That'll Be the Day

In one sense, That'll Be the Day can be considered the first Beatles recording. It was made in 1958, when the Quarrymen, including Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, sang it with John 'Duff' Lowe on piano and Colin Hanton on the drums. John sang the lead.

The recording was made in the home studio of Percy F. Phillips in Liverpool. A single copy of the 78 rpm, 10-inch shellac record was pressed. The cost to the group was 17 shillings and sixpence. They only had 15 shillings between them, so they had to return later to redeem it. Then each group member was allowed to hold on to the record for a week or so.

Duff Lowe was the last to have it and he kept it for 23 years. Eventually he sold it for an undisclosed sum, known to be more than £5000. The record was first aired during a documentary about Buddy Holly in 1985. This historic track can today be heard on the Anthology 1 collection.

Buddy Holly wrote That'll Be the Day with Jerry Allison. He recorded it with the Crickets in 1957, and it went to number one in the charts. The title was inspired by John Wayne's repeated use of the phrase in his 1956 movie, The Searchers. The Holly classic was ranked number 39 in Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.