The 1957 rock and roll classic nobody has ever dared to cover, according to Keith Richards
Even in the midst of hedonistic rock and roll depravity, otherwise known as The Rolling Stones‘ early 1970s heyday, some things must always remain sacred. There aren’t many things in this world that Keith Richards hasn’t tried at one point or another, but even he would never dare to desecrate the good name of his ultimate guitar hero, Buddy Holly.
Holly’s emergence in the late 1950s came as a watershed moment for the youth of the rock and roll generation. While the likes of Chuck Berry or Fats Domino might have been figures of worship for the young Keith Richards, they had an air of inaccessibility that Buddy Holly dismantled.
‘If this thick-rimmed white bloke can establish himself as a pioneering voice for rock expression, then why can’t I?’ That was the realisation that Holly delivered to people like the Rolling Stones’ guitarist, along with countless others.
Inevitably, then, Holly was one of The Rolling Stones’ key musical touchstones going back to their earliest origins in the R&B nightclubs of early 1960s London. One of their very first hits, in fact, was a cover version of Holly’s ‘Not Fade Away’, paying homage to their hero and establishing themselves as a bold new voice for rock and roll in the process.
Despite the success that ‘Not Fade Away’ gave to the youthful Stones, during a 2015 chat with Guitar Moves, Richards affirmed that Holly’s defining track, ‘Peggy Sue’, is off-limits as far as covers are concerned. “Ask Paul McCartney, ask John Lennon if you could,” Keef declared.
“He [Buddy] is a cat that writes them, plays them, produces, sings them. In other words, the whole package in one.”
Keith Richards
“Yet,” he continued, “I don’t know anybody that’s yet dared to try to seriously cover ‘Peggy Sue’, even now. Some people do it on stage.” Richards’ suggestion, of course, is that the single is simple too important, too impossible to improve upon, that no self-respecting musician would dare attempt to recreate its magic within a studio setting.
Ultimately, though, quite a lot of musicians have covered ‘Peggy Sue’ over the years, including the aforementioned John Lennon, who recorded a version for his 1975 record Rock ‘n’ Roll. Elsewhere, everybody from Lou Reed to The Beach Boys has had their own stab at the track at one time or another. Even Paul McCartney recorded a brief version during Wings’ One Hand Clapping session back in 1974.
Although it is easy to poke holes in Richards’ bold declaration with the realisation that, actually, quite a lot of musicians have covered ‘Peggy Sue’, the point still stands that none of them has come close to matching the trailblazing quality of the original version.
Unlike other cover versions, in fact, where the source material is used as a mere jumping off point, both Lennon, McCartney, and everyone else who has covered the song have largely attempted to remain true to the spirit of the original, like Richards viewing it as a kind of untouchable artefact of rock and roll greatness.
