About The Song
“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.
The song was first recorded on December 14, 1958 by Holly (by himself, with a 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.)
Holly’s manager, Norman Petty, recorded his own versions of the last six Holly originals in 1964, using his own studio facilities and backup group, The Fireballs. Petty’s versions differ from Hansen’s versions in that there are no background vocals, and the melodies have new surf-guitar arrangements added to them.
Video
Lyrics
I, I just can’t seem to get you off of my mind
Crying (crying), waiting (waiting), hoping (hoping), you’ll come back
I just can’t seem to get you off my mind
Crying (crying), waiting (waiting), hoping (hoping), you’ll come back
You’re the one I love, and I think about you all the time
Crying (crying all night long), my tears keep a-falling all night long
Waiting (waiting all night long) it feels so useless, I know it’s wrong
To keep a-crying (crying), waiting (waiting), hoping (hoping), you’ll come back
Maybe someday soon, things will change and you’ll be mine
(Ahh, maybe someday soon, things will change and you’ll be mine)
Crying (crying all night long), my tears keep a-falling all night long
Waiting (waiting all night long) it feels so useless, I know it’s wrong
To keep a-crying (crying), waiting (waiting), hoping (hoping), you’ll come back
Maybe someday soon, things will change and you’ll be mine
Crying, waiting, hoping