I'd like to think that Buddy, the Bopper and Richie (not to mention the King, Eddie and good ol' Roy) were tuning up, getting ready for a jam to rock the cosmos.
Update: DJ Stan has assembled a magnificent Bo Diddley/Buddy Holly playlist on
Struts and Frets. Herewith a few humbly suggested additions:
Fleetwood Mac: "Buddy's Song". From
Kiln House, an album I love that was critically panned--one scribe called it "Buddy Holly-obsessed" (although it includes no Holly covers). This is the second best Buddy Holly song not by Buddy Holly. According to the playlist on the vinyl album, the song was written by Ella Mae Holly, but the notes to the CD indicate it was penned by then Fleetwood Mac guitarist Jeremy Spencer, and "generously credited to Holly's mother".
Bo Diddley: "Say, Man!" Oddly, this paleo-rap from 1959, consisting of a Platonic dialogue between Bo and his maracas-shaking sideman, Jerome Green, was Bo's only record to crack the top forty. For some reason, this exchange sticks in my mind:
Bo: Look-a here!
Jerome: What's that?
Bo: Where are you from?
Jerome: South America.
Bo: What's that?
Jerome: South America.
Bo: You don't look like no South American to me.
Jerome: I'm still from South America.
Bo: What part?
Jerome: South Texas!
Tom Rush: "Love's Made a Fool of You". A snappy cover of a lesser-known Holly song by one of my favorite 1960s vintage folkies, and a Hah-vahd man to boot. If I had to choose a theme song for my life, this might be it.
Buddy Holly: "Everyday". An inspiring song for people whose theme song is the above.
Blondie: "I'm Gonna Love You, Too". From the killer
Parallel Lines, a hyperkinetic rendition of another lesser-known Holly song.