Langin 5

Jason Langin

Mr. Langin

Language Arts

February 15, 2011

“That’ll Be the Day”

In 1958, a brash young man from Liverpool, England learned to play his first song on the guitar. Soon thereafter he would play and record this song with schoolmates in a band known as the Quarrymen – a group that would become better known to the world as the Beatles. That man was John Lennon, and the song he played was Buddy Holly’s “That’ll Be the Day.” Its influence on future rock artists, its brash lyrics, and the story behind Holly’s life, warrant this song’s selection as one of Rolling Stone’s Top 500 Songs of All Time.

Looking back to the success of the Beatles, a band that took the world by storm, it might be hard to believe that the individual members would have ever had confidence issues. However, the songwriting team of John Lennon and Paul McCartney definitely felt that way growing up. Interestingly enough, the duo found a role model in a spectacled guitar player from Lubbock, Texas named Charles “Buddy” Holly. Only four years Lennon’s senior, Holly, with his trademark look and attitude, both appealed to Lennon. “He made it easy to wear glasses. I was Buddy Holly.” (“Digital Dream Door”) McCartney agreed, “Buddy Holly gave you confidence.” The Rolling Stones also used Holly’s work to gain major attention. Their first hit was a remake of Holly’s “Not Fade Away.” The band’s guitarist Keith Richards praised Holly’s demeanor. “He’s in everybody.” When Holly toured England in March of 1958, McCartney, Lennon, Richards, and many other British musicians who were part of the famed “British Invasion” cited its cultural importance and influence, both for his music (“McCartney would later recall watching Buddy Holly perform on Sunday Night at the London Palladium television program just to see which chords Holly used.” (“Buddy Holly Center”)) and his style (“Holly’s physical appearance – black horn-rimmed glasses and 3-button Ivy League jackets – would influence early English fashions.”).

So what made this average-looking, skinny kid from Texas so special? As a young man, Holly was a talented musician, becoming proficient at, not just guitar, but violin and piano as well. Starting his career as primarily a country artist, Holly switched to the rock and roll sound patterning himself after Elvis Presley (whom he opened for in 1956). Finally, at the young age of 20, Holly was signed to a major record label with his band the Crickets. Within a one-year period, Holly would have seven songs reach the Top Forty. (“Rock and Roll Hall of Fame”)

His first hit, however, is the one that Rolling Stone selected as a top song of all time. “That’ll Be the Day” was written after Holly and friends saw the John Wayne movie The Searchers. In the film, Wayne uses the phrase “that’ll be the day” on multiple occasions, and it was these words (meaning that an event is very unlikely to happen) that inspired Holly to write his song. Crickets’ drummer Jerry Allison noted that the song’s recording was cut “just as a demo to send to New York, just to see if they liked the sound of the group – not for a master record.” (Brackett 35) Ironically, it was this song that launched the band to success.

It wasn’t just the sound of the song that made it a hit, but the message behind it as well. Holly decided to use John Wayne’s signature line and turn it into a line of utmost narcissism and coolness – that was attractive to both males and females. In the lyrics, Holly addresses his sweetheart and essentially says that he is the one that holds all the cards in their romantic relationship. He notes that she, despite her threats, will never leave him (“You say you’re gonna leave, you know it’s a lie.”), and, even if it happened, he wouldn’t be sad about it. (“That’ll be the day, when you make me cry.”) It will be him that says when the relationship is over and no one else. (“If we ever part, and I leave you.”) Also, at no time in the song does the speaker admit to loving the girl. It seems like he uses her for all her “hugs and kisses and [your] money.” Love does not come into the equation.

In the 1950s, dating amongst teenagers had taken center stage in popular culture. Sombat notes, “This teenage generation in the fifties was important not only in altering dating but in all aspects of their lives. After the Second World War, teenagers grew a voice and became more publicly visible…They were a new source of power, independent from their parents and ready for a change.” Holly captures this changing culture in his song. Prior to World War II when couples “went steady” it signaled a prelude to marriage. Later on, this idea changed. “It no longer signaled that the couple was marriageable and ready to commit…they would date one another exclusively…but this occurred without any serious thoughts of marriage.” (Sombat) This idea of free love was a new concept for Americans, and the rebellious attitude of Holly’s song captured the essence of a changing culture signaling an even bigger change in the 1960s.

As famous as he was for his life and music, however, Holly is perhaps just as well remembered for his tragic death. The inspiration for the Don McLean song “American Pie,” Holly’s death occurred during a plane crash that also took the lives of fellow rockers Ritchie Valens (“La Bamba”) and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Peterson (“Chantilly Lace”) on February 3, 1959 – a day that became known as “The Day the Music Died.” At the young age of 22, this budding rock superstar was gone. The impact of his death touched many facets of popular music. Many believe that Holly’s death signaled an end to an important era in rock and roll or “the replacement of real rock and rollers by pretty faces.” (Ward, Stokes, and Tucker 195) Bobby Darrin, Frankie Avalon, and Paul Anka replaced rockers who played their own music like Holly, Presley, Chuck Berry, and Jerry Lee Lewis. In fact it took until 1963 for bands like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones (both bands whom Rolling Stone and VH1 named in their top five greatest musical performers of all time) to bring back the sound that Holly had helped to create.

Like other rockers who died before their time, it is hard to fathom what Holly would have been able to do had he lived a full lifetime. Yet, his influence with this particular song and his persona is undeniable. Plus, his timeless message of determination is clearly one that we can all identify with at some point in our lives and hope to have the confidence to utter it. His song deserves recognition for this message. Will anyone ever be able to top it? That’ll be the day.


WORKS CITED

Brackett, Nathan. "That'll Be the Day." Rolling Stone: The 500 Greatest Songs of

All Time. 2010: 35. Print.

"Buddy Holly Biography." The Buddy Holly Center. The Buddy Holly Center,

2011. Web. 19 Jan 2011. <http://www.buddyhollycenter.org/gallery/biography.aspx>.

"Buddy Holly Biography." Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Rock and Roll Hall of

Fame, 2010. Web. 13 Jan 2011. <http://rockhall.com/inductees/buddy-holly/bio/>.

"Buddy Holly and the Crickets." Digital Dream Door. DigitalDreamDoor.com, 2009.

Web. 4 Jan 2011. <http://digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best_artists-bio/buddyholly.html>.

Sombat, Windy. "Teenage Dating in the 1950s." The Beat Begins: America in the

1950s. University of Maryland, 2000. Web. 20 Jan 2011. <http://universityhonors.umd.edu/HONR269J/projects/sombat.html>.

Ward, Ed, Geoffrey Stokes, and Ken Tucker. Rock of Ages: The Rolling Stone History of

Rock and Roll. New York: Summit Books, 1986. 195. Print.