# Buddy Holly: Would he have been more like Elvis or Bill Haley? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 7, 2017, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-holly-would-he-have-been-more-like-elvis-or-bill-haley/781640 "2017-03-07T19:48:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-holly-would-he-have-been-more-like-elvis-or-bill-haley/781640/21 "2017-03-08T03:56:35Z")
I have posited before on this board my speculation that Holley would have moved into the role of producer. He was interested in it for his own work, is largely regarded as an innovator, and it’s a pretty sweet life for a former pop star as a behind-the-scenes hitmaker. As a lyricist, I don’t know. I’ve been a fan of his since the 80’s, and yet I’ve only recently realized how plagued his lyrics are with vagueness. Here’s a typical case: > [@](#): > > If you knew Peggy Sue > Then you’d know why I feel blue > About Peggy, my Peggy Sue This is pretty typical, really. He doesn’t say anything specific and in fact kind of tells you that he’s not telling you anything. He returned to the subject of Peggy Sue in a follow-up song. She got married. Wears a band of gold. That’s the only new information, and it’s a lot more than we found out in the previous song. But he hedges even that. Just a rumor. You didn’t hear it from me. > [@](#): > > I’m changing all those changes > That I made when I left you > Because I made those changes > When I thought you were untrue That is all you’re going to find out about those changes. Want any details, instead of basically just naming emotions or circumstance in the abstract? Too bad if you want any specifics about true love ways except for who knows them. > [@](#): > > Do you remember, baby, > last September > How you held me tight > Each and every night Wow, who opened the floodgates of specificity here? Paul Anka. Paul Anka wrote that. Holly compares his emotions to the weather in _Raining in My Heart_. Again, he didn’t write that. Buddy avoids the objective correlative like he owes it money. Buddy Holly’s charisma sells his lyrics. We listen to them from other people, because it reminds us of Buddy Holly. He’d be wasting his potential to shop lyrics around to other artists. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-holly-would-he-have-been-more-like-elvis-or-bill-haley/781640/22 "2017-03-08T05:17:05Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > For all that, he could have invented psychedelic music. Wrote the alt-history version of Sgt Pepper ahead of the Beatles. He could have single-handedly drove back the British invasion, made the Beatles and the Stones just local bands with medium success. Opened AND closed Woodstock. He also would have cured cancer. > > I mean, since we’re speculating. And he was a much better President than Agnew. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-holly-would-he-have-been-more-like-elvis-or-bill-haley/781640/23 "2017-03-08T09:19:40Z")
It wasn’t important to write your own songs in order to have credibility until the late sixties because The Beatles made it the new standard. Buddy Holly was already there before the Beatles even existed. His songwriting talent would have not only sustained him for decades but would have made other artists better as well, as they struggled to maintain credibility alongside an innovating Buddy Holly. Dion, Del Shannon, The Everly Brothers, and Roy Orbison were all putting out new albums in the 80s. No reason at all Holly wouldn’t have been putting out albums as well- and they’d have been good albums (regardless of whether or not they were hits). Buddy Holly might have been one of the Travelling Wilburys. He definitely would have gotten to have sex with Linda Ronstadt, something neither Elvis nor Bill Haley ever managed. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-holly-would-he-have-been-more-like-elvis-or-bill-haley/781640/24 "2017-03-08T15:42:09Z")
> [@K364](#): > > Yes. And here’s the video of that: [https://youtu.be/AsPJq0Xomxw](https://youtu.be/AsPJq0Xomxw) OMG! I was kidding. I’d never heard of this before. There’s a lot of creative people with active imaginations out there, aren’t there? ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-holly-would-he-have-been-more-like-elvis-or-bill-haley/781640/25 "2017-03-08T23:06:08Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > He definitely would have gotten to have sex with Linda Ronstadt, **something neither Elvis nor Bill Haley ever managed.** [my bolding] You’re certain about that? How would you know ;)? ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-holly-would-he-have-been-more-like-elvis-or-bill-haley/781640/26 "2017-03-09T21:01:32Z")
The problem is that sometimes artists spin off in weird directions for unknown reasons. A song like [Well… All Right](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5AnUctpQXI) was ahead of its time, and hinted at his potential. But the same was true of Lorde, and with her latest single, [Green Light](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMK_npDG12Q), she’s turned into a Taylor Swift-wannbe. I also wonder if he would have taken an up-and-comer named Don McLean under his wing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-holly-would-he-have-been-more-like-elvis-or-bill-haley/781640.md?page=1)