writing and said,
0:43:33 > 0:43:36"You know, we need to go and get some fresh air."
0:43:36 > 0:43:40And this was just about 10.00 or 12 midnight.
0:43:40 > 0:43:42I said, "Now?" He said, "Yeah."
0:43:42 > 0:43:44I said, "But I have my pyjamas on."
0:43:44 > 0:43:47He said, "Oh, don't worry. Just roll them up and put the...
0:43:47 > 0:43:50SHE LAUGHS
0:43:50 > 0:43:53"..your coat on and I'll do the same thing."
0:43:53 > 0:43:57And we used to go and walk a couple of blocks down,
0:43:57 > 0:43:59and that's Greenwich Village.
0:44:00 > 0:44:06Sometimes he would go out with his guitar to sit down there
0:44:06 > 0:44:08and start humming.
0:44:08 > 0:44:12And then all of a sudden you see a lot of kids coming over
0:44:12 > 0:44:16and Buddy would show them how to play the guitar.
0:44:18 > 0:44:21And then he re...
0:44:21 > 0:44:24I hate the word "reinvents," cos he was just fine like he was,
0:44:24 > 0:44:28but he comes with these beautiful string arrangements in these
0:44:28 > 0:44:32last sessions that he did. It Doesn't Matter Anymore.
0:44:32 > 0:44:35Moondreams, True Love Ways,
0:44:35 > 0:44:37which just takes your breath away.
0:44:37 > 0:44:44This was a very, very talented man who had tremendous breadth.
0:44:44 > 0:44:48He'd moved away from that guitar-based rock and roll
0:44:48 > 0:44:52into now orchestral, saxes,
0:44:52 > 0:44:54a bigger band situation.
0:44:54 > 0:44:57He was still growing into himself, in a sense.
0:44:57 > 0:44:59But all of the sudden he had found,
0:44:59 > 0:45:02probably found love for the first time in his life.
0:45:02 > 0:45:07And he was up and positive and writing for a new world.
0:45:07 > 0:45:09See, he's gone the whole circle here.
0:45:09 > 0:45:12He's been a guy who's reacted against crooning
0:45:12 > 0:45:14and his parents' generation,
0:45:14 > 0:45:17but here he's come all the way back into something
0:45:17 > 0:45:19which is very romantic, unashamedly,
0:45:19 > 0:45:21and his voice is beautiful on it, I think.
0:45:21 > 0:45:24And I could imagine Frank Sinatra singing something like that.
0:45:24 > 0:45:28# But soon these tears are bound to flow
0:45:28 > 0:45:30# Cos it's raining
0:45:32 > 0:45:36# Raining in my heart... #
0:45:36 > 0:45:40Paul brought this song, It Doesn't Matter Anymore.
0:45:40 > 0:45:43And the only thing he told Paul is that,
0:45:43 > 0:45:48"I will do it if I do it my way, the way I hear it."
0:45:50 > 0:45:54And Paul said, "Well, be my guest."
0:45:54 > 0:45:57It was, I think, Buddy's first experience with a big band.
0:45:57 > 0:46:00You know, it was always the little rhythm section,
0:46:00 > 0:46:03but, you know, he was always thinking ahead, obviously.
0:46:03 > 0:46:06And there he was, in the studio with this huge string section and,
0:46:06 > 0:46:09you know, I gave it my vibe and then they came up with all the
0:46:09 > 0:46:11pizzicato strings and all of that.
0:46:11 > 0:46:13And it was that simple.
0:46:17 > 0:46:20# There you go and baby Here am I
0:46:20 > 0:46:25# Well, you left me here so I could sit and cry
0:46:25 > 0:46:29# Well, golly gee what have you done to me?
0:46:29 > 0:46:32# Well, I guess it doesn't matter any more... #
0:46:33 > 0:46:34True Love Ways.
0:46:34 > 0:46:37This is a song that Buddy had written,
0:46:37 > 0:46:40and he wrote that song for me.
0:46:40 > 0:46:43And that's, of course, my favourite.
0:46:43 > 0:46:46He went and got the guitar and sat right there,
0:46:46 > 0:46:48just him and the guitar,
0:46:48 > 0:46:52and I said, "You know, Buddy, I believe that's the best tune you've ever done."
0:46:52 > 0:46:54He said, "I think so, too."
0:46:54 > 0:46:59All of Buddy's songs are my favourite, but this was special.
0:46:59 > 0:47:03# Sometimes we'll sigh
0:47:04 > 0:47:08# Sometimes we'll cry
0:47:10 > 0:47:13# And we'll know why
0:47:13 > 0:47:16# Just you and I
0:47:16 > 0:47:20# Know true love ways... #
0:47:21 > 0:47:24I've thought about these New York records a lot
0:47:24 > 0:47:31because the production and the whole sound on those four tracks
0:47:31 > 0:47:35was so, so different from what Buddy had been doing before.
0:47:35 > 0:47:38Did this represent the watering down
0:47:38 > 0:47:41of the Buddy Holly rock and roll sound?
0:47:41 > 0:47:44There's no answer to that question cos we simply don't know.
0:47:44 > 0:47:47Buddy died a few weeks afterwards,
0:47:47 > 0:47:53and so what direction he would have taken following those recordings,
0:47:53 > 0:47:55I'm really not quite sure.
0:47:55 > 0:47:59Certainly, they did represent a sea change.
0:47:59 > 0:48:02Some people know they're going to die young,
0:48:02 > 0:48:04cos that's how they function -
0:48:04 > 0:48:06they're functional young people.
0:48:06 > 0:48:09and so they get it all done in that period of time
0:48:09 > 0:48:12and it's just a concentrated body of work.
0:48:12 > 0:48:16Norman was handling the finances,
0:48:16 > 0:48:20and I told Buddy,
0:48:20 > 0:48:23"You know, we're married,
0:48:23 > 0:48:29"we need to learn to manage our money.
0:48:29 > 0:48:32"So we need to go to Norman Petty
0:48:32 > 0:48:35"and tell him that we need our share."
0:48:35 > 0:48:37So we went to see Norman.
0:48:37 > 0:48:40Buddy said, "You know, I want my money."
0:48:40 > 0:48:42And Norman looked and said,
0:48:42 > 0:48:46"Well, you know, I don't know how much you're supposed to get."
0:48:46 > 0:48:49The sour note in this story is that at some point, you know,
0:48:49 > 0:48:55obviously Norm Petty did not do right by Buddy Holly.
0:48:55 > 0:48:58Buddy was having cash-flow problems.
0:48:58 > 0:49:02I think, had things worked out
0:49:02 > 0:49:05and Buddy Holly not been on hard times financially,
0:49:05 > 0:49:09he never would've gone on that fateful tour.
0:49:09 > 0:49:13Ritchie Valens was starting with his career
0:49:13 > 0:49:17and the Big Bopper, also.
0:49:17 > 0:49:21They were doing this show and Buddy said, "That's fine with me.
0:49:21 > 0:49:23"I'll go in."
0:49:23 > 0:49:27I didn't go on this tour
0:49:27 > 0:49:29because I was pregnant.
0:49:31 > 0:49:35We were always cold, and it was the dead of winter,
0:49:35 > 0:49:3930 below zero at some of these... you know, some nights,
0:49:39 > 0:49:43with the wind-chill factor and everything. It was cold.
0:49:43 > 0:49:46No problem, until the bus started breaking down,
0:49:46 > 0:49:48and it broke down quite a bit.
0:49:48 > 0:49:53And we were on the side of the road and in a blinding blizzard.
0:49:53 > 0:49:55I mean, four in the morning.
0:49:55 > 0:49:58Carl Bunch, the drummer,
0:49:58 > 0:50:00his feet were frozen.
0:50:00 > 0:50:02And he developed frostbite.
0:50:02 > 0:50:04So we took him to the hospital
0:50:04 > 0:50:06and we kind of get that fixed up,
0:50:06 > 0:50:09but Buddy starts getting, "I'm chartering a plane."
0:50:09 > 0:50:12I knew that if I would've been there,
0:50:12 > 0:50:16Buddy would have not taken the plane because I would have said...
0:50:16 > 0:50:18put my foot down and said no.
0:50:18 > 0:50:22He calls everybody into a room and says,
0:50:22 > 0:50:24"Listen, I've got a plane,
0:50:24 > 0:50:27"but it has four seats.
0:50:27 > 0:50:32"The pilot, myself, there's two seats."
0:50:33 > 0:50:36And Buddy starts telling us it's 36.
0:50:36 > 0:50:41I wasn't going to spend a whole month's rent on a flight like that.
0:50:41 > 0:50:43We did a great show that night.
0:50:43 > 0:50:48After the show Carroll Anderson pulled up with a station wagon
0:50:48 > 0:50:53and Ritchie, the Big Bopper and Buddy
0:50:53 > 0:50:55got in and they took off for the airport.
0:51:06 > 0:51:10She said, "Is your name Holley?"
0:51:10 > 0:51:12I said, "Yeah."
0:51:12 > 0:51:17She said, "You'd better get in touch with your folks."
0:51:18 > 0:51:21And... I knew then.
0:51:29 > 0:51:31HE SOBS GENTLY
0:51:31 > 0:51:32And...
0:51:35 > 0:51:40I tried to call mother and them and I couldn't get the line.
0:51:40 > 0:51:42So I went over there.
0:51:42 > 0:51:44I thought if...
0:51:44 > 0:51:46if Buddy is still alive...
0:51:47 > 0:51:50..I can bring him back.
0:51:51 > 0:51:56I turned the TV on and it was all on TV.
0:52:00 > 0:52:02And they hit the ground full blast.
0:52:05 > 0:52:07They really hit,
0:52:07 > 0:52:11and they hit and bounced and came down the end.
0:52:11 > 0:52:15And that's when they were...
0:52:15 > 0:52:20There was a barbed wire fence that finally stopped it.
0:52:20 > 0:52:24We pulled into Fargo -
0:52:24 > 0:52:29I don't know - maybe 10.30 in the morning.
0:52:29 > 0:52:31It seemed like a summer's day.
0:52:31 > 0:52:35It was warm, the sun was shining,
0:52:35 > 0:52:37Sam Geller, as usual,
0:52:37 > 0:52:41just jumped off the bus into the hotel.
0:52:41 > 0:52:48Sam asked, "Buddy Holly, JP Richardson, Ritchie Valens,
0:52:48 > 0:52:50"what rooms are they in?"
0:52:50 > 0:52:52They said, "They never made it."
0:52:52 > 0:52:55And the locals in the town were sitting around
0:52:55 > 0:52:58a black-and-white TV in the lobby and they said,
0:52:58 > 0:53:01"Three rock and roll artists die in plane crash."
0:53:01 > 0:53:02And it was all over the news.
0:53:09 > 0:53:10I was a paperboy.
0:53:10 > 0:53:14That's the only job I've ever had in my life, is a paperboy.
0:53:14 > 0:53:17And I open the papers, and there it said,
0:53:17 > 0:53:23"Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, the Big Bopper killed in a plane crash."
0:53:23 > 0:53:25I couldn't even move.
0:53:25 > 0:53:29I mean, I read this story and the whole time I was just in shock.
0:53:29 > 0:53:31I hadn't had that kind of a shock in my life,
0:53:31 > 0:53:33so it's something I will never forget.
0:53:33 > 0:53:34And I just remember thinking,
0:53:34 > 0:53:37"So there won't be any more?" You know, "How can that be?
0:53:37 > 0:53:39"We won't hear him any more?"
0:53:39 > 0:53:42I walked out to the bus and I sat in the bus,
0:53:42 > 0:53:47I felt like I was maybe alone on the bus and I...
0:53:47 > 0:53:49Like I said, it just didn't make sense.
0:53:49 > 0:53:54I'm sitting there with Buddy Holly's guitar on one of the seats,
0:53:54 > 0:53:58he'd told me to take care of it,
0:53:58 > 0:54:00Ritchie Valens's clothes,
0:54:00 > 0:54:04his little blue vest is hanging up,
0:54:04 > 0:54:06the Bopper's hat is in the hat rack,
0:54:06 > 0:54:11and I'm looking around the bus and I'm thinking,
0:54:11 > 0:54:13"This..."
0:54:13 > 0:54:14I don't know. I was in shock.
0:54:14 > 0:54:19I remember taking to my bed, I remember going into my bedroom,
0:54:19 > 0:54:22shutting the door and that was it for about two weeks.
0:54:23 > 0:54:26I felt so bad, you know.
0:54:26 > 0:54:31It was very trying and a very terrible feeling, you know.
0:54:31 > 0:54:33I lost the baby.
0:54:33 > 0:54:37The shock, I guess, of...
0:54:37 > 0:54:39I lost the baby.
0:54:48 > 0:54:52I started writing a song up in the
0:54:52 > 0:54:55little room that I used to use. And I sang...
0:54:55 > 0:54:57# A long, long time ago
0:54:57 > 0:55:02# I can still remember how that music used to make me smile. #
0:55:02 > 0:55:03The whole thing came out.
0:55:03 > 0:55:06# And I knew if I had my chance
0:55:06 > 0:55:09# I could make those people dance
0:55:09 > 0:55:12# And maybe they'd be happy for a while
0:55:12 > 0:55:15# But February made me shiver
0:55:15 > 0:55:18# With every paper I deliver
0:55:18 > 0:55:20# Bad news on the doorstep
0:55:20 > 0:55:23# I couldn't take one more step
0:55:23 > 0:55:26# I can't remember if I cried
0:55:26 > 0:55:30# When I read about his widowed bride
0:55:30 > 0:55:33# But something touched me deep inside
0:55:33 > 0:55:36# The day the music died. #
0:55:36 > 0:55:38That's all I had.
0:55:39 > 0:55:41I thought, "What the heck is that?
0:55:41 > 0:55:43"Where did that come from?"
0:55:43 > 0:55:47And I had this thing, cos I really felt bad for Maria-Elena.
0:55:47 > 0:55:52Up to this day, I kind of blame myself.
0:56:01 > 0:56:03That I should have gone,
0:56:03 > 0:56:06insist on going.
0:56:06 > 0:56:09# Just you know why
0:56:12 > 0:56:15# Why you and I
0:56:17 > 0:56:22# Will bye and bye
0:56:22 > 0:56:29# Know true love ways
0:56:29 > 0:56:32# Sometimes we'll sigh... #
0:56:32 > 0:56:35I think that in America everyone thinks that when John F Kennedy died
0:56:35 > 0:56:38that was when America lost its innocence,
0:56:38 > 0:56:40but this was really a precursor to that.
0:56:40 > 0:56:42This was really, I think,
0:56:42 > 0:56:48the first time that the youth of America felt a huge loss.
0:56:48 > 0:56:53He had such a glittering, and such a tragically short, career
0:56:53 > 0:56:58but, boy, he changed the world, Buddy, completely, in that time.
0:56:58 > 0:57:02He was one of the key influential artists that
0:57:02 > 0:57:07allowed and influenced rock and roll and pop music
0:57:07 > 0:57:10and everything that we're at today,
0:57:10 > 0:57:12that helped bring it to the forefront.
0:57:12 > 0:57:15To me, Buddy Holly just works every time you put it on
0:57:15 > 0:57:18just as well as it did in the first place.
0:57:18 > 0:57:20And that's...
0:57:20 > 0:57:22That makes it a masterpiece.
0:57:22 > 0:57:24If I had an ambition for Buddy Holly's music,
0:57:24 > 0:57:29it would be to see it embraced by the current generation
0:57:29 > 0:57:32of emerging artists, particularly in Britain,
0:57:32 > 0:57:35where I think we're blessed to have a fabulous generation
0:57:35 > 0:57:38of new singer-songwriters.
0:57:38 > 0:57:42I would love, for example, just to pull a name out of the air,
0:57:42 > 0:57:45but if Ed Sheeran, let's say, covered a Buddy Holly song
0:57:45 > 0:57:47and put it on his new record,
0:57:47 > 0:57:50and therefore then introduced the music of Buddy Holly
0:57:50 > 0:57:53to a generation that maybe doesn't know about him.
0:57:53 > 0:57:55I would love to see that happen.
0:57:55 > 0:57:57This is the beautiful thing about music.
0:57:57 > 0:58:00To me, to my mind, it's the highest art form,
0:58:00 > 0:58:03higher than any other art form, because it's invisible.
0:58:03 > 0:58:06It exists in your mind and my mind.
0:58:06 > 0:58:08It's not something tangible or physical,
0:58:08 > 0:58:10it will always live
0:58:10 > 0:58:13because it's inside people's minds and their hearts,
0:58:13 > 0:58:15it touches their emotions,
0:58:15 > 0:58:20it describes and expresses inexpressible feelings,
0:58:20 > 0:58:24and nothing can do that but music.
0:58:24 > 0:58:25Buddy said to me,
0:58:25 > 0:58:29"I don't know how to succeed, but I know how to fail.
0:58:29 > 0:58:31"Just try to please everybody."
0:58:41 > 0:58:44# I'm gonna tell you how it's gonna be
0:58:44 > 0:58:46# Ooo-bop bop bop-bop
0:58:46 > 0:58:49# You're gonna give your love to me
0:58:49 > 0:58:51# Ooo-bop bop bop-bop
0:58:51 > 0:58:54# A love to last more than one day
0:58:54 > 0:58:56# Ooo-bop bop bop-bop
0:58:56 > 0:58:59# Love is love and not fade away
0:58:59 > 0:59:01# Ooo-bop bop bop-bop. #