Heartbeat (Buddy Holly song)

"Heartbeat"
Single by Buddy Holly
B-side Well .... All Right
Released November 5, 1958
Format 7" single, CD single
Recorded August 1958
Genre Pop, rock and roll
Length 2:11
Label Coral Records
Writer(s) Bob Montgomery, Norman Petty
Producer(s) Norman Petty
Buddy Holly singles chronology
"It's So Easy"
(1958)		 "Heartbeat"
(1958)		 "It Doesn't Matter Anymore""
(1958)

"Heartbeat" is a rockabilly song credited to Bob Montgomery and Norman Petty and recorded originally by Buddy Holly in 1958. The B-side of the single was "Well... All Right" (Buddy Holly, Norman Petty, Jerry Allison, Joe Mauldin).

Hit versions

The last Buddy Holly single to be released during his lifetime, "Heartbeat" was only a minor hit in the US with a No. 82 Billboard Hot 100 peak.

The song had more chart impact in the UK reaching No. 30 first in January 1959, and again upon its April 1960 re-issue.[1]

"Heartbeat" would subsequently reach the UK Top Ten twice. Firstly in 1975 for Showaddywaddy, No. 7 that September, and again in 1992 when the version Nick Berry recorded as the theme to the Heartbeat TV series (in which Berry starred) reached No. 2 that June.[1] Earlier still, in February 1960, the song was a No. 33 UK hit single for The Dale Sisters on His Master's Voice - POP 710 - when they were billed as the The England Sisters.[2][3]

Cover versions

Versions of "Heartbeat" have appeared on albums (indicated in parenthesis) by Tommy Roe (Sheila, 1962), Bobby Vee (I Remember Buddy Holly, 1963), Herman's Hermits — who had originally been named the Heartbeats after the Buddy Holly song — (Herman's Hermits on Tour, 1965), Dave Berry (One Dozen Berries, 1966), Skeeter Davis (Skeeter Sings Buddy Holly, 1967), Cliff Richard (Don't Stop Me Now, 1967; also a non-charting US single release), Humble Pie (Town and Country, 1969), Cilla Black (It Makes Me Feel So Good, 1976), the Knack (Get the Knack, 1979), Connie Francis (With Love to Buddy, 1996), Mike Berry (Buddy — a Life in Music, 1999), Speedy Sparks (OK, Let's Play, 2001), P. J. Proby (Sentimental Journey, 2003) and Black Tambourine (Black Tambourine, 2010).

The Hollies, who had named themselves after Buddy Holly, made their only attempt at having a hit remake of a Buddy Holly song with a 1980 single release of "Heartbeat", a midtempo version that failed to chart.

Denny Laine, guitarist of Wings and Moody Blues fame, covered the song on his 1977 Buddy Holly tribute Album Holly Days, produced by Paul McCartney.

"Heartbeat" served as the title cut for a 1993 album release by Hank Marvin. (Cliff Richard provided the background vocal on the instrumental track). Marvin's album reached no. 17 in the UK.

On the 2004 album, The Crickets and Their Buddies, which featured various vocalists fronting Buddy Holly's band the Crickets, Nanci Griffith provided the vocal on a remake of "Heartbeat".

The B-side of the single, "Well... All Right", was covered by Blind Faith on their self-titled album, Santana on the Inner Secrets album in 1978, and Alain Bashung on his album Osez Joséphine in 1991.

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 255. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  2. ↑ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 138. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  3. ↑ "The Dale Sisters Discography - UK". 45cat. Retrieved 2014-01-30.

External links