True Love Ways

After more than sixty years the song True Love Ways once again sets memories in motion recalling the year 1958 and those beautiful Buddy Holly lyrics.

Sometimes we'll sigh...Sometimes we'll cry...And we'll know why...Just you and I...Know true love ways.

Many of us still recall Holly's memorable and exciting guitar intro to "That'll Be the Day." Holly wrote and recorded his breakthrough hit with The Crickets in 1957. The song's title and refrain are supposedly a reference to a line uttered by John Wayne in the 1956 film The Searchers. Don't know how true that is but it sounds like something the Duke would say.   

It's impossible to overstate the influence Buddy Holly had on rock n' roll.

He was a massive influence on the British Invasion, as evidence by "That'll Be the Day" being the first song to be recorded by The Quarrymen (later know as The Beatles) even though it was a demo disc.

Were it not for Buddy Holly, in my opinion, it's doubtful that the Beatles would've happened.

Most casual rock fans can name only a few Holly tunes: That'll Be the Day and Peggy Sue, but there is so much more than that.

True Love Ways was recorded on October 21, 1958, as part of Buddy’s final studio session at New York’s Pythian Temple, alongside "Moondreams, Raining In My Heart, and It Doesen't Matter Anymore." Norman Petty was trying to broaden Holly's career and one of the first results was to record him with the Dick Jacobs Orchestra.

Known by fans as “the string sessions” it would be the first and only time Holly worked with an orchestra, in this case, an 18-piece ensemble composed of former NBC Symphony Orchestra members under the conductorship of Dick Jacobs.

As you Listen to the innovative string arrangements on these tunes you'll begin to understand why Paul McCartney (who owns the Holly musical catalog) adopted these arrangements ten years later as a Beatle.

Another favorite of mine is the amazing "It Doesn't Matter Anymore," about a love gone wrong. The song was written by Paul Anka and again, the string arrangement is years ahead of its time.

Makes you wonder what might have been had Holly's life not ended so tragically and prematurely.

This beautiful song was written by Buddy Holly (though also credited to Norman Petty) and recorded with the  Dick Jacobs Orchestra on October 21, 1958, in the presence of Buddy's wife, Maria Elena Holly.

The song was recorded at the Pythian Temple Studio in New York City.

But you have to appreciate the impact of this great song and the love that inspired it.

Five hours after they met, Buddy Holly proposed to Maria Elena Santiago at PJ Clarke's in New York on June 20, 1958 at Table 53 and soon thereafter wrote "True Love Ways" for her as a wedding gift.

It was not released until March 1960, after Buddy Holly's tragic death, when it was included on the album, The Buddy Holly Story, Vol. 2, on the Coral label. Enjoy this wonderful old love song that is as beautiful today as it was when it was released more than 60 years ago.