Buddy Holly (2:41)

“Buddy Holly” is a song by the rock group Weezer, written by Rivers Cuomo. It was released as the second single from the band’s debut album Weezer (The Blue Album) in 1994. The single was released on what would have been Buddy Holly’s 58th birthday, had he not been killed in a plane crash along with fellow rock pioneers Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper on February 3, 1959. The lyrics reference the song’s 1950s namesake and actress Mary Tyler Moore. It reached #2 and #34 on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart and the US Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, respectively. It also reached #12 in the UK. Rolling Stone ranked “Buddy Holly” #497 in its 2004 list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The single was certified gold by the RIAA in 2006.

Song development
Rivers Cuomo has stated in one of his MySpace blogs from 2006 that he remembers questioning whether or not to include this song on The Blue Album. He almost kept it off the final track list, but encouragement from producer Ric Ocasek soon changed his mind. In the book ‘River’s Edge’, Ocasek is quoted as saying, “I remember at one point he was hesitant to do ‘Buddy Holly’ and I was like, ‘Rivers, we can talk about it. Do it anyway, and if you don’t like it when it’s done, we won’t use it. But I think you should try. You did write it and it is a great song.’” Cuomo said that he felt the song was “too cheesy” and didn’t know if the song represented the sound he was going for with the band’s music. Matt Sharp recalls:

…Ric said we’d be stupid to leave it off the album. We’d come into the studio in the morning and find little pieces of paper with doodles on them: WE WANT BUDDY HOLLY.