The energy of their fresh, raw music was sweeping across the Southern States in the early 1950s and Buddy was inspired. He was eager to be involved himself, but this was a new kind of music and, for all of Buddy’s own natural creativity, it was a music that had to be learnt and one of his teachers – albeit unwittingly – was John Marascalco.

The man was a genius. He wrote some of the cornerstone tablets of rock and roll itself – ‘Be My Guest’ for Fats Domino, ‘If You want My Lovin’’ for Gene Vincent, the glorious ‘Goodnight My Love’ for Jesse Belvin and ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Dance’ for Lloyd Price. But it was the songs he wrote with Robert ‘Bumps’ Blackwell and recorded by Little Richard that made the most impression on the young Buddy Holly – ‘Good Golly Miss Molly’, ‘Rip It Up’ and ‘Heebie Jeebies’. Buddy loved these records and could not resist covering two Marascalo co-writes himself – ‘Ready Teddy’ and ‘Send Me Some Lovin’’, a song subsequently recorded by Sam Cooke and John Lennon – illustrious company indeed! 

Little Richard and Buddy eventually established a huge mutual respect and Buddy always acknowledged how much he’d learned from those incredible Little Richard records at a point in his artistic development when his own writing was still at a formative point. And so, when it came time for the Crickets to record their debut album The ‘Chirping’ Crickets in 1957, it was natural that Buddy would reach out to the work of John Marascalco for inspiration. ‘Send Me Some Lovin’’ was on that album, while ‘Ready Teddy’ made it onto Buddy’s eponymously titled follow-up in 1958. It was a perfect match.

Without knowing it, John Marascalco helped a young, impressionable Buddy Holly find his own beautifully crafted musical pathway. And for that, we are extremely grateful. 

Bob Harris