"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 and songwriter who was a central and pioneering figure of mid-1950s rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texas ...

. It was released in 1959 as the B-side to " Peggy Sue Got Married". 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 (only himself with guitar) in apartment 4H of "The Brevoort",

Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major and prominent thoroughfare in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It stretches north from Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village to West 143rd Street in Harlem. It is one of the most expensive shopping ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

(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 backup vocal group, the

Ray Charles Singers Ray Charles (born Charles Raymond Offenberg; September 13, 1918April 6, 2015) was an American musician, singer, songwriter, vocal arranger and conductor who was best known as organizer and leader of the Ray Charles Singers who were featured o ...

, 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 of ...

' 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, radio station owner, and considered to be one of the founding fathers of early rock & roll. Biography Petty was born in the small town of Clo ...

, recorded his own versions of the last six Holly originals in 1964, using his own studio facilities and backup group, The Fireballs. Petty's versions differ from Hansen's versions in that there are no background 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 and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...

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 (né Scanland; born 24 November 1941) is an English musician known as the drummer of the English rock band the Beatles who was dismissed immediately prior to the band achieving worldwide fame. Fired from the group in 1962 ...

on drums. The Beatles repeated the song on August 6, 1963, for the '' Pop Go The Beatles'' radio show. The BBC 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, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...

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 worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

and

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

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 later beca ...

". 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 (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

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 bass player and founding member of the E Street Band, Bruce Springsteen's primary backing band si ...

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

Other cover versions

Wreckless Eric Eric Goulden (born 18 May 1954), known as Wreckless Eric, is an English rock/ new wave singer-songwriter, best known for his 1977 single " Whole Wide World" on Stiff Records. More than two decades after its release, the song was included in ''M ...

covered the song in 1978 for his second album, '' The Wonderful World of Wreckless Eric''. *

Rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western musical styles such as country with that of rhythm and b ...

supergroup

The Head Cat The Head Cat is an American rockabilly supergroup formed by vocalist/bassist Lemmy (of Motörhead), drummer Slim Jim Phantom (of The Stray Cats) and guitarist Danny B. Harvey (of Lonesome Spurs and The Rockats). Lemmy died in 2015 and as of 201 ...

, formed by vocalist

Lemmy Ian Fraser Kilmister (24 December 1945 – 28 December 2015), better known as Lemmy Kilmister or simply Lemmy, was an English musician. He was the founder, lead singer, bassist and primary songwriter of the rock band Motörhead, of which he wa ...

(of

Motörhead Motörhead () were an English rock band formed in London in 1975 by Lemmy (lead vocals, bass), Larry Wallis (guitar) and Lucas Fox (drums). Lemmy was also the primary songwriter and only constant member. The band are often considered a prec ...

), drummer

Slim Jim Phantom James McDonnell (born March 21, 1961), known by the stage name Slim Jim Phantom, is the drummer for Stray Cats. Alongside bandmates Brian Setzer and Lee Rocker, he spearheaded the neo-rockabilly movement of the early 1980s. Phantom currentl ...

(of

The Stray Cats Stray Cats are an American rockabilly band formed in 1979 by guitarist and vocalist Brian Setzer, double bassist Lee Rocker, and drummer Slim Jim Phantom in the Long Island town of Massapequa, New York. The group had numerous hit singles in th ...

) and guitarist Danny B. Harvey (of Lonesome Spurs and The Rockats) covered this song for their 2006 album '' Fool's Paradise''. *

Chris Isaak Christopher Joseph Isaak (born June 26, 1956) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional actor. He is widely known for his breakthrough hit and signature song " Wicked Game", as well as other songs such as "Blue Hotel", " Baby ...

contributed a cover version for the 2011 album '' Listen to Me: Buddy Holly''. *

Marty Stuart John Marty Stuart (born September 30, 1958) is an American country and bluegrass music singer, songwriter, and musician. Active since 1968, Stuart initially toured with Lester Flatt, and then in Johnny Cash's road band before beginning work as ...

and his Fabulous Superlatives played the song live in 2013 on RFD-TV's ''The Marty Stuart Show.''

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