.

Exclusive Download: Brian Wilson Covers Buddy Holly

Listen to the Beach Boys mastermind's version of 'Listen to Me'

August 19, 2011 11:25 AM ET
Exclusive Download: Brian Wilson Covers Buddy Holly
James Minchin III

Click here to listen to Brian Wilson's cover of Buddy Holly's "Listen to Me"

Brian Wilson's interpretation of Buddy Holly's classic song "Listen to Me" is a gorgeous merger of Holly's simple, direct melodic phrasing and Wilson's distinct arrangement and production style. The Beach Boys mastermind fills Holly's composition out with angelic harmonies and delicate instrumentation, enough so that some listeners would be forgiven for assuming that it was a Beach Boys tune all along. You can download the track, which will appear on the new Buddy Holly tribute album Listen to Me now, and pre-order the set, which includes covers recorded by Stevie Nicks, Jackson Browne, Ringo Starr, Zooey Deschanel and many others, at Amazon.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

prev
Music Main Next

blog comments powered by Disqus
Daily Newsletter

Get the latest RS news in your inbox.

Sign up to receive the Rolling Stone newsletter and special offers from RS and its
marketing partners.

X

We may use your e-mail address to send you the newsletter and offers that may interest you, on behalf of Rolling Stone and its partners. For more information please read our Privacy Policy.

Song Stories

“Everyday People”

Sly and the Family Stone | 1968

"Everyday People" managed to trailblaze in two different ways -- it was one of the first pop hits to deal with the subject of racial harmony, and it utilized Larry Graham's "slap" technique on the bass guitar, which would soon be copied by countless other bassists. Graham once said about his pulsating style, "I'd never done that before … that's where the freedom of creativity came in for the band, that we'd be allowed to do that." In 1978, the song's line "Different strokes for different folks" would be borrowed for the title of the hit television show Diff'rent Strokes.

More Song Stories entries »