Buddy Holly (song)
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| “Buddy Holly” | |||||
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| Single by Weezer from the album Weezer (1994 album) |
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| Released | September 7, 1994 | ||||
| Format | CD | ||||
| Recorded | August-September, 1993 at Electric Lady Studios, New York City | ||||
| Genre | Alternative rock | ||||
| Length | 2:39 | ||||
| Label | DGC | ||||
| Producer | Ric Ocasek | ||||
| Weezer singles chronology | |||||
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| Weezer (1994 album) track listing | |||||
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"Buddy Holly" is a song by the rock group Weezer, written by Rivers Cuomo. It was released as the second single from the band's debut album Weezer (1994) in 1995. The single was released on what would have been Buddy Holly's 58th birthday, had he not been killed in a plane crash along with fellow rock pioneers Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper on February 3, 1959. The lyrics reference the song's 1950s namesake and actress Mary Tyler Moore. It reached #2 and #34 on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart and the US Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, respectively. It also reached #12 in the UK. Rolling Stone ranked "Buddy Holly" #497 in its 2004 list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[1]
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[edit] Song development
Rivers Cuomo has stated in one of his MySpace blogs from 2006[citation needed] that he remembers questioning whether or not to include this song on The Blue Album. He almost kept it off the final track list, but encouragement from producer Ric Ocasek soon changed his mind. In the book 'River's Edge', Ocasek is quoted as saying, "I remember at one point he was hesitant to do 'Buddy Holly' and I was like, 'Rivers, we can talk about it. Do it anyway, and if you don't like it when it's done, we won't use it. But I think you should try. You did write it and it is a great song.'" Cuomo said that he felt the song was "too cheesy" and didn't know if the song represented the sound he was going for with the band's music. He has since concluded that he is glad that he didn't change his mind about the song because it is one of his favorite songs to play and sing live.
An early demo of "Buddy Holly" recorded by Cuomo in 1993 has a different feel, as the song is played at a much slower tempo than the version that appears on the album. This version appeared on Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo. The liner notes for Alone explain that the chorus, in its most primitive form, originally was sung as: "Oo-wee-oo you look just like Ginger Rogers/Oh, oh, I move just like Fred Astaire," the rest of the chorus the way it appears even in the Blue Album version.
[edit] Music video
The music video for "Buddy Holly" was directed by Spike Jonze.
The video portrayed Weezer performing at the original Arnold's Drive-In diner from the popular '70s television show, Happy Days. The video combined contemporary footage of the band with clips from the show. Happy Days cast member Al Molinaro made a cameo appearance in the video. Al plugs his hometown, Kenosha, Wisconsin, in the introduction. In the memorable climax, clever editing (and a stunt double) allowed Fonzie to dance to the band's performance. The video also features brief cameos by some members of the band That Dog as dancers at Arnold's.
The video was met with great popularity and heavy rotation on MTV.[2] The innovative video scored four awards at the 1995 MTV Video Music Awards, including prizes for Breakthrough Video and Best Alternative Video.[3]
The "Buddy Holly" music video became so popular that it was included on the Microsoft Windows 95 CD-ROM when the operating system was first released.
[edit] Tracklist
Promo Only Radio Single
- Buddy Holly - 2:40
UK Retail CD
- Buddy Holly - 2:40
- My Name Is Jonas (Live) - 3:40
- Surf Wax America (Live) - 4:09
- Jamie - 4:18
UK Retail Cassette/UK Retail 7" Single (Black Vinyl)
- Buddy Holly - 2:40
- Jamie - 4:18
Australian Retail CD
- Buddy Holly - 2:40
- Holiday
Dutch Retail CD
- Buddy Holly - 2:40
- Surf Wax America (Live) - 4:09
Live tracks recorded at Horizontal Boogie Bar, Rochester, NY on November 27, 1994.
[edit] Chart Positions
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Buddy Holly | Modern Rock Tracks (US) | No. 2 |
| 1995 | Buddy Holly | Mainstream Rock Tracks (US) | No. 36 |
| 1995 | Buddy Holly | UK Singles Chart | No. 12 |
| 1995 | Buddy Holly | Hot 100 (US) | No. 17 |
[edit] Accolades
Information from AcclaimedMusic.com
- #497 in the List of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
- #364 Blender's Top 500 Songs of the 80s-00s
- #52 Kerrang!'s 100 Greatest Singles of All-Time
- #101 The Movement's The 100 (+300) Greatest Songs of All Time
- #50 The Movement's The 77 Best Singles of the 90s
[edit] Trivia
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Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
- The two people on the cover are Rivers Cuomo and a childhood friend he wished to contact, to no avail, after using this photograph for the single.
- The song describes a platonic relationship that Rivers had in high school with a young-looking Asian girl (thus, "your tongue is twisted/your eyes are slit"). The duo were frequently made fun of, yet the song describes how he "doesn't care what they say about us anyway". It is inferred that the song might be a jab at the hard times that youngsters described as nerds go through. In the liner notes for Alone - The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo, the "homies" are, in fact, the other band members of Weezer.
- British Indie artist Dev 'Lightspeed Champion' Hynes covered the song during his 2008 tour.
- Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine covered this as a Lounge style on his 2002 album "Tuxicity".
- Scottish band Biffy Clyro covered this song for a Kerrang! magazine cover CD, High Voltage!: A Brief History of Rock, given away with Issue #1110.
- The video was distributed in AVI format on Windows 95 CDs as bonus content, to demonstrate the ability of the new Windows Media Player. The Windows 95 OSR/2 CD included an MPEG version of the video in addition to the AVI version.
- This single appears on the British Now 31.
- Mary Tyler Moore is perhaps referenced because Sonny Curtis (of Buddy Holly's band The Crickets) wrote and performed the theme song for The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
- In October 2007, Much More Music placed "Buddy Holly" as number 3 of the Top 40 Most Memorable Music Videos on "Listed".
- The song has appeared as downloadable content for the music video game Rock Band.
[edit] Personnel
- Rivers Cuomo – lead guitar, lead vocals
- Brian Bell – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
- Matt Sharp – bass guitar, backing vocals
- Patrick Wilson – percussion
[edit] Notes
- ^ The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Rolling Stone. Retrieved on 2007-11-24.
- ^ Luerssen D., John. Rivers' Edge: The Weezer Story. ECW Press, 2004, ISBN 1-55022-619-3 p. 132
- ^ 1995 MTV Video Music Awards. Rock on the Net. Retrieved on 2007-09-11.
[edit] External links
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