"Oh, Boy!" is a song written by Sonny West, Bill Tilghman and

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 ...

. The song was included on the album ''

The "Chirping" Crickets ''The "Chirping" Crickets'' is the only studio album from the American rock and roll band the Crickets, led by Buddy Holly. It was the group's only album released during Holly's lifetime. In 2012, it was ranked number 420 on ''Rolling Stone'' ...

'' and was also released as the A-side of a single, with " Not Fade Away" as the B-side. The song peaked at number 10 on the US charts, number 3 on the UK charts in early 1958, and number 26 in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. (See 1958 in music for more context.)

Background

The song was originally recorded as a demo by Sonny West as "All My Love (Oh Boy!)" at Norman Petty Studios in

Clovis, New Mexico Clovis is a city in and the county seat of Curry County, New Mexico. The population was 38,567 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Clovis is located in the New Mexico portion of the Llano Estacado, in the eastern part of the state. A ...

in early 1957. Petty presented West's demo to

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 ...

with the intention of Holly recording the song. On 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 ...

's Classic Albums series in 2019, West said, "I had a decision to make whether to say I want to do it myself and I said 'No, I want Buddy to do it', it can't hurt anything and if it didn't work I could go back and do it myself someday." It was subsequently recorded by Holly's group

The Crickets The Crickets were an American rock and roll band from Lubbock, Texas, formed by singer-songwriter Buddy Holly in January 1957. Their first hit record, "That'll Be the Day", released in May 1957, peaked at number three on the ''Billboard'' Top ...

between June 29 and July 1, 1957, at Norman Petty Studios with Holly singing lead vocals and The Picks providing backing vocals. The song is in an A-A-B-A format with a 12-bar blues verse and an 8-bar bridge. (Holly also covered another West song, " Rave On".)

Lyrics change

West has stated that Holly made a small change to the original lyrics of the song. He told the BBC's Classic Albums series in 2019, "I said 'All my love, all my kissing, you're gonna see what you've been missing'. And with Buddy's verse, 'All my love, all my kissing, you don't know what you've been missing'. I have no idea, maybe it has more punch that way."

Covers

"Oh Boy!" was covered by British

glam rock Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was primarily defined by the flamboyant clothing, makeup, and hairstyles of its musicians, particularly platform shoes and glitter. Glam artists d ...

group

Mud Mud (, or Middle Dutch) is loam, silt or clay mixed with water. Mud is usually formed after rainfall or near water sources. Ancient mud deposits hardened over geological time to form sedimentary rock such as shale or mudstone (generally cal ...

. It reached number 1 for two weeks on the UK Singles Chart in May 1975. It was the band's third and final UK number one. It was included on their album ''Mud Rock Volume 2'', which reached number 6 in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

. Other versions include: * Bobby Vee recorded the song in 1963. *

Jackie DeShannon Jackie DeShannon (born Sharon Lee Myers; August 21, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter and radio broadcaster who has had many hit song credits beginning in the 1960s, as both a singer and composer. She was one of the first female singer-son ...

released a version of the song on her album ''Breakin' It Up on the Beatles Tour!'' (1964). *The song was "revived" in an offbeat power ballad version by Starbabies, which reached the ''Billboard'' Adult Contemporary chart in 1979. *

Los Lobos Los Lobos (, Spanish for "the Wolves") is a Mexican American rock group, rock band from East Los Angeles, California. Their music is influenced by rock and roll, Tex-Mex, country, zydeco, folk, R&B, blues, brown-eyed soul, and traditional ...

recorded the song for the film '' La Bamba'' in 1987.

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 (1975). ''Buddy Holly: His Life and Music''. Popular Press. *Goldrosen, John; Beecher, John (1996). ''Remembering Buddy: The Definitive Biography''. New York: Da Capo Press. . *Gribbin, John (2009). ''Not Fade Away: The Life and Music of Buddy Holly''. London: Icon Books. {{Authority control 1957 songs 1957 singles 1975 singles Buddy Holly songs Mud (band) songs Songs written by Norman Petty Songs written by Sonny West UK singles chart number-one singles The Crickets songs Brunswick Records singles