I’ve known Buddy Holly’s big hits since back when I started buying “oldies” rock ‘n’ roll sets in my early teens, and can still sing “That’ll Be the Day,” “Peggy Sue,” and “Oh, Boy!” I think I even performed them occasionally when I was busking the cafe terraces in Antwerp, though I tended more to old swing numbers. But I just sang them because they were fun and upbeat and never worked up interesting versions.

I started playing “Everyday” in Antwerp, as well. I don’t remember why or how it came up, but I have a vague memory of walking down a cobbled street, trying to figure out the chords to the bridge. Nor do I remember where I’d heard it, or how I came to know the lyrics and melody. It wasn’t a hit, and I’m pretty sure I never owned a Buddy Holly LP. Frankly, he always seemed kind of lightweight and perky to me — it was only after hearing Joe Ely‘s version of “Midnight Shift” that I went back to Holly’s original and got a better sense of what he could do.

“Everyday” first attracted me because of the Latin rhythmic feel. I was working on Congolese guitar and getting more interested in playing those kinds of rhythms, and it popped into my head, and then I got fascinated by the chords to the bridge, which are unusual and smart. I was working from memory and won’t swear I got them right, but I think I did, and they’re a neat use of the circle of fifths: If you’re playing the song in E, the regular sections are a basic “La Bamba” progression of E-A-B7, repeated over and over, but the bridge goes to A, then D, G, and C, then drops a half-step to B7, leading back into the regular pattern.

The lyric is standard Buddy Holly, which is to say it’s not Chuck Berry or Leiber and Stoller, but well put-together and distinctive enough to stick in my brain. In Antwerp, I just strummed the rhythm, but now I’m experimenting more with playing those rhythms fingerstyle, so came up with this arrangement, and I’m enjoying it, and that’s about all I can say about this one.

Except… I should add that Holly was a major influence and touchstone for a bunch of my favorite artists, so if I never totally fell for him, I still owe him a major debt. He seems to have been totally devoted to the music, starting with blues and country, then adding different flavors, and coming up with interesting ideas like the bridge to this one. Oh, and… of all the rockabillies, he is the only one I can think of who got multiple top 10 hits on the pop and R&B charts but never even dented the country charts. Maybe that’s a Texas thing, but anyway, he was an interesting figure.

(P.S. I’m sticking with the title from the records, but… it really should be “Every Day,” not “Everyday.”)