“Rave On” by Buddy Holly

"Rave On" came out on Coral in 1958 and landed on the Buddy Holly album that same year, and it wasn't his song first. Sonny West, who wrote it with Bill Tilghman and Norman Petty, cut it for Atlantic, which issued his version that February. Holly got to it later that year and walked off with the hit, one of six of his records to chart in 1958.

You know it's him inside a second: the record kicks off with that elastic, hiccupping drawl stretching one word as far as it will go, and from there it never lets up. Jerry Allison drums, Joe B. Mauldin plays bass, Petty sits at the piano, Al Caiola adds guitar alongside Holly's, and five backing singers fill in behind, with Petty, Milton DeLugg and Bob Thiele producing.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.