You say you’re gonna leave, you know it’s a lie/
‘Cause that’ll be the day when I die.
Buddy Holly recorded “That’ll Be The Day” solo and with The Crickets. His version with The Crickets is the superior version by far, but we don’t talk about The Crickets enough as a Great Band; we single out Holly.
Lead singers tend to get all the attention. However, listen to the difference between the two versions and you can see the difference that The Crickets made. Specifically, they added the backup vocals—which are such an important part of this song. Also, the intro guitar part sounds better, as does the solo: we can hear the two guitar parts.
I like the tongue-in-cheek message to his girl. He says he knows she’s lying about leaving him because it would practically be an act of murder because he would literally die that day. A lessor lyricist might have said “If you leave me I know I would cry, cause that would be the day that I died”, or similar. This was ground-breaking stuff in 1957, and it still sounds good today.
That’ll Be The Day Lyrics
Well, that’ll be the day, when you say goodbye
Yes, that’ll be the day, when you make me cry
You say you’re gonna leave, you know it’s a lie
‘Cause that’ll be the day when I die
Well, you give me all your loving and your turtle doving
All your hugs and kisses and your money too
Well, you know you love me baby, until you tell me, maybe
That some day, well I’ll be through
Well, that’ll be the day, when you say goodbye
Yes, that’ll be the day, when you make me cry
You say you’re gonna leave, you know it’s a lie
‘Cause that’ll be the day when I die
Well, that’ll be the day, when you say goodbye
Yes, that’ll be the day, when you make me cry
You say you’re gonna leave, you know it’s a lie
‘Cause that’ll be the day when I die
Well, when Cupid shot his dart he shot it at your heart
So if we ever part and I leave you
You sit and hold me and you tell me boldly
That some day, well I’ll be blue
Well, that’ll be the day, when you say goodbye
Yes, that’ll be the day, when you make me cry
You say you’re gonna leave, you know it’s a lie
‘Cause that’ll be the day when I die
Well, that’ll be the day, woo ho
That’ll be the day, woo ho
That’ll be the day, woo ho
That’ll be the day
Songwriters: Jerry Allison / Buddy Holly / Norman Petty