Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. DXC--Buddy Holly: Well...All Right

Na, na, na, na, Na, na, na, na, Hey, hey...I'm (lucky thirteen days) late again....

My introduction to this week's tune actually came from a cover version by the wondrous Nanci Griffith on a tribute album--Not Fade Away (Remembering Buddy Holly) [Yet again, no Wikipedia entry--WTF?].  I really enjoyed her version of it, so I checked out the original and was absolutely blown away.  As luck would have it, I went on a Buddy Holly kick last fall and listened to his greatest hits about a thousand times so I'm well prepped for this week's post....

I wrote about Buddy Holly in Vol. XCVI, and as he has sadly remained dead since then I'll let that bio paragraph stand.  I did note, however, as I read through that post that I had failed to mention Holly's discography--he released three studio albums and nineteen singles before his death (with a surprising lack of commercial success considering his legacy--none of his albums charted and he only had two top five singles).  Since his death, twenty-nine compilations and nine more singles have been released.

Fun Fact:  He was born Charles Holley, and my guess is that most people do not know his birth name was Charles (I didn't).  Second, Holley became Holly because when he signed his first recording contract his name was misspelled and it remained Holly thereafter.

"Well...All Right" was actually released as the B-side of the song "Heartbeat," which originally appeared on the rather biographically entitled The Buddy Holly Story, Vol. 2.  The song was the second to last single released before his death, while the album was released posthumously.  The song only reached #82 (kinda sorta with a bullet?) in America, but it hit #30 in the U.K.  The album did not chart here in the States but peaked at #7 in Great Britain (so many cool kids in the British Isles!).

While there is much to like about "Well...All Right"--it's a paean to the confidence of young love, Holly's vocals are just this side of perfect, it captures so much in two minutes and fourteen seconds, and musically it's as catchy as catchy can be--for me it's all about Holly's acoustic guitar.  It's not that often that a single instrument can make an entire song for me, but there's an exuberance to his playing--he almost makes it sound like a ukulele, which is an instrument I love hearing--that transcends everything else.  In and out, up and down, circling all around--whether its overdubbing or feedback the guitar brings it all home like the waves coming to the shore.  In the end, it's a delightful sample of rock and roll's roots, and of an artist we lost far too soon who was coming into his own musically.

Lyric Sheet:  "Well all right so I'm being foolish/Well all right let people know/About the dreams and wishes you wish/In the night when lights are low..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. XCVI--Buddy Holly: Oh Boy

Pop quiz:  What do the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, and the Grateful Dead all share in common (other than being superstar rock and roll performers, of course)?

They all cite Buddy Holly as a major influence on their careers.

As is sometimes the case here on Friday Night Jukebox, there are some performers who transcend my mini biographies, and Buddy Holly is one such artist.  Suffice it to say that the pride of Lubbock, Texas may have been the first rock and roll artists to write, perform, and produce his own material, as well as paving the way for the two guitars, bass, and drums band arrangement that has defined thousands of bands since rock and roll's inception,  Holly was in the first class inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and was listed at #13 on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Artists.  And perhaps most amazing is that Holly accomplished this in a little more than three years before the plane crash that took his life all too soon at the age of 23 (and immortalized in Don McLean's "American Pie").

Released in 1957 (yup, older than even me) on his The "Chirping" Crickets LP, "Oh Boy" would go on to reach #10 (most assuredly with a bullet!) on The Billboard Hot 100.  The flip side of the 45 was "Not Fade Away" which makes it one of the greatest, if not the greatest, two-sides of a single in the history of rock and roll.

Oddly enough, I might not have become all that familiar with "Oh Boy" had it not been for my two oldest children's adoration of the Ritchie Valens biopic La Bamba.  There's a scene in the movie where Valens and his brother play it at a concert (actually done by Los Lobos) and it's hard not to fall right in love with the song after seeing it.  While the Los Lobos version is a raucous and loving tribute, it's not the original.  Holly busts out maybe his most vibrant vocals in this paean to the joys of spending time with your baby.  The guitars have that jangly sound that has been copied by too many bands to count since, and the drums thump, thump, thumps their way through the song in such a way as to make it all but impossible not to shake your body at least a little while it's playing.  And all of this in two minutes, five seconds.  In simplicity is beauty, he said to no one in particular...

And did I mention the cherry on the top of the Crickets echoing Holly every time he sings the words "Oh Boy"?

Lyric sheet:  "All of my life, I've been waitin'/Tonight there'll be no hesitatin', oh boy (Oh Boy!)..."

Enjoy:

Peace,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. LV--Waylon Jennings: Luckenbach, Texas

This week, I'm going for my shit-kicker cred....

Imagine that you're Buddy Holly's bass player (and that Holly has helped you record a couple of your own tunes), you're on tour in wintry Iowa, and Holly decides to charter a plane to Minnesota to beat the frosty conditions on the tour bus.  The plane has room for three passengers, and you're scheduled to be one of the three.  But, for altruistic reasons you decide to give your spot to one J,P, Richardson, a.k.a. The Big Bopper, because he has the flu.  Hours later the plane goes down killing all aboard, and goes down in music history as the day the music died.  Where do you suppose life takes you from there?

If you're Waylon Jennings, you go on to be one of the leaders of the Outlaw Country movement and eventually a Country Music Hall of Famer.

In the aftermath of the plane crash, Jennings went back to being a DJ for a time before returning to recording in the late 60's.  Inspired by what Dylan/The Beatles/The Stones were doing with rock music, Jennings (along with Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, and Johnny Cash) began to bring both a return to country music's roots as well as a harder edge to the songs inspiring what later became known as Outlaw Country.  Jennings would have a nice ride through the late 70's (including having a #1 country single of the years as well as winning numerous awards), but the remainder of his career would find him battling and eventually conquering cocaine addiction and never again quite reaching the heights he attained during the early years of his career.  Still, at the time of his death in 2002 he'd had 54 albums (11 #1's) and 96 singles (16 #1's) that charted over the course of his career.

Released on his Ol' Waylon LP in 1977, "Luckenbach, Texas" would go on to be the country single of the year and the biggest hit of Jennings' career.  For the record, Jennings himself admitted to hating the song and never once having been to Luckenbach (he did eventually play there in 1997).  Also for the record, from what I can tell Luckenbach is little more than a hole in the wall 50 miles north of San Antonio with a music venue that occasionally features some name performers--i.e., Austin City Limits it ain't.  It does, however, have a much better country music feel to it than say, St. Paul, Minnesota.

Be that as it may, "Luckenbach, Texas" is still one hell of a song.  I'm not much of a country music expert (and a middling fan at best), but I know greatness when I hear it (e.g., Patsy Cline's "Crazy" or George Jones' "He Stopped Loving Her Today") and this tune is certainly graced with it.  Led by Jennings' remarkable baritone, it's the story of a couple whose fame has caused them more than a little pain and the singer's heartfelt request to get back to the simple life of love and good music (hear, hear!).  It references the music of Willie Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker, Hank Williams, and Mickey Newbury all the while a steel guitar, a soft drum, and a bass provide the ever yearning background music.  The song closes with one more version of the chorus, this time with Jennings and his good friend Willie Nelson sharing the vocals, convinced that when you're listening to good music "there ain't nobody feeling no pain."  And I can tell you it's certainly worked a time or two for me.

Truer words and all that:  "I don't need my name in the marquee lights/ I got my song and I got you with me tonight...."

Enjoy:

Peace,
emaycee