A Rockin' Good Read...Or Not? Part 8

Wow, this book had A LOT of words. And not a single picture. So no wonder it took me all summer and parts of autumn to read it. But it was worth it. It was my first book on Buddy Holly and I must say, I know definitely much more now than I knew before. Even stuff I wish I wouldn't know because the image it creates in my head is just wrong. But more about that later.

Author Spencer Leigh is English and that might be a good thing, because there is the typical British humour to be found within the pages here and there which is refreshing. On the other hand he focuses a lot on Holly's influence and acceptance on the British music scene(mostly of the 60s), which I personally don't care much about. But as the book was published in Britain and probably aimed at the UK market...fair enough.

The concept behind 'Everyday: Getting Closer To Buddy Holly' is interviews, interviews and more interviews. Instead of transferring information given in interviews to text Leigh quotes A LOT. But that turns out to be a clever move as it makes even the uninteresting, unimportant bits quite readable. I mean hey, I really don't care what was so-and-so-called-english-musician-of-a band-I-never-liked-in-the-first-place's age when he heard Buddy Holly for the first time. But somehow this way it's bearable. So yes, he interviewed many, many English musicians for the book but also for example the living Crickets, Holly's widow, Big Bopper's son AND Bob Montgomery(!). Holly recorded his great Rockabilly songs together with him, in case you didn't know.

The book does not only cover Holly's complete musical career(the sessions, the quarrel with Norman Petty etc.) but also tells what the Crickets did after his death, talks about the movie, the musical, cover-versions(mostly by artist I had never heard of, and crap like Leo Sayer. The 50s Rock'n'Roll scene is not present in the book anyway, except a short mentioning of Darrel Higham for doing an - quote- excellent version of 'Down The Line'.) and other sub-subjects.

And there is the spicy info that Buddy Holly was involved in a group-fuck together with Larry Willams(read more on him here - really interesting: Heebee Jeebees) with Little Richard standing in the corner, wanking. Not the picture you want to have about the man who sang 'Heartbeat', right? Well, have sweet dreams tonight y'all!