Buddy Holly (song)

"Buddy Holly"
Single by Weezer
from the album Weezer (The Blue Album)
B-side"Jamie"
ReleasedSeptember 7, 1994
StudioElectric Lady (New York City)
Genre
Length2:39
LabelDGC
Songwriter(s)Rivers Cuomo
Producer(s)Ric Ocasek
Weezer singles chronology
"Undone – The Sweater Song"
(1994)
"Buddy Holly"
(1994)
"Say It Ain't So"
(1995)
Music video
"Buddy Holly" on YouTube
Audio sample
  • file
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"Buddy Holly" is a song by the American rock band Weezer. The song was written by Rivers Cuomo and released by DGC Records as the second single from the band's debut album, Weezer (The Blue Album) (1994). The lyrics reference the song's namesake, 1950s rock-and-roll singer Buddy Holly, and actress Mary Tyler Moore.

Released on September 7, 1994—which would have been Holly's 58th birthday—"Buddy Holly" reached number two on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart. Outside the US, the song peaked at number six in Canada, number 12 in the United Kingdom, number 13 in Iceland, and number 14 in Sweden. The song's music video, which features footage from Happy Days and was directed by Spike Jonze, earned considerable exposure when it was included as a bonus media file in Microsoft's initial successful release of the operating system Windows 95.

Rolling Stone ranked "Buddy Holly" number 484 on its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" (2021), raising it 15 spots from number 499 (2010), and raised from around 19 years prior, being ranked number 497 (2004). The digital version of the single for "Buddy Holly" was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2024. VH1 ranked it as the 59th greatest song of the 1990s in December 2007.