A-side Oh, Boy! | Length 2:21 | |
Released October 27, 1957 (1957-10-27) Genre | ||
"Not Fade Away" is a song credited to Buddy Holly (originally under his first and middle names, Charles Hardin) and Norman Petty (although Petty's co-writing credit is likely to have been a formality) and first recorded by Holly and his band, the Crickets.
Contents
Original song
Holly and the Crickets recorded the song in Clovis, New Mexico, on May 27, 1957, the same day the song "Everyday" was recorded. The rhythmic pattern of "Not Fade Away" is a variant of the legendary Bo Diddley beat, with the second stress occurring on the second rather than third beat of the first measure, which was an update of the "hambone" rhythm, or patted juba from Western Africa. Jerry Allison, the drummer for the Crickets, pounded out the beat on a cardboard box. Allison, Holly's best friend, wrote some of the lyrics, though his name never appeared in the songwriting credits. Joe Mauldin played the double bass on this recording. It is likely that the backing vocalists were Holly, Allison, and Niki Sullivan, but this is not known for certain.
"Not Fade Away" was originally released as the B-side of the hit single "Oh, Boy!" and was included on the album The "Chirping" Crickets (1958).
Along with the familiar take 2 of "Not Fade Away", there exists a take 1, the first verse of which is missing; it has been released with the first part of take 1 spliced into it.
Contrary to the depiction in the film The Buddy Holly Story (1978), "Not Fade Away" was not the last song Holly performed in his final concert, in Clear Lake, Iowa, on February 2, 1959, just before his death in a plane crash. At a symposium held in Clear Lake in observance of the 50th anniversary of his death, in a panel discussion with Tommy Allsup, Carl Bunch, and Bob Hale (the master of ceremonies at Holly's final show), all agreed that the final song of the night was Chuck Berry's "Brown Eyed Handsome Man", performed by all of the acts on the bill.
In 2004, this song was ranked number 107 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". The Crickets' recording never charted as a single.
The Rolling Stones version
In 1964, the Rolling Stones' cover of "Not Fade Away", with a strong Bo Diddley beat, was a major hit in Britain. It was the A-side of the band's first US single.
The Rolling Stones' version of "Not Fade Away" was one of their first hits. Recorded in January 1964 and released by Decca Records on February 21, 1964, with "Little by Little" as the B-side, it was their first Top 5 hit in Great Britain, reaching number 3. In March 1964, it was also the band's first single released in the United States, on the London Records label with "I Wanna Be Your Man" as the B-side (It had been briefly preceded by "I Wanna Be Your Man" with "Stoned" as the B-side, but this was quickly withdrawn). The single reached number 48 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. It also reached number 44 on the Cash Box pop singles chart in the U.S. and number 33 in Australia based on the Kent Music Report. "Not Fade Away" was not on the UK version of their debut album, The Rolling Stones, but was the opening track of the US version, released a month later as England's Newest Hitmakers. It was a mainstay of the band's concerts in their early years, usually opening the shows. It was revived as the opening song in the band's Voodoo Lounge Tour, in 1994 and 1995.
Sheryl Crow version
Crow released her rendition of the song in 2007 as a charity single along with a national advertising campaign for Revlon Colorist. The single was made available on iTunes, racking up over 19,000 paid downloads and spawning a six-week US tour in support of the campaign.
Other cover versions
"Not Fade Away" has been covered by many other groups, including Foreigner, John Entwistle's Ox, Status Quo, the Byrds, the Eyes as the Pupils, the Knack, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, the Pete Best Band, Tony Sheridan, Trout Fishing in America, the Everly Brothers, and Tanya Tucker.
Many artists have played it in concert, including Black Oak Arkansas, Elvis Costello, Sheryl Crow, Burton Cummings, Deep Purple, Jon Bon Jovi, Bob Dylan, Joe Ely, Steve Hillage, Greg Kihn, Los Lobos, Tom Petty, Mitch Ryder, Tony Sheridan, Simon and Garfunkel, Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen, Stephen Stills, James Taylor, U2, Paul Weller, Jack White, and Warren Zevon.
The Grateful Dead recorded the song and performed it in concert 532 times, making it their seventh most often performed song. Versions of the song are included on the albums Skull and Roses (1971) and Rare Cuts and Oddities 1966. "Not Fade Away" was the last song of the second set (before the encores) played on the last night of Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of the Grateful Dead, as the song has come to signify that the fans' love of the band and the band's love of the fans "will not fade away."
In addition to those listed below, the following artists have released the song as a 45-rpm single: Jumpin' Beans & the Moustaches (on Ball), Rubberband (on American Pla-Boy), and The Why Four (on Rampro).