Not Fade Away
The Crickets/Buddy Holly Lyrics


Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴  Line by Line Meaning ↴

Bop-bop-bop-bop
Bop-bop-bop-bop

I'm gonna tell you how it's gonna be
'Bop-bop-bop-bop
You're gonna give your love to me
Bop-bop-bop-bop
I want to love you night and day
'Bop-bop-bop-bop
You know my loving not fade away
Bop-bop-bop-bop
Well you know my loving not fade away
'Bop-bop-bop-bop
'Bop-bop-bop-bop
'Bop-bop-bop-bop
Bop-bop-bop-bop

My love bigger than a Cadillac
'Bop-bop-bop-bop
I'll try to show it when you're driving me back
'Bop-bop-bop-bop
Your love for me got to be real
'Bop-bop-bop-bop
For you to know just how I feel
'Bop-bop-bop-bop
A love for real not fade away
'Bop-bop-bop-bop
'Bop-bop-bop-bop
'Bop-bop-bop-bop
'Bop-bop-bop-bop

Bop-bop-bop-bop
Bop-bop-bop-bop
Bop-bop-bop-bop
Bop-bop-bop-bop
Bop-bop-bop-bop
Bop-bop-bop-bop
Bop-bop-bop-bop

I'm gonna tell you how it's gonna be
'Bop-bop-bop-bop
You're gonna give your love to me
'Bop-bop-bop-bop
Love to last more than one day
'Bop-bop-bop-bop
Love is loving and not fade away
Bop-bop-bop-bop
Love is loving and not fade away
'Bop-bop-bop-bop
'Bop-bop-bop-bop
Bop-bop-bop-bop
Bop-bop-bop-bop




Bop-bop-bop-bop
Bop-bop-bop-bop

Overall Meaning

The Crickets/Buddy Holly's song "Not Fade Away" is a love song with a catchy beat that channels the early rock and roll sound of the late 1950s. The song's simplicity in the lyrics is meant to capture the freshness and excitement of young love, with the singer outlining how their significant other should feel and act towards them. The lyrics are straightforward, with the repetition of "bop-bop-bop-bop" emphasizing the rhythmic roots of the song.


The opening verse of the song is the singer telling their love interest what they expect from them: "You're gonna give your love to me/ I want to love you night and day/ You know my loving not fade away." In the next verse, the singer expresses how big their love is - "My love bigger than a Cadillac/ I'll try to show it when you're driving me back" - and how they want their partner's love to be reciprocated genuinely. The final verse repeats the expectations laid out in the opening.


Line by Line Meaning

Bop-bop-bop-bop
Instrumental chorus


I'm gonna tell you how it's gonna be
I'll explain how this relationship will work


'Bop-bop-bop-bop You're gonna give your love to me
You'll love me and only me


I want to love you night and day
I want to love you all the time, always


You know my loving not fade away
You know my love is enduring and lasting


Well you know my loving not fade away
You already know that my love won't fade


'Bop-bop-bop-bop
Instrumental chorus


My love bigger than a Cadillac
My love is huge, immense


I'll try to show it when you're driving me back
I will make it evident when you take me home


Your love for me got to be real
Your love for me has to be genuine


For you to know just how I feel
So that you'll understand how I feel


A love for real not fade away
A true, genuine love won't fade


'Bop-bop-bop-bop
Instrumental chorus


Love to last more than one day
Love that endures for more than a day


Love is loving and not fade away
True love remains and doesn't fade


Love is loving and not fade away
True love remains and doesn't fade


'Bop-bop-bop-bop
Instrumental chorus


Bop-bop-bop-bop
Instrumental chorus


Bop-bop-bop-bop
Instrumental chorus


Bop-bop-bop-bop
Instrumental chorus


Bop-bop-bop-bop
Instrumental chorus


Bop-bop-bop-bop
Instrumental chorus


Bop-bop-bop-bop
Instrumental chorus




Lyrics ยฉ Peermusic Publishing, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Charles Hardin, Norman Petty

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
To comment on or correct specific content, highlight it

Genre not found
Artist not found
Album not found
Song not found
Most interesting comment from YouTube:

@theteacher8528

@donald loehr The Crickets went on to experience moderate success. Despite the band hiring a dead ringer for Holly's vocal prowess, David Box, and recording one of Holly's last demos, "Peggy Sue Got Married," nothing really stuck with the public from the band's post-Holly Coral and Liberty label releases. Box tragically died in a plane crash on tour in 1964 at age 21, much like Holly before him.

Gradually, though, original band member Jerry Allison, along with new member Sonny Curtisโ€”the two mainstays of the new groupโ€”ventured into touring, session work and songwriting, backing the Everly Brothers on their British tour, recording an entire album with teen idol Bobby Vee and even scoring a U.K. hit with a Goffin-King song called "Don't Ever Change."

Curtis later wrote several songs including "Love Is All Around"โ€”better known as the Mary Tyler Moore Show TV theme. The band's first post-Buddy albumโ€”1960's "In Style with the Crickets"โ€”eventually produced two major hits for other artists: "I Fought the Law" would become the only U.S. chart-topper for the Bobby Fuller Four in 1966 and the Clash eleven years later, while "More Than I Can Say" topped at number two for Leo Sayer in a soft rock version from 1980.

The group continued to tour and record sporadically in the 1970s, often with outlaw country legend Waylon Jennings, who had been part of Buddy's road band that fateful night but never got on the doomed plane. In 1988, Paul McCartney produced a new single for the group, "T-Shirt," which got some airplay. They also reformed in 2004 for an all-star tribute album featuring such luminaries as Eric Clapton, Phil Everly, Graham Nash, Vince Neil, John Prine, Albert Lee, Johnny Rivers, Rodney Crowell, Bobby Vee and, in one of his last recordings, Waylon himself.

From ..... https://www.liveabout.com/the-crickets-after-buddy-hollys-death-2522175



All comments from YouTube:

@PizzaParker107

Buddy Holly was way ahead of his time. So much talent just imagine if he had lived longer than he did

@jasonteqja7262

Especially with this song

@susannevanblokland5563

So true โค

@garymay799

All time great but I prefare stones version.

@stillme1065

My Dad got me into Buddy Holly in 1983 I've always loved his music

@DamienDrake

The first version I heard was the Rush cover.

37 More Replies...

@jason698

One of the most perfect rock songs ever written

@MoosicandCritters

Agreed ๐Ÿ’ฏ This song is the truest example of real Rock n Roll! ๐ŸŽธ๐Ÿฅ๐ŸŽค

@jason698

@Planet Moon this is a rock song in every way shape and form

@planetmoon5817

solid ! Jefferson Fox News

More Comments

More Versions