Emily's Albums A to Z

Listened: Tuesday June 1

Buddy Holly is ear crack. You can’t get his songs out of your head. The influence he had on the Beatles is also immediately clear. My favorite song of his is Rave On, mostly because of its use in Pleasantville as the song that busts everyone out of their stupor, as a good rock song should.

I recently learned from Radiolab what a cry break is – Buddy Holly is one of the rare practitioners of this (sometimes to a ridiculous extreme) in pop music versus country music, where it normally occurs. In fact, I believe at heart Buddy is actually a country singer.

(Side note – from the same radio show I also learned who Ahmad Zahir is. I wish I could find his CDs in the US, but it seems difficult. Music fans should definitely give a listen to the show – you will learn something).