"Crying, Waiting, Hoping" is a song written by

Buddy Holly Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known as Buddy Holly, was an American singer, songwriter, and musician who was a central and pioneering figure of rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texa ...

. It was released in 1959 as the B-side to "

Peggy Sue Got Married ''Peggy Sue Got Married'' is a 1986 American fantasy comedy-drama film directed by Francis Ford Coppola starring Kathleen Turner as a woman on the verge of a divorce, who finds herself transported back to the days of her senior year in high s ...

". Three versions of Holly's recording were released: the 1959 commercial release, the 1964 reissue with different orchestration, and Holly's original, private home recording.

Recordings

The song was first recorded on December 14, 1958 by Holly (by himself, with an

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

) in apartment 4H of "The Brevoort",

Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan in New York City. The avenue runs south from 143rd Street (Manhattan), West 143rd Street in Harlem to Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. The se ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

(many other sources say apartment 3B). After Holly's death on February 3, 1959, his home recordings of his last six compositions were turned over to record producer Jack Hansen. Hansen hired studio musicians and a vocal backing group, the Ray Charles Singers, to augment Holly's vocal and guitar. The idea was to match the established sound of Buddy Holly and the Crickets as closely as possible. "Crying, Waiting, Hoping" is technically the most successful of the six overdubs; it turned out so well that it was originally intended as the "A" side of a 45-rpm single. Holly wrote and recorded the song with pauses ("Cryin'... waitin'... hopin'... you'll come back"). Hansen ingeniously turned the solo into call-and-response verses, so the backup singers fill in the pauses with an "echo" of each word. (For a German reissue of this song, the producer took the "echo" idea literally, and played the Hansen recording in an echo chamber.) Hansen's studio version of "Crying, Waiting, Hoping" was recorded on June 30, 1959, at

Coral Records Coral Records was a subsidiary of Decca Records that was formed in 1949. Coral released music by Patsy Cline, Buddy Holly, the McGuire Sisters and Teresa Brewer. Coral issued jazz and swing music in the 1940s, but after Bob Thiele became head ...

' Studio A, along with "Peggy Sue Got Married". Both sides were released as Buddy Holly's first posthumous single. (The remaining four tunes on Holly's tape were re-recorded by Hansen and company in 1960. All six were issued on an album, '' The Buddy Holly Story, Vol. 2''.) Holly's manager,

Norman Petty Norman Petty (May 25, 1927 – August 15, 1984) was an American musician, record producer, publisher, and radio station owner. He is considered to be one of the founding fathers of early rock & roll. With Vi Ann Petty—his wife and vocalist—he ...

, recorded his own versions of the last six Holly originals in 1964, using his own studio facilities and backup group,

The Fireballs The Fireballs, sometimes billed as Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs, were an American rock and roll group, particularly popular at the end of the 1950s and in the early 1960s. The original line-up consisted of George Tomsco (lead guitar), Chuck T ...

. Petty's versions differ from Hansen's versions in that there are no backing vocals, and the melodies have new surf-guitar arrangements added to them.

The Beatles version

"Crying, Waiting, Hoping" was part of the Beatles' nightclub act during their formative years. It was a direct transcription of the 1959 Buddy Holly record.

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...

sang the lead vocal and replicated studio guitarist Donald Arnone's instrumental bridge, note for note. The group performed the song during their failed Decca audition on January 1, 1962, with

on the lead vocal and

Pete Best Randolph Peter Best (; born 24 November 1941) is an English retired musician who was the drummer for the Beatles from 1960 to 1962. He was dismissed shortly before the band achieved worldwide fame and is one of several people referred to as a ...

on drums. The Beatles repeated the song on August 6, 1963, for the ''

Pop Go the Beatles ''Pop Go the Beatles'' was a weekly radio show that ran for fifteen episodes on the BBC Light Programme from June to September 1963. Hosted by Lee Peters for the first four episodes and Rodney Burke for the following eleven, the show would fe ...

'' radio show. The

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

recording, which has been released commercially, features

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, us ...

on drums. The Beatles never recorded the song during their heyday, but the group hadn't completely forgotten it. On January 29, 1969, between takes during a recording session, George Harrison began idly singing and playing "Crying, Waiting, Hoping."

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

and

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...

jumped in immediately with their backing vocals, as they had in their early days, and Starr accompanied them. Harrison played the Donald Arnone bridge from memory.

Marshall Crenshaw version

American musician

Marshall Crenshaw Marshall Howard Crenshaw (born November 11, 1953) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and guitarist best known for hit songs such as " Someday, Someway", a US top 40 hit in 1982, " Cynical Girl", and " Whenever You're on My Mind". He is ...

released a version of "Crying, Waiting, Hoping" for the 1987 film '' La Bamba''.

portrayed Buddy Holly in the movie; he is featured singing the song on what is supposed to be February 2, 1959, Buddy's final show before dying in the plane crash in the early hours of February 3, "

The Day the Music Died On February 3, 1959, American rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and "The Big Bopper" J. P. Richardson were all killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, together with pilot Roger Peterson. The event became known as " ...

". Crenshaw has frequently been compared to Holly throughout his career. Initially, Crenshaw was skeptical of accepting the role of Holly in the film, but was impressed by the script; he recalled, "I thought

he script He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

was fantastic, really. told producer Terry Hackford,'I'm still uneasy about this, but even if I don't do it, I hope it comes together for you. Crenshaw's version of "Crying, Waiting, Hoping" was produced by

Garry Tallent Garry Wayne Tallent (born October 27, 1949), sometimes billed as Garry W. Tallent, is an American musician and record producer, best known for being the bass player and a founding member of the E Street Band, Bruce Springsteen's primary backing ...

. It was Tallent's idea to record the song. Crenshaw explained,

References

Sources

*Amburn, Ellis (1996). Buddy Holly: A Biography. St. Martin's Press. . *Bustard, Anne (2005). Buddy: The Story of Buddy Holly. Simon & Schuster. . *Dawson, Jim; Leigh, Spencer (1996). Memories of Buddy Holly. Big Nickel Publications. . *Gerron, Peggy Sue (2008). Whatever Happened to Peggy Sue?. Togi Entertainment. . *Goldrosen, John; Beecher, John (1996). Remembering Buddy: The Definitive Biography. New York: Da Capo Press. . *Goldrosen, John (1975). Buddy Holly: His Life and Music. Popular Press. *Gribbin, John (2009). Not Fade Away: The Life and Music of Buddy Holly. London: Icon Books.

External links

Buddy Holly—The Complete Works.Crying, Waiting, Hoping. The Beatles Bible.
{{authority control 1959 songs The Beatles songs Buddy Holly songs Marshall Crenshaw songs Music published by MPL Music Publishing Song recordings produced by George Martin Songs written by Buddy Holly Songs released posthumously 1959 singles