Buddy Holly's "Peggy Sue" - How they got that Sound! 

Buddy Holly and The Crickets were the teachers, all of those who came after were the pupils.

One of my friends went to the US hired a car and drove to Lubbock on a pilgrimage. He got to jam with a guy who had played with Buddy. I will be green for ever about that.

I was 10 years old. This was my intro to music. The paradiddle on the drums had me movin'. Still my favorite Buddy Holley record.

I was lucky enough to meet Jerry some years back at an oldies fest. He was a great guy to talk to.

Learning about recording in the 1950's is like a vitamin for my music brain. Simple array of elements at play, yet disciplined and extra creative with the possibilities. I love the original rock sound so much, what an excellent history. Thanks!

Merci beaucoup for this. Buddy Holly and the Crickets were probably my introduction to music. I was too young to remember Buddy, but I'm sure my older siblings were playing him next to my cradle,

This is fantastic, please make more buddy holly videos!

Great History. Thank You!

Excellent. The Crickets have always been amongst my heroes. 😊

Very informative ! Each one of Buddy Holly's tracks are worth analysis ! Their influence on the Beatles and other bands is enormous !

J P thanks for this… I’m a huge Buddy fan and I’ve read just about everything ever written about him but there were some nuggets in here that I did not know… Thanks and would be great to meet you someday.

Now, that’s an incredible review! First class! (I’ve been a Buddy Holly fan since 1962)

I always wondered what that sound was when listening to Peggy Sue. Now I know it was the neck pickup. Thank you!

Very interesting well researched and well presented!

I love Rock history and the technical side of it as well. This was time very well spent.

Hi JP... My name is Alan Murphy. I had the great good fortune to be involved with The Budy Holly Story in Australia. Promoted and organised by my good friends David and Julie White, they having secured the rights rom the show owners in London. .. I did many things in the rehearsal stages of the show, which took place on the goldcoast of Australia, driving the cast from the rehearsals to their accomodation etc, and anything that needed to be done. The show opened on the 50th anniversary of Buddys death in Sydney, A poigniant tribute. David and Julie arranged for Peggy Sue to open the show, and do promotional interviews on TV and radio. Leading up to the opening, the instrument tech had to suddenly pull out owing to his wife being taken very ill, so David asked me if I could do that job!! I had played in bands for twenty years on a fun level, and had built guitars to my own liking, however I had no knowledge of , drumkits, keyboards etc etc. I agreed to do the job, and confessed to Ray Maguire our stalwart and amazing road manager that I knew very little of anything other than guitars. He arranged to have a tutor teach me the ropes over three days... I was nervous, but determined to do my best for my great friends.... I was in the tea rooms in Sydney dress rehearsals when I first met Peggy Sue. I just said hi! she replied the same, .. A long story shortened, I ended up driving Peggy Sue around Sydney in a half million dollar motorhome covered with the Buddy logos, we became really good friends during her stay. She worked like a Trojan during that time doing at least forty interviews. Her saying was Okay. Whats next. Everyone on the show loved her, a humble and delightful lady I thought. Years later I visited Peggy Sue in Lubbock Texas three years running on the 3rd of Feb To keep alive our friendship. we drank a little wine and watched the superbowl final., a bit of a mystery to me being a Brit.. Anyway JP. thanks for your videos, I do enjoy them. Im subscribed and look forward to the next. Kind regards. Alan ... AKA SPUD.

J P. When you listen to those apartment tapes that buddy made in January 1959 it really gives you the chills… Smokey Joe’s Café - what to do - dearest Love is strange and others.

passionnant!! merci!!

Excellent video. Great story telling with understandable demos. Thanks. We really don't understand the great changes Buddy made in his short life. This helps.

J.I Allison was the best and most innovative 50's r'n'r drummer. Other than Peggy Sue, his unique tricks and style defined many other classic r'n'r songs by Buddy and many other artists. If this wasn't enough, he also was a terrific songwritter. No other guitar player and drummer matched and fitted each other as well as Buddy and J.I. did. They formed the first band in rock history featuring 2 electric guitars, bass and drums, and both changed rock music drastically. The list of well known bands and artists they heavily influenced is endless. Rock simply wouldn't be what we know today without Buddy Holly and Jerry Allison..Hats off to these Lubbock kids.

loved it. great job.

Nicely done!

It is such a great song. So danceable to this day. The Crickets Anne Murray performance really rocked and it was funny to see a couple or two having a difficult time standing still. Thank you for all of the wonderful history!

Great true information J.P. I loved it mate!

Great story, well told, thanks.

Great video JP!

Thank you!

The "F" Major chord is borrowed from the key of A Minor. It is what we call a "Substitution" chord that is used for this song which is in the key of A Major. Nice Explanation.

Very interesting !!!

Excellent content and presentation!!! Why dont you have more subcribers? When I hit subscribe I expected at least a couple 10k subscribers. Anyway I think that will happen soon! Keep up the great work!

Oh and to add a little to my story. I heard Peggy Sue we think 220 times during the rehearsals and show, played by the extraordinary talened Scott Cameron, who is still touring on a Buddy tribute. I never tire of Buddys songs... I also met Bob Mongomery who wrote Heartbeat... a fabulous song. Alan.

Fascinating story well told. There are a couple of examples of the "Peggy Sue" chord (Flat VI) in early Beatles songs, e.g. From Me to You and P. S I Love You. Looking for more of your videos.

Jerry was a fine drummer, he used cardboard boxes and it still sounded great. In my humble opinion Buddy was the real King of rock n roll. Thanks for telling us the story.

Stratocasters were not wired with a tone control for the bridge pickup originally. As you know, Buddy was playing a ‘50s Strat; it had no bridge tone control. Original wiring for the early Strats: two tone controls, one for the neck and one for the middle, plus one volume control. What a great story about the rhythm player “gear shifting” to the bridge pickup! Buddy was the person who brought the Fender Stratocaster to mainstream rock and roll-the original Strat-master.

thanks mister

Excellent video JP. I've heard another song, recorded at Petty's studio, which used the F chord bridge, by another artist/band. I can't recall who, I'll try to remember.

Can you imagine what else Buddy Holly would have come up with had he only not gotten on that plane… the world will never know…

Minding my neighbours kids in the '70's she said I could listen to her records. I remember Buddy sounding pretty modern. Now I know why. I guess she had some other '50's rock n roll too. It's pretty cool.

Nice.

Just the day before yesterday I listened to a 78 rpm recording of Peggy Sue, and I was struck by the drum sound. It really reminded me of a typical surfing song, like The Ventures. I wondered who influenced who.

Buddy was realy the best!!!!! Love him... Love his songs 😀 🇧🇷

Buddy played it live as well as he did on the records. No big mystery.. Jerry Allison on drums. Mauldin on bass. And the 3rd Cricket on stage. Norman Petty helped it a lot with his acoustics. Nikki Sullivan was the 3rd Cricket. I knew about the switch on Buddy's guitar. Jerry Allison talks about it in The Real Buddy Holly Story. Paul Mccartney's documentary.

Yeah glad he got Peggy after that,

Many years ago, i actually spoke briefly to peggy sue.

You said to like and subscribe if I enjoyed this so guess what? I did, and did! Cheers from Tasmania.

Paul McCartney owns the publishing rights of the Buddy Holly Catalogue

5:56, Long ago I heard it was Norman Petty's wife who did the "gear shifting".

It's difficult to determine whether Norman Petty was a hero or villain in Buddy's last year. He added his name to songs that he didn't write and held back Buddy's earnings.

Hi. Those photos at the 9 and 1:17 time marks...those guitars are Jumbos. Were those his? If so, do we know where those are? I thought the leather j-45 was it. You have some nice photographs.

Every single one of western music popular songs, refer to one thing mainly: Supperb, creative and experimentative Production. From little Richard's micing, to Buddy Holly trying unorthodox arrangements, to the Beatles inventing the "studio as an instrument" to Cocteau Twins' heavy use of boxes and looping, To hip hop sampling... it's the things that are not necessarily up front there, but are the backbone of everyone, with the not-often-named geniuses producers, engineeris and technicians.

50's Strats did not have a tone control on the bridge pickup.

The drummer gets the girl and honeymoons in Acapulco with the star singer/songwriter and his wife; a moment they’ll cherish the rest of their lives.

how did they do the gear shifting live?

How did they manage the "gear shifter" while playing live?

Without Buddy Holly there is no Beatles, and the musical landscape of the 60's would have sounded a whole lot duller.

Are you sure the drummer is playing the snare? I always assumed he was playing the floor tom.

No tone control, at all, on the bridge p/u on a 50s Strat. The 2nd tone, in those days, covered the tone of the middle p/u only. Modern iterations of a 50s Strat, sometimes, route the neck and middle through ‘tone 1’ and the bridge through ‘tone 2’, but this is neither universal, nor historically accurate. Niki Sullivan’s job was just to flick the 3-way between neck and bridge, and back, at the appropriate points in the song.

Norman “Petty”…..

So all that is needed to get the girl of your dreams is a really great song named after her? Nothing to it then. Now to go learn how to write a really great song.🙃

I would be interested to see your documentation re: mic on strings. I believe the sound of the strumming is just leakage into the vocal mic. I've been a professional recording engineer for 40 years and hear this sound often.

That was great, but tune your guitar next time.

Yes….it really was all about that F chord in the bridge that sets this song apart. Otherwise, it’s a typical boring piece. Oh, and the drums of course. Of all the ones that died young that I wonder about, it’s always buddy that I think of the most. I have no doubt he would be on the cutting edge and leading the way well into the 60’s as evident in this video which demonstrates his unique ideas.

wrong

when buddy holly came on the scene rock 'n' roll was already dead, tamed to schmalzy teenie love songs as harmless as can be. all the punk was gone, the edge and rawness sacrificed to appease corporate america. i have no idea why anyone would consider buddy holly rock 'n' roll.