During the mid-1950s, Roy Orbison and Buddy Holly first met as teenagers. Both were from the West Texas area—Orbison in the Fort Worth/Vernon area and Holly in Lubbock, and shared a friendly rivalry as pioneering rock and rollers. “I was frustrated as a singer for a long time, particularly when some friendly rivalry broke out between me and a young guy in Texas named Buddy Holly, who, within a couple of months, had a couple of number one singles and soon had stardom that reached to the moon,” said Orbison, who would get his first major hit a few years after with “Only the Lonely” in 1960.
“Buddy and Roy were Texans who shared mutual respect and admiration for each other’s creative musical genius and brilliant songwriting abilities,” said Holly’s widow, Maria Elena Holly, in 2019.
Orbison and Holly remained friends and played some shows together during the late ’50s. Orbison also turned Holly on to producer Norman Petty’s Studios in Clovis, New Mexico, where he and the Crickets would record most of their hits between 1957 and 1958, including “That’ll Be the Day,” “Peggy Sue,” “Not Fade Away,” and more.
In 1957, Holly also recorded two of Orbison’s songs on his debut, The “Chirping” Crickets. Orbison later co-wrote a third song for the Crickets’ first album in 1962, following Holly’s death four years earlier.
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“You’ve Got Love,” Buddy Holly (1957)
Written by Roy Orbison, Norman Petty, and Johnny Wilson
“You’ve Got Love” was one of two Orbison contributions to Holly’s 1957 debut album, The “Chirping” Crickets. It’s a song he never recorded himself.
You got two lips that look so fine
You got one heart I wish was mine
Love, sweet love
You’ve got love
You got two arms that you could use
To make me lose my blues
Love, sweet love
You’ve got love
You’ve got love, real love
You’ve got love, sweet love
You’ve got love, that is true
I want only you
“An Empty Cup (And a Broken Date),” Buddy Holly (1957)
Written by Roy Orbison and Norman Petty
In 1956, Orbison first recorded the rockabilly “An Empty Cup (And a Broken Date)” with his early band the Teen Kings at Norman Petty’s studio in New Mexico, but never released it as a single. The first release of “An Empty Cup,” the story of a jilted date, appeared on Holly’s debut with the Crickets.
One lonely night (One lonely night)
At this drive-in (At this drive-in)
And now I know (And now I know)
What a fool I’ve been (What a fool I’ve been)
She was to meet me (An empty cup, a broken date)
We had a date (A broken date, an empty cup)
A date at seven, I dreamed of heaven (Ahh)
Now it’s way past eight (Ahh)
She just drove by (She just drove by)
With another guy (With another guy)
No wonder I (No wonder I)
Can’t help but cry (Cry, and cry)
“Lookin’ for Love,” Bobby Vee and The Crickets (1962)
Written by Roy Orbison and Joe Melson
After Holly died in 1959, the Crickets continued recording and touring for several decades, led by drummer Jerry Allison, and released 18 more albums with various band members through 2016. When the Crickets released their first album after Holly’s death, a collaboration with singer and teen idol Bobby Vee, Orbison contributed “Lookin’ for Love,” which he co-wrote with Joe Melson, his co-writer on hits “Only the Lonely” and “Crying.”
Bobby Vee Meets the Crickets was Vee’s seventh album and features three re-recorded songs by Holly—”Peggy Sue,” Well…All Right,” and “Bo Diddley”—along with covers of songs by Chuck Berry (“Sweet Little Sixteen,” “Little Queenie”) and Little Richard (“Lucille”). Allison plays on the album, but neither of the original Crickets, Joe B. Mauldin, nor Jerry Naylor played on the record, despite being featured on the cover.
Well, I’ve been to a lot of places, and I’ve seen a lot of things
But I ain’t never found the girl of my dreams
Been coast to coast and back again, but I’m as lonely as I’ve been
New York, ‘Frisco too, old Chicago, even St. Lou’
Been to Dallas and New Orleans
But I ain’t never found the girl of my dreams
Well I don’t know where and where and don’t know when
This lookin’ for love will ever end, but I’ll keep searchin’ everywhere
Mmm, to find a love that’ll really care
“Lookin’ for Love” was another song Orbison never recorded himself.
Guitarist Tommy Allsup also plays on the album and frequently played with the band throughout the years. Allsup toured with Holly, including during the Winter Dance Party in 1959, when he lost his seat during a coin toss, on the plane that killed Holly, Ritchie Valens, J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson, and pilot Roger Peterson during the early morning of February 3, 1959.
Photo: Buddy Holly & The Crickets, 1958 (Steve Oroz/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
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