Buddy Holly's "You Are My One Desire"

This morning I listened to a compilation album of Buddy Holly titled Oh Boy, and I noticed something about "You Are My One Desire."  The "love" in the line "You'll never know how much I love you" has a melisma (the notes are B A G).  At first I just thought that because there are multiple notes instead of the single syllable with which "love" is pronounced when spoken, there's a musical representation of the greatness of the singer/speaker's love.  But then I realized that there's more to it than that.  When I was looking at the lyrics I'd transcribed, there was no indication that the "love" in that line has a melisma, and that itself mirrors the lyric.  "You'll never know how much I love you" when the words are written, but there's some indication of it (although that might not be an adequate representation either) when those words are sung.

Buddy Holly's "Fool's Paradise"

Between Saturday and Sunday, I listened to Buddy Holly's three-disc Memorial Collection.  This morning I got thinking about "Fool's Paradise," and I realized that there are some melodic phrases that mirror the lyrics.  The "up to Heaven" in the first line is sung to an ascending phrase (F, G, A, C), and the "love came tumblin' down" in the bridge is sung to a descending phrase (D, C, Bb, Bb, A, G).

In figuring out the vocal melody and the guitar chords, I found two other things about the bridge.  First, the interval between the two syllables of "The whole" in the line "The whole world was my kingdom" is a sixth (F to D), which suggests the vastness of the singer/speaker's "kingdom."  Second, there's a G major chord under the line "Then I saw you glance at a new romance."  The song is in F major, so the B note in that G major is an accidental (normally, it would be a Bb, making it a G minor chord), which musically represents the novelty of the "new romance."

Buddy Holly's "Oh, Boy!"

Earlier to-day I listened to a Buddy Holly compilation album (From the Original Master Tapes).  This is just a minor point, but I noticed that in "Oh, Boy!" the melody to which "fallin'" is sung (in the line "Stars appear, and the shadow is a-fallin'") descends.  It has its own fall in the phrase G# F# E.

Don McLean's "American Pie"

This morning I listened to Don McLean's American Pie.  I was really into this album when I was in high school, and I read a lot of things that tried to interpret the title track.  McLean himself hasn't said much more than that it's about Buddy Holly (whom the album is dedicated to).  Listening to it this morning, I realized that there's a lyrical reference that sort of indicates this.  I think I never noticed it before just because it's a similarity in phrasing from one of Holly's songs; it doesn't have anything to do with the intricate web of references that almost calls out to be interpreted.

The chorus ends with the line "This'll be the day that I die," which is very similar to Holly's "That'll be the day when I die" from "That'll Be the Day."

Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen's "Good Rockin' Tonight"

This morning I listened to a compilation album of Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen titled Too Much Fun: Best of Commander Cody.  I found "Good Rockin' Tonight" (written by Roy Brown) particularly interesting, although not for anything specific to their version (at least not at first).  Mostly, I was interested in the phrase "mighty, mighty man," which appears in the first verse.  "I wanna hold my baby as tight as I can / Tonight she’ll know I’m a mighty, mighty man"

"Mighty, Mighty Man" is the title of a song by Bobby Darin ("by" as in written by and performed by).  So I looked at the lyrics of his song, and I'm pretty sure he took some inspiration from "Good Rockin' Tonight."  It couldn't have been Commander Cody's version because Darin predates him by almost twenty years, but I do have versions of "Good Rockin' Tonight" by Elvis Presley (recorded 10 September 1954) and by Buddy Holly (recorded November/December 1956), both of which predate "Mighty, Mighty Man," which is from 1958.

All of the verses of Darin's song end with the line "Tonight I feel like a mighty, mighty man," which includes not only the phrase "mighty, mighty man," but also "tonight," just like "Tonight she'll know I'm a mighty, mighty man" in "Good Rockin' Tonight."  In the third verse of Darin's song, there's the line "Well, come a little closer, don’t you be afraid," which bears some resemblance to a line in the second verse of "Good Rockin' Tonight" - "Don’t you be afraid, I’d do you no harm."  Also in the third verse, there's the line "I’m gonna love you, little baby, all that I can" (at least, that's the best I could transcribe it as), which has the same sort of idea as "I wanna hold my baby as tight as I can" in "Good Rockin' Tonight."

In looking at the three versions of "Good Rockin' Tonight" I have, I also found some interesting variance in the possessive pronouns in the second verse.  All three direct the girl to "bring along... rocking shoes," but in Elvis' and Buddy Holly's versions, it's "my rocking shoes," where Commander Cody's version has it as "your rocking shoes."  The line after "bring along my rocking shoes" is some variation of "tonight I'm gonna rock away all... blues."  Elvis' and Commander Cody's versions have "all my blues," but Buddy Holly has "all your blues."

I've written about this type of thing before - where tiny words like pronouns and tense markers drastically affect what the speaker/singer is saying - and I never know whether it's an intentional change or not.  Regardless, that's illustrated again here.  In his version, Buddy Holly seems more interested in his girl's well-being than his own, wishing to rock away her blues rather than his own.

Buddy Holly's "Brown-Eyed Handsome Man"

I started listening to Buddy Holly's three-disc Memorial Collection to-day.  I'm currently on the first disc.  I noticed something interesting in his version of "Brown-Eyed Handsome Man."  Right after the lines "Well two-three the count, and nobody on / He hit a high fly into the stand," there's a drum hit that differs from what Jerry Allison (the drummer) had been playing.  Apparently, that hit is supposed to represent the bat hitting the ball - the high fly into the stand that the brown-eyed handsome man hits.

I think it's important to note that Buddy Holly also does this in "I'm Looking for Someone to Love."  There's a sudden drum hit after "foot slip" in the line "Drunk man, street car, foot slip, there you are."

According to the liner notes, "Brown-Eyed Handsome Man" was recorded sometime between December 1956 and January 1957, and "I'm Looking for Someone to Love" on 25 February 1957, so it seems that after inserting that musical detail into his Chuck Berry cover, Holly incorporated it into one of his own songs.

Cliff Richard's "(You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care"

This morning I listened to a Cliff Richard compilation album titled Early Days.  In his version of "(You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care," I noticed that the lyric is "You don't know any dance steps that I knew."  I'm more familiar with Buddy Holly's version of the song (although he flips the parenthetical around and titles it "You're So Square (Baby I Don't Care)"), where the line is "You don't know any dance steps that I do."

Buddy Holly's version was recorded on 19 December 1957 and was released on his second album - titled Buddy Holly - in February 1958.  Cliff Richard's version was released on his first album - Cliff - in April 1959.  So the Buddy Holly version is older.

Because Early Days also includes Cliff Richard's versions of some Buddy Holly songs ("That'll Be the Day" and "That's My Desire") and some other songs (such as "I'll String along with You," "Little Things Mean a Lot," and his version of Gershwin's "Embraceable You" - all of which appear on his second album, Cliff Sings) venture into the orchestrated instrumentation that Buddy Holly also used (on songs such as "True Love Ways" and "Raining in My Heart"), I think it's safe to say that Cliff Richard was influenced by Buddy Holly.

It's quite possible that his changing "You don't know any dance steps that I do" to "You don't know any dance steps that I knew" is simply a mistake.  They heard "knew" instead of "do" when listening to the Buddy Holly version.  (Lyrical mishearings are pretty common.  On the Who's version of "Good Lovin'" from The BBC Sessions, the line is "I asked a famous doctor just what I had" instead of "I asked my family doctor" as it is in the Rascals' version.  Boyce and Hart's "Last Train to Clarksville" (famous by the Monkees) came out of mishearing the Beatles' "Paperback Writer," and the Zombies' "Time of the Season" came out of a mishearing of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles' "The Tracks of My Tears.")  Changing the line might just be an-other example of one artist's mishearing an-other.

Regardless of whether the change was intentional or not, it does affect the song.  "You don't know any dance steps that I knew" indicates that the singer/speaker has forgotten the dance steps that he used to know.  And the cause of his forgetting them is likely his spending time with the girl who's so square.  He hasn't been dancing, so he's forgotten the steps.  This situation gives the song a greater depth, and it illustrates a greater connection between the singer/speaker and the girl, where the Buddy Holly version - staying in the present tense - could seem more like an infatuation that will soon pass.

The changing of the parentheticals also seems to suggest this.  The more prominent title of Cliff Richard's version is "Baby I Don't Care," but the more prominent title of Buddy Holly's is "You're So Square."  For the singer/speaker in Buddy Holly's version, the significance is still on the girl's squareness, which could interfere with the relationship.

Buddy Holly's "I'm Gonna Love You Too"

I’m listening to Buddy Holly’s Buddy Holly.  Earlier in the Collection Audit project, I listened to a few Buddy Holly compilation albums, and I started paying attention to the backing vocals.  They’re great in that they don’t draw a lot of attention to themselves, and yet they’re not overly simple.

This album starts off with “I’m Gonna Love You Too.”  There’s an introductory bit (a long melisma on “I”) that’s repeated later in the song, and at first I thought the backing vocal was just doubling Holly’s own.  But when I started to pay attention to it, I noticed that this wasn’t the case.  It’s a distinct part.  And now I really want to figure out those two parts so that I can look at them more closely see how they relate to one an-other.

Tommy Roe's "Sheila"

Lately, I’ve been making my way through a lot of compilation albums.  I finished the “The Best of” albums yester-day, and now I have a few compilations based off Billboard chart positions.  Currently, I’m listening to Tommy Roe’s “Sheila” from Billboard Top Rock & Roll Hits: 1962.  At the very beginning and again in the middle, there’s something going on with the drums that I’m not exactly sure how to describe.  Through some kind of studio technique, it sounds like the drums are alternatively close and then far away.

I’d never noticed this any other time I listened to this song, but listening to it this time, I did, and it reminded me of Buddy Holly’s “Peggy Sue,” which also uses some kind of studio technique for alternating drum sounds.

I don’t know if the effect on “Sheila” was meant to mimic that of “Peggy Sue,” but it is possible, since “Peggy Sue” is an older song.  It’s from 1957, and “Sheila” - as the album title would suggest - is from 1962.