“Only peculiar to itself”: the unexpected drumbeat that John Bonham stole from Buddy Holly
In terms of sheer impact on the rock and roll landscape, the youthful rockabilly sounds of Buddy Holly are utterly unparalleled.
He might only have been in his early 20s when his discography hit its peak, but everybody from The Beatles to hard rock progenitors Led Zeppelin was endlessly indebted to the songwriting mastery of the thick-rimmed hero.
Holly’s unbridled rock and roll power wasn’t exclusively in his songwriter, either. Countless other artists contributed to the rise of rock and roll back in the 1950s, and while it might have been blues players like Howlin’ Wolf that informed the later sounds of The Rolling Stones or Led Zeppelin, it was Buddy Holly who showed an entire generation of young music lovers that they, too, could pursue songwriting. Inevitably, that meant that Holly’s influence can be found in everything from early Beatles tracks to even the most abrasive of Led Zeppelin anthems.
As it turns out, one of the stand-out tracks from the band’s revolutionary 1969 offering, Led Zeppelin II, had its backbone directly lifted from the realm of Buddy Holly. As Jimmy Page once revealed to Mojo, “On ‘Ramble On’: As far as that intro goes, do you remember ‘Everyday’ by Buddy Holly? Well, that was the idea behind that.”
“I could go through loads of points of reference for some of these tracks, but I’m not going to,” Page wisely added. After all, a not insignificant part of Zeppelin’s output was heavily informed by the kind of old-school rock ‘n’ roll and blues that Page adored; so much so that the band have attracted a number of accusations of plagiarism over the decades. Either way, ‘Ramble On’ bears some striking resemblance to Holly’s track.
Originally released back in 1957, as the B-side to Holly’s defining anthem ‘Peggy Sue’, the gentle romantic optimism of the song might initially seem worlds apart from the brash 1970s rock of ‘Ramble On’. Listen closer to the intro of the Zeppelin track, though, and you’ll hear that it shares the same understated yet constant, driving backbeat, and Page’s acoustic melody doesn’t feel a million miles away from Holly’s piano intro, either.
Admittedly, the drumbeat on ‘Everyday’ isn’t quite unique enough to warrant any kind of lengthy legal battle or copyright infringement – if so, then the Holly estate would be able to sue everybody who has ever clapped their hands, too. Knowing that Led Zeppelin, and John Bonham particularly, were colossal Buddy Holly fans, though, it is far too large a similarity to be written off as sheer coincidence.
“The guitar part, as we know it, it didn’t happen immediately,” Page continued, recalling the origins of that 1969 epic. “I could sort of hear it before I played it, but ‘Ramble On’ has got these textures, some of which are guitar-led, but John Paul Jones’s bass playing is just superb on that track.”
Adding, “It’s got its own character that is only peculiar to itself.”
Its character might have been peculiar and unique, but the introductory drums of ‘Ramble On’ were anything but. Still, maybe if the rock pioneer had still been around in 1969 to witness the rise of Led Zeppelin, he would have appreciated having his work used as the basis for something entirely new. Then again, maybe he would have come knocking for some royalties.
Regardless, ‘Ramble On’ remains one of the greatest examples of Holly’s enduring legacy within the realm of rock and roll.
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