That'll Be the Day

In June 1956, Holly along with his older brother Larry as well as Allison and Sonny Curtis went to see the film The Searchers, starring John Wayne, in which Wayne repeatedly used the phrase "that'll be the day". This line of dialogue inspired the young musicians.[5]

The song was first recorded by Buddy Holly and the Three Tunes for Decca Records at Bradley's Barn, in Nashville, on July 22, 1956. Decca, displeased with Holly's previous two singles, did not issue recordings from this session. After the song was re-recorded by the Crickets in 1957 and became a hit, Decca released the original recording as a single (Decca D30434) on September 2, 1957, with "Rock Around with Ollie Vee" as the B-side. It was also the title track of the 1958 album That'll Be the Day.[7] Despite Holly's newfound stardom, the single did not chart.

Holly's contract with Decca prohibited him from re-recording any of the songs recorded in the 1956 Nashville sessions for five years, even if Decca never released them. To evade this restriction, the producer Norman Petty credited the Crickets as the artist on his re-recording of "That'll Be the Day" for Brunswick Records.[1][2] Brunswick was a subsidiary of Decca. Once the cat was out of the bag, Decca re-signed Holly to another of its subsidiaries, Coral Records, so he ended up with two recording contracts. Recordings with the Crickets were to be issued by Brunswick, and the recordings under Holly's name were to be on Coral, although the Crickets played on several of them.

The second recording of the song was made on February 25, 1957, seven months after the first, at the Norman Petty studios in Clovis, New Mexico, and issued by Brunswick on May 27, 1957.[1] This version is on the debut album by the Crickets, The "Chirping" Crickets, issued on November 27, 1957. The recording was made with everyone performing and without additional overdubs. The B-side of the record, "I'm Looking for Someone to Love" was recorded at the same session with the same backup singers.

The Brunswick recording of "That'll Be the Day" is considered a classic of rock and roll. It was ranked number 39 on Rolling Stone's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".[8]

The Brunswick single was a number-one hit on Billboard magazine's Best Sellers in Stores chart in 1957. It went to number two on Billboard's R&B singles chart.[11] The song peaked at number 1 in the UK Singles Chart in November 1957 and stayed in that position for three weeks.[12]

On December 20, 1969, a reissue of the single by Coral Records was awarded a "gold single" by the RIAA.[13]

On September 20, 1986, the song appeared on the UK Singles Chart at number 85 and left the chart a week later.[14]

July 22, 1956, Quonset Hut Studio, Nashville[7]

• Buddy Holly – vocals, guitar
• Sonny Curtis – guitar
• Don Guess – bass
• Jerry Allison – drums

February 25, 1957, Norman Petty Recording Studio

• Buddy Holly – lead guitar and vocals
• Larry Welborn – bass
• Jerry Allison – drums
• Niki Sullivan – background vocals
• June Clark – background vocals
• Gary Tollett – background vocals
• Ramona Tollett – background vocals

• Amburn, Ellis (1995). Buddy Holly: A Biography. St. Martin's Press.

• Lyrics of this song
• Buddy Holly - That'll Be the Day on YouTube
• Linda Ronstadt - That'll Be the Day on YouTube