Crying, Waiting, Hoping

From Wikipedia:

“Crying, Waiting, Hoping” is a song written by Buddy Holly. It was released in 1959 as the B-side to “Peggy Sue Got Married“. Three versions of Holly’s recording were released: the 1959 commercial release, the 1964 reissue with different orchestration, and Holly’s original, private home recording.

Recordings

The song was first recorded on December 14, 1958 by Holly (only himself with guitar) in apartment 4H of “The Brevoort”, Fifth Avenue, Manhattan (many other sources say apartment 3B). After Holly’s death on February 3, 1959, his home recordings of his last six compositions were turned over to record producer Jack Hansen. Hansen hired studio musicians and a backup vocal group, the Ray Charles Singers, to augment Holly’s vocal and guitar. The idea was to match the established sound of Buddy Holly and the Crickets as closely as possible.

“Crying, Waiting, Hoping” is technically the most successful of the six overdubs; it turned out so well that it was originally intended as the “A” side of a 45-rpm single. Holly wrote and recorded the song with pauses (“Cryin’… waitin’… hopin’… you’ll come back“). Hansen ingeniously turned the solo into call-and-response verses, so the backup singers fill in the pauses with an “echo” of each word. (For a German reissue of this song, the producer took the “echo” idea literally, and played the Hansen recording in an echo chamber.)

Hansen’s studio version of “Crying, Waiting, Hoping” was recorded on June 30, 1959 at Coral Records’ Studio A, along with “Peggy Sue Got Married“. Both sides were released as Buddy Holly’s first posthumous single. (The remaining four tunes on Holly’s tape were re-recorded by Hansen and company in 1960. All six were issued on an album, The Buddy Holly Story, Vol. 2.) […]

According to Mark Lewisohn in “The Complete Beatles Chronicle“, The Beatles performed “Crying, Waiting, Hoping” regularly between 1960 and 1962, closely following Buddy Holly’s 1959 original. George Harrison sang the lead vocal and replicated studio guitarist Donald Arnone’s instrumental bridge, note for note. The band performed the song during their failed Decca audition on January 1, 1962, with George on the lead vocal and Pete Best on drums.

The Beatles played the song on August 6, 1963, for the “Pop Go the Beatles” radio show. This BBC recording was released on “Live at the BBC” in 1994.

On January 29, 1969, during the “Get Back” sessions, George Harrison casually began singing and playing “Crying, Waiting, Hoping.” Paul McCartney and John Lennon instantly joined in with harmonies, and Ringo added percussion. True to form, George played Donald Arnone’s bridge from memory.

Lyrics

Officially appears on

Bootlegs

Live performances

“Crying, Waiting, Hoping” has been played in 1 concerts.

Latest concerts where “Crying, Waiting, Hoping” has been played

Cover versions played during the "Get Back" sessions

"Crying, Waiting, Hoping" was covered during The Beatles' "Get Back" sessions in January 1969. Here is the complete list of covers recorded by Paul McCartney, either alone or with other Beatles, during these sessions:

Going further

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