Buddy Holly – Peggy Sue Got Married

Peggy Sue Got Married was the sequel to Holly’s hit Peggy Sue. The original hit was named after the girlfriend of Crickets drummer Jerry Allison.

Buddy Holly recorded this alone, on acoustic guitar, in his New York City apartment, along with “Crying, Waiting, Hoping,” “That’s What They Say,” “What to Do,” “Learning the Game” and “That Makes it Tough” which would be his last songs. After his tragic death, these recordings would be overdubbed to become the Holly songs we know today.

A little more than five months after Holly’s death, Coral Records on July 20, 1959 released “Peggy Sue Got Married.” It appeared as a B-side to Buddy Holly’s “Crying, Waiting, Hoping.”

Below is the demo of the song and the released version which Buddy would never hear.

The real Peggy Sue… Peggy Sue Gerron passed away at 78 years old in 2018.

From Songfacts

In this song, Holly finds out that the girl from his 1957 hit “Peggy Sue” has gotten married. It was one of the first sequels of the Rock Era.

This song provided the title for the 1986 movie Peggy Sue Got Married, starring Kathleen Turner and Nicolas Cage. In the movie, Holly’s demo version with just his voice and acoustic guitar was used.

When producer Jack Hansen augmented Holly’s demo of this tune and made a hit out of it, it was the first instance of an entirely ‘new’ unheard song being completed and released after a star’s death. Later instances of songs of deceased acts being revived and “completed” include tunes by The Beatles, the Carpenters, The Doors, Lynyrd Skynrd, Bob Marley, Charlie Parker, Frank Sinatra, Biggie Smalls, Tupac and Hank Williams.

Demo

Released Version

Peggy Sue Got Married

Please don’t tell 
No, no, no 
Don’t say that I told you so 
I just heard a rumor from a friend 

I don’t say 
That it’s true 
I’ll just leave that up to you 
If you don’t believe I’ll understand (understand)

You recall a girl that’s been in nearly every song 
This is what I heard of course the story could be wrong 

She’s the one 
I’ve been told 
Now she’s wearing a band of gold 
Peggy Sue got married not long ago

You recall a girl that’s been in nearly every song 
This is what I heard of course the story could be wrong 

She’s the one 
I’ve been told 
Now she’s wearing a band of gold 
Peggy Sue got married not long ago
Peggy Sue got married not long ago