The classic rock and roll song John Lennon “knew better than The Beatles”
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(Credits: Far Out / Alamy)
As a teenager growing up in Liverpool, John Lennon idolised Buddy Holly after seeing him light up his television screen with a performance at London Palladium in 1958. Later that year, The Beatles, back when they were called The Quarrymen, even covered Buddy Holly’s classic track ‘That’ll Be The Day’ during their first-ever recording session.
Their introduction to Holly was life-affirming. Not only was he one of the best performers on the planet, but he was also a songwriter, unlike other stars such as Elvis Presley. According to Paul McCartney, this influenced them to begin writing their own songs and stop being a covers band. “I still like Buddy’s vocal style. And his writing,” McCartney once said.
He added: “One of the main things about The Beatles is that we started out writing our own material. People these days take it for granted that you do, but nobody used to then. John and I started to write because of Buddy Holly. It was like, ‘Wow! He writes and is a musician’.”
After discovering Buddy Holly, the band began to seek out more rock ‘n’ roll and delve deeper into that world. Covering his songs was critical to their development as musicians, and Lennon never forgot how to play Holly’s catalogue of material. When Lennon recorded his covers album, Rock’ n’ Roll, he paid tribute to his teenage hero and tapped into his muscle memory to tape a version of ‘Peggy Sue’.
Explaining his decision to take on a series of his favourite tracks by other artists, Lennon explained to David Sheff in 1980: “I remember the old rock songs better than I remember my own songs,” he said. “If I sat down in a room and just started playing, if I had a guitar now and we were just hanging out singing, I would sing all the early and mid-’50s stuff — Buddy Holly and all. I remember those.”
Lennon elaborated: “I don’t remember the chords or the lyrics or anything of the Beatles stuff. So my repertoire is that. I still go back to the stuff The Beatles performed before they wrote, you see. I would still enjoy doing it.”
The singer never shied away from such a statement. Lennon was notorious for being a little spiky about his Beatles past, but just as effusive about his love for the rock and roll sound that forced him into a band. Regularly praising the icons of the genre like Buddy Holly and Jerry Lewis, what Lennon didn’t know about the era wasn’t worth knowing.
Half of the album, including ‘Peggy Sue’, was recorded in a matter of days, which was an easy task for Lennon. He explained: “So the last five or six tracks—which sound completely different if you ever check the album out — were all done in about four days, you know.”
Lennon added: “Two a night, like ‘Peggy Sue’ and others I really knew backwards. It cost a fortune in time and energy and it was the most expensive album I ever made.” The results are difficult to gauge, too.
Brought together with the help of infamous producer Phil Spector, Lennon may have found a lot of personal troubles during the recording of the album but what emerged from it was a rock-solid record filled with solid rock. Having often described himself as a “rocker” at heart, Lennon’s command of these songs shouldn’t be surprising.
The singer has never been one to shy away from ousting his influences, and on this LP, he’s given the opportunity to go hell for leather. He doesn’t disappoint. See Lennon’s Ben E King cover of ‘Stand By Me‘ for perhaps the definitive version of the song.
Listen below to John Lennon’s cover of ‘Peggy Sue’.
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