Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Dolly Parton, Brian May, Nile Rodgers, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, Emmylou Harris, Bruce Springsteen and Eric Clapton are among the many artists paying tribute to a genuine rock ’n’ roll innovator in the new book Buddy Holly: Words Of Love.
With cover art by another Rolling Stone, Ronnie Wood, the hardback edition of Words Of Love is out now.
The concept for the book originated from The Who singer Roger Daltrey, who says: “Words Of Love is a perfect title for this stunning and definitive history of Buddy Holly. As well as being one of the great rock ’n’ roll pioneers, Buddy wrote and sang some of the most beautiful and enduring ballads about love.”
In the foreword, Paul McCartney writes: “The first time I ever heard Buddy Holly was when the record That’ll Be The Day came out. It sounded energetic. I thought it was a black band and we couldn’t figure out how they did it.
“It was Buddy Holly and the Crickets . He was playing the lead guitar, which we loved, but he was also singing it, which we loved, and he’d written it, which we loved. So on a number of levels he was very inspirational . He became a hero for us and gave us the idea to go and do it ourselves.
McCartney concludes: “He was a great hero to all of us, and because he wore glasses this even allowed John Lennon to wear his in public and not have to whip them off if there was a girl passing by!”
Elsewhere there are tributes from many other famous artists from various generations — from Cliff Richard and Van Morrison to Ed Sheeran and Sam Fender.
Mick Jagger says: “To English people Buddy Holly was an enormous inspiration. He was a songwriter, which Elvis wasn’t. And he wrote very simple songs, sort of lesson one in songwriting. Great songs, which had simple changes and nice melodies and changes of tempo and all that. You could learn from Buddy Holly how to write songs. He was a beautiful writer.”
Jagger’s bandmate Keith Richards adds: “Maybe it was the fact of doing Buddy’s song Not Fade Away that gave us that extra propagation to start writing our own stuff. I think Buddy’s inspiration was that he wrote his own songs, which influenced The Beatles incredibly, and it slowly dawned on us that it would be great if one of us could write some songs, and two of us would be fantastic.
“He had an influence on everybody. Everybody who is playing now and just coming up because of what they’ve listened to — it’s been handed on. Buddy passed it on via The Beatles, via us, everything he did.”
Brian May comments: “Buddy Holly was my absolute hero as a kid. Those first Crickets singles on 45 rpm discs with black labels, slipped into brown paper sleeves, were probably the most exciting acquisitions of my whole childhood . They’re still some of my most prized possessions.
"The moment when I learned of Buddy’s tragic death remains etched indelibly in my mind. In that movement of grief, I think something inside me decided that the world that Buddy Holly and the Crickets had carved out was where I wanted to be.”
And there is this testimony from Eric Clapton: “Buddy Holly made a very, very big impression on me. The first Fender I ever saw was the bass that the guy in Jerry Lee Lewis’ band was playing when they made the film clip for his song Great Balls Of Fire. I’d never seen anything quite like it before.
"The next thing you know, these guys in England were using it, and Buddy Holly was using a Sunburst. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. It was like seeing an instrument from outer space and I said to myself, ‘That’s the future — that’s what I want.'”
Words Of Love: Buddy Holly is available now via Amazon
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