A John Wayne movie catchphrase inspired one of rock and roll's most iconic songs.
In short: In 1956, Buddy Holly and his friends watched The Searchers, where John Wayne repeatedly uttered the phrase, "that'll be the day." The line sparked a musical obsession, leading to a recording that became a rock classic, a Grammy Hall of Fame inductee, and a cornerstone of American cultural history.
The song's path to success was anything but straightforward. Buddy Holly first recorded it with the Three Tunes in July 1956 at Bradley Studios in Nashville. Decca Records, unimpressed by Holly's previous work, shelved the track. It was only after Holly re-recorded the song with his new band, the Crickets, in February 1957 at Norman Petty's studio in Clovis, New Mexico, that it achieved widespread acclaim.
Contractual complications defined the release. Holly was bound by a restrictive Decca contract that prohibited re-recording songs from his Nashville sessions for five years. To bypass this, producer Norman Petty credited the Crickets as the artist for the Brunswick Records release. The strategy worked, but once the truth emerged, Holly found himself signed to two different Decca subsidiaries, Brunswick and Coral, creating a complex web of recording obligations despite the Crickets often playing on both.
The Brunswick version became a massive hit, reaching number one on Billboard's Best Sellers in Stores chart in 1957 and topping the UK Singles Chart for three weeks. Its legacy grew over decades, earning a gold record certification in 1969, induction into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998, and inclusion in the National Recording Registry in 2005. It even served as the first demo recorded by the Quarrymen, the group that would eventually transform into the Beatles.
The song's cultural footprint extends far beyond the original hit. It appeared on the triple-platinum soundtrack for the 1973 film American Graffiti and was famously covered by Linda Ronstadt in 1976. Her version reached number 11 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and number two in Canada, proving the enduring power of the original composition. Despite the producer Norman Petty being credited as a co-writer, he did not contribute to the song's actual composition.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: That'll Be the Day
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