Without Buddy rock music could have been drastically different. Buddy was a self contained artist who wrote, arranged, and recorded his own songs. His chord changes and melodies were different from fellow rockers Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, and Chuck Berry.
True Love Ways was co-written by Buddy and Norman Petty and recorded in October 1958. Petty was Buddy Holly’s first producer and owned the studio in Clovis, New Mexico where all of Buddy’s first recordings were made…Lubbock did not have a recording studio at the time.
The song’s haunting melody was inspired by one of Buddy’s favorite black gospel hymns, “I’ll Be Alright,” which was recorded by The Angelic Gospel Singers. This song was likely inspired by his wife Maria Elena.
The song peaked at #25 in the UK in 1960…a year after he died in a plane crash.
From Songfacts
This and “It Doesn’t Matter Any More” were Buddy’s first recordings to use orchestral string arrangements, which accentuated his vocal mannerisms. The strings were arranged by Dick Jacobs.
Notable covers include versions by Mickey Gilley, Peter & Gordon, and The Royal Philharmonic.
This wasn’t released until after Holly’s death in 1959. After he died in a plane crash, the album The Buddy Holly Story was released, which contained many of his early hits. This album came out a few months later and included many of his lesser-known or never released songs.
True Love Ways
Just you know why
Why you and I
Will bye and bye
Know true love ways
Sometimes we’ll sigh
Sometimes we’ll cry
And we’ll know why
Just you and I
Know true love ways
Throughout the days
Our true love ways
Will bring us joys to share
With those who really care
Sometimes we’ll sigh
Sometimes we’ll cry
And we’ll know why
Just you and I
Know true love ways
Throughout the days
Our true love ways
Will bring us joys to share
With those who really care
Sometimes we’ll sigh
Sometimes we’ll cry
And we’ll know why
Just you and I
Know true love ways
…
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I was thinking about Buddy Holly this morning- and Chuck Berry- Elvis- Richard- the 50’s rockers and who I actually like the best. It’s close between Chuck and Buddy.
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They all had different styles that is for sure. I also have a soft spot for Fats Domino. Richard was great but I wish he would have released more. You can’t go wrong with Chuck and Buddy. Their writing sets them apart.
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Fats was great- and always seems to be forgotten- he did come a little earlier and was a bit older.
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Yea Fats didn’t project “rock and roll”…if that makes sense like the others did.
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This is my first time hearing this lovely song, thanks for sharing it.
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Like Jim said, a new one to me, but good. I think you hit on something there- he wrote differently (I’d say better, but that’s just me) than most of his contemporaries… more complex arrangements, slightly deeper or more varied lyrics.
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That is why I always thought he could have blended in with the sixties more than his peers.
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I think so…might have been an innovator & really shone.
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The first time I heard this was in the movie “The Buddy Holly Story.” Quite a bit different than a lot of his rockers. I always thought that using the celeste on “Every Day” was almost a Beatles-type move, using more than guitars in a song.
Re Fats Domino, whom you were talking about above: He was influenced heavily by his New Orleans roots, so you can hear some Dixieland, some Al Hirt, some French Quarter, some Cajun in there. That’s the only way I can explain it.
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That is the first time I heard it also… I agree with Every Day….
I saw the play “Buddy” in the 90s when it tour and was in Nashville and yea I saw what you were talking about…those songs came alive hearing them live like that…
Fats yea…he was not Mr. Rock and Roll…he was deeper than that…I can hear those influences.
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Buddy Holly was such a talented songwriter and musician. It’s a shame the music world lost him so early. One really wonders what else we would have heard from him, had that plane not crashed.
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This one could be really saccharine in another singer’s hands, but Buddy Holly gets it just right. It’s beautiful…
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You are right…it would have been a syrupy song with someone else.
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I think I told you that my dad swore that, if he’d never died in the plane crash, he would have been bigger than Elvis.
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I agree with your dad…he very well could have been. He was the lone fifites guy that would have been popular in the sixties unlike his peers…his music and The Beatles music were similar. He had more influence on them than Elvis.
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What a terrible loss.
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I don’t know too much about Buddy so enjoyed reading about how influential he was in that ‘Birth of Loud’ book. An immensely talented trail-blazer
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Off all the fifties artist…he would have had the best chance in the new world of the Beatles.
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The love so many British musicians pay to Buddy Holly make it clear if he hadn’t died in the plane crash he would have done just fine in the post-Beatles music world. So many musicians recorded various Holly tunes, and when they talked about it it was a seemingly religious thing, like paying homage.
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Good one Max. Something about Buddy just does it for me. I like the sax that was thrown in on this one.
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He is the man CB. He rode that line between rock/country/pop without being surgery…he was rootsy.
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Special talent. I might have told you this before. I’ve seen Joe Ely a few times live and he says he always plays a Buddy song at every show. I think Ely is from Lubbock.
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This discussion got around to Fats Domino. When looking at the greatness that were the Fats Domino recordings, let us honor the genius of Dave Bartholomew. He was with Fats on all of it, and he did a lot of other stuff, too.
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