50 years ago: Patsy Cline charted with “Crazy”

Crazy Patsy Cline

Writer(s): Willie Nelson (see lyrics here) Recorded: August 21, 1961 First Charted: October 9, 1961 Peak: 9 US, 13 CB, 9 GR, 11 HR, 2 AC, 2 CW, 14 UK, 56 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- US, -- UK, -- world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 2.0 radio, 22.73 video, 61.28 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Before Willie Nelson became one of country music’s top singers, he broke into the industry as a songwriter after “having tried everything from encyclopedia selling to hawking vacuum cleaners door-to-door.” HL After Faron Young took Nelson’s “Hello Walls” to the top of the country charts, seemingly everyone in town wanted a Willie song. Patsy Cline was looking for a follow-up to “I Fall to Pieces” which had potential to cross over to the pop charts. AC She loved his song “Funny How Time Slips Away,” but Billy Walker, whose relationship with Nelson went back to their Texas days, AC got to it first. Cline was furious, but Willie and Billy thought her voice was perfect for another song Walker had demoed. AC When told the song title was “Crazy,” she shot back, “It sure is.” RS500 She was looking for the up-tempo fare she was more accustomed to singing. A slow-torch song was not what she had in mind. NPR Cline’s producer, Owen Bradley, was convinced of the song’s potential, believing it to be well suited to “her vocal talents and expressive style.” NPR She was on crutches when she recorded the song. She had a fractured hip and near-fatal head injuries HL after she and her brother were in a head-on collision SS that threw her through the car’s windshield. HL “With a lush arrangement and understated backing vocals” RS500 from the Jordanaires alongside the “slow-burn sex appeal” RS500 she infused in the lyrics, she made the song her own. She recorded the vocal in one take TC for her “best-remembered performance.” HL It was “a perfect vehicle to showcase [her] poignant, heartbreaking voice and superb musicianship.” NRR It “bears the marks of Nelson’s idiosyncratic personality – it’s pop and jazz and western and not quite pure country.” TC It became more than just Cline’s only top-10 pop hit and signature tune. Willie Nelson called it “the favorite of anything I ever wrote.” AC “The most enduringly popular ballad in country music history” SS is also the top jukebox single of all time. NPR It launched a new sound in country music called “countrypolitan” RS500 which gained popularity in the wake of rock and roll’s explosive success. NRR Sadly, Cline herself wouldn’t be around to see where country music was headed; she died in a plane crash in March 1963. Resources: AC Ace Collins (1996). The Stories Behind Country Music’s All-Time Greatest 100 Songs. New York, NY; The Berkley Publishing Group. Page 157. TC Toby Creswell (2005). 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time. Thunder’s Mouth Press: New York, NY. Pages 668-9. HL Michael Heatley and Spencer Leigh (1998). Behind the Song: The Stories of 100 Great Pop & Rock Classics. Blandford Books: London, UK. Page 15. NPR National Public Radio (1999). “The Most Important American Musical Works of the 20th Century” NRR National Recording Registry RS500 Rolling Stone (12/04). “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time” SS Steve Sullivan (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (Volumes I & II). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland. Pages 95-7. TB Thunder Bay Press (2006). Singles: Six Decades of Hot Hits & Classic Cuts. Outline Press Ltd.: San Diego, CA. Page 48. Related Links: First posted 8/21/2011; last updated 4/14/2023.

50 years ago: Buddy Holly hit #1 with “That’ll Be the Day”

That’ll Be the Day Buddy Holly & the Crickets

Writer(s): Buddy Holly, J.I. Allison, Norman Petty (see lyrics here) Released: May 27, 1957 First Charted: July 27, 1957 Peak: 11 US, 4 HP, 3 CB, 3 HR, 2 RB, 13 UK, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, -- UK, 1.0 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 3.0 radio, 10.46 video, 52.15 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Buddy Holly was born Charles Hardin Holley in Lubbock, Texas in 1936. He knew what he wanted to do when he saw Elvis Presley live in 1955 and secured a contract with Decca Records by January 1956. He “gets counted as a pioneer of rock and roll, but…he didn’t turn up until the genre had become fairly well established in the charts.” AH He was “arguably the most important figure of this second wave.” AH Critic Dave Marsh called Holly’s band, the Crickets, “the first modern rock band” because they were a self-contained group comprised of a basic two-guitars, bass, and drum lineup DM led by “a self-contained writing, singing, playing machine who upped the ante even further by becoming the first rocker who really didn’t look like a rocker.” DT Holly recorded a series of sessions for Decca throughout 1956 at producer Owen Bradley’s studio. Among the songs was an early version of “That’ll Be the Day” which Holly recorded with guitarist Sonny Curtis, bassist Don Guest, and drummer Jerry Allison. It had a more country-oriented vibe than the version that would become a hit. NRR Bradley said, “That’s the worst song I’ve ever heard.” KL The idea for the song came about as the result of a John Wayne movie. Buddy Holly and drummer Jerry Allison went to see the Western The Searchers. Whenever a character would suggest something that wasn’t likely to happen, Wayne would sarcastically proclaim, “That’ll be the day.” SF One night at Jerry’s house, Buddy suggested that it would be nice if they could record a hit song, to which Jerry replied, “That’ll be the day.” SF They turned the title into a song in which Holly used the phrase “to declare his brash confidence that his girl would never leave him.” SS In January 1957, Holly’s career was going nowhere. His contract with Decca expired so he went to Norman Petty, who’d impressed him with his production on Buddy Knox’s “Party Doll.” FB Holly and co. re-recorded “That’ll Be the Day” on February 27, 1957. TB While it was just a demo, Brunswick label chief Bob Thiele was sold and wanted to release it just as it was. Holly, though wasn’t technically permitted to re-record the song so it was suggested it be released under a group name instead. After rejecting “The Beetles” because it sounded creepy and people would want to squish them AH they settled on The Crickets “because of their happy, chirping sound.” KL Later, the Beatles moniker re-surfaced for the Fab-Four – inspired by the Crickets, and especially “That’ll Be the Day,” since it was one of the first songs John Lennon learned. HL Sadly, Holly was killed in a plane crash on 2/3/59, a tragedy often known as “the day the music died” because it also took the lives of fellow rock singers the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens. His career was short, but with “that mean guitar, firing off dangerous staccato bursts,” DM “endearing hiccup in Holly’s voice, the bouncy rockabilly beat, [and] an intriguingly enigmatic story line” AMG the song “That’ll Be the Day” would live on as one of early rock and roll’s most classic tunes. Resources: AMG All Music Guide review by Bruce Eder FB Fred Bronson (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 26. HL Michael Heatley and Spencer Leigh (1998). Behind the Song: The Stories of 100 Great Pop & Rock Classics. London, England: Blandford Books. Page 12. AH Andrew Hickey (2021). A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs: Volume 2. Page 121-9. KL Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh (2005). 1000 UK Number One Hits: The Stories Behind Every Number One Single Since 1952. London, Great Britain: Omnibus Press. Page 46. DM Dave Marsh (1989). The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made. New York, NY; New American Library. Page 29. NRR National Recording Registry SF Songfacts SS Steve Sullivan (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (Volumes I & II). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland. Pages 469-70. DT Dave Thompson (2011). 1000 Songs That Rock Your World. Krause Publications: Iola, WI. Pages 191-3. TB Thunder Bay Press (2006). Singles: Six Decades of Hot Hits & Classic Cuts. Outline Press Ltd.: San Diego, CA. Page 24. Related Links: Last updated 3/30/2023.