SOURCE: "Listen to Me," in On Record: Rock, Pop, and the Written Word, edited by Simon Frith and Andrew Goodwin, Pantheon Books, 1990, pp. 326-40.

In the following excerpt from his 1971 study of Holly, Laing provides an analysis of the compositional structure of Holly's songs as well as the highly individual style of his performance on studio recordings.

Buddy Holly's music developed considerably on the records made under his own name, mostly at Petty's studio in Clovis. The backing is usually by members of the Crickets, although the record labels only said "with instrumental accompaniment." These tracks are the twelve which appeared on the album Buddy Holly in 1958, with the addition of four later tracks—"Rave On," "Take Your Time," "Heartbeat," and "Well All Right"—and others not issued until after Holly's death, including "Love's Made a Fool of You" and two songs cut with the R&B saxophonist...