Hi I'm new here. My name is Pepper (well not proper name but you know what I mean I hope), I'm 17 and live in North East England. I havent heard any buddy holly songs but I'm very keen to as hes influence a lot of big artists. Could any one recommend song Buddy Holly songs?

Thanks =)

hi pepper

it's difficult for a Buddy Holly fan to recommend certain songs, because we love them all, but i would suggest that you go to the 'album' link and see about picking up a CD called 'from the original master tapes'. it has a bunch of great Buddy Holly songs on it, and only costs $7 or $8 dollars.

but these are a FEW of the best songs from Buddy Holly:

that'll be the day
oh boy
rave on
peggy sue
maybe baby
everyday
words of love
tell me how
i'm gonna love you too
not fade away
rock around with ollie vee
think it over
it doesn't matter anymore
true love ways
rock me my baby

most of these are on the CD i recommended.

best wishes as you embark on discovering the greatness of Buddy Holly! you won't be disappointed.

What jerry listed are a lot of the well-known Buddy hits, which may be a good idea to start off with, but then you get into the lesser known stuff-and yet Buddy never ceases to amaze us.
I must warn you though, about a group called the Picks. There are CDs called Buddy Holly and the Picks.....they were not Buddy's band. At no time did they replace the Crickets.What they did do was add overdubs, and, in some cases, completely obsucre Buddy. The well-known hits of course many have overdubs, and those aren't too bad. It's what Norm Petty did after Buddy's death with the Picks and the Fireballs to Buddy's music that ticks me off.
Once you've gotten through that list, here's a couple more you might want to look for. (this topic is gonna wind up that you're gonna get the full Buddy Holly catalouge )
The Apartment Tapes (undubbed!!-although some are harder to find than others) Love is Strange, Smoky Joe's Cafe, That Makes it Tough, Crying Waiting Hoping, Peggy Sue Got Married, Wait Til The Sun Shines Nellie, Umm, Oh Yeah (Dearest), Learning the Game, What to Do, That's What They Tell Me That's What They Say.
You're The One
Changing All Those Changes
Early In The Morning (Buddy was experimneting a little with jazz and rock and roll, though he himself said that only sometimes does jazz work with rock and roll, other times it works against it.)
And there's a lot more...though I'll leave that to someone else to list or for you to find on your own. Being from England, I would guess that some of Buddy's music is a lot easier to find over there than it is here in Canada or the States. You guys appreciated him a lot more, and still do today.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: buddy_blue,

i would agree that many of the obscure songs are equally good and inspired. but it's good for someone who has never really been acquainted with Buddy's music to check out the classics first, in my view. Buddy's stuff is like a deep well - you never really get to the bottom of it; even after you've heard everything, you go back and listen again and appreciate it more each time. but it's good to start with the songs that made Buddy a household name.

on the matter of the Picks, they sang on many of Buddy's songs while he was alive - on songs produced by Buddy and Norman Petty. after Buddy died, however, i'm not aware of a single song that the Picks sang backups on that Norman Petty produced. he did use the Fireballs extensively on some of the stuff that could've never been released commercially in the raw form that they were in. i don't defend the overdubbing, but there are certain reasons why it was done that made sense at the time.

there is an album the Picks did called 'forever 22' but i don't know one Holly fan in a hundred that considers that an important album to have. my advice would be to avoid that album altogether.

Thanks for the help, I'll check out the CD soon. I downloaded 2 or 3 songs, but I aint sure if they are from the musical or not. Oh well, will just have to just buy the cd. If he influenced that many greats, he should be great.

I would suggest The Buddy Holly Collection 2 disc set, it has all the essentials-all the Decca recordings, all the big hits, undubbed Apartment Tapes (!!!) lol, plus a couple of the harder to find ones (Down The Line, Holly Hop, You've Got Love,Reddy Teddy, and so on). Its got a little bit from every Holly era, so its a great one to start with, and its on this site, so easy access too lol. Nice to see another teen interested, hope you find some stuff you like (though I seriously doubt you wont like Buddy )

Hi Pepper,

I can see you're being bombarded with excellent Buddy Holly song choices, but I'd like to suggest something. If you've never heard Buddy Holly, you may only be curious at this point.

I recommend downloading a few MP3s to start.

If you like these, you're going to become a Buddy Holly fan:

Bop 'Til Ya Drop songs:
"That'll Be The Day"
"Peggy Sue"
"Rave On"

Back seat of a '57 Chevy songs...
"True Love Ways"
"Raining In My Heart"
"It Doesn't Matter Anymore"

Just one more suggestion: Keep in mind that just because Buddy influenced so many music artists, it doesn't mean he sounds like all these people. Though clearly a musical visionary who was several years ahead of the times, Buddy still lived in the 1950s, using 1950s technology, and may sound primitive to your modern ear.

At the same time, be prepared to shout - "Omigosh, Buddy Holly was writing Beatles-style songs back in 1957!", or "Omigosh, there are three songs in the Country Music Top 10 where the guitar sound is totally 'Buddy Holly'!

Let us know how it goes.
Balcony Buddy
Seattle, WA USA