OH, BOY!
“Oh, Boy!” was written by Sonny West, Bill Tilghman and Norman Petty. The song was originally recorded by Sonny West in the late 1950s but failed to achieve any commercial success. It was later recorded by Buddy Holly and the Crickets between June 29 and July 1, 1957, at Petty Studios in Clovis, New Mexico, 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”.) The song appeared on the album The “Chirping” Crickets, and was also released as the A-side of a single, with “Not Fade Away” as the B-side. The song peaked at #10 on the US Charts, and #3 on the UK Charts in early 1958. (More from Wikipedia)
The confusion spread to the general public as well, since some of his 45’s were released under the name Buddy Holly, and others as the Crickets (often with Holly’s name nowhere in sight, even as a songwriter). In spite of this, Buddy Holly and/or the Crickets had numerous hit songs, among them “Not Fade Away”, “Everyday”, “Listen to Me”, “Oh, Boy!”, “Peggy Sue”, “Maybe Baby”, “Rave On”, “Heartbeat”, and “It’s So Easy”.
(June 2013/1)
