It's So Easy! (The Crickets song)

For other uses, see It's So Easy.

"It's So Easy!" is a rock-and-roll song written by Buddy Holly and Norman Petty. It was originally released as a single in 1958 by the Crickets on Brunswick Records but failed to chart. It was the final release by the Crickets when Holly was still in the band.

"It's So Easy!"
Single by The Crickets
B-side	"Lonesome Tears"
Released	September 12, 1958 (1958-09-12)
Recorded	June–August 1958, Clovis, New Mexico
Genre	Rock and roll
Length	2:10
Label	Brunswick
Songwriter(s)	Buddy Holly, Norman Petty
Producer(s)	Norman Petty
The Crickets singles chronology
"Think It Over" (1958) "It's So Easy!" (1958) "Love's Made a Fool of You" (1959)

A cover version recorded by Linda Ronstadt from her album Simple Dreams was released on September 20, 1977 and was a Top Five hit on the Billboard Hot 100.

The Crickets version

Background

The song was recorded by Buddy Holly and the Crickets from June to August 1958 at Norman Petty's studio in Clovis, New Mexico.

Holly lip-synched to recordings of "It's So Easy!" and his song "Heartbeat" on the television program American Bandstand on October 28, 1958.

The Crickets recorded "It's So Easy!" for Brunswick Records, which released it as a 45-rpm single in 1958 but it did not chart. The B-side was "Lonesome Tears". Tommy Allsup played the lead guitar parts on both recordings.

Linda Ronstadt version

"It's So Easy"
Single by Linda Ronstadt
from the album Simple Dreams
B-side	"Lo Siento Mi Vida"
Released	September 20, 1977
Genre	Rock
Length	2:27
Label	Asylum
Songwriter(s)	Buddy Holly Norman Petty
Producer(s)	Peter Asher
Linda Ronstadt singles chronology
"Blue Bayou" (1977) "It's So Easy" (1977) "Poor Poor Pitiful Me" (1978)
45 RPM side label
U.S. release by Linda Ronstadt

Background

Linda Ronstadt recorded "It's So Easy" in 1977 for her album Simple Dreams, produced by Peter Asher. Her recording was released as a single by Asylum Records in the autumn of that year. It hit the Billboard Top Five on the Hot 100 simultaneously with her recording of "Blue Bayou". It also reached No. 9 in Canada and No. 11 on the UK Singles Chart.^[1][2] Ronstadt's version was used in the 2005 film Brokeback Mountain.

Chart performance

Weekly charts Chart (1977–1978) Peak position Argentina (Cash Box)[3] 10 Belgium (Flanders)[4] 4 Belgium (Wallonia)[4] 12 Canada Top Singles (RPM)[5] 9 Denmark[4] 6 Germany[4] 47 Netherlands[4] 13 New Zealand[4] 11 South Africa (Springbok Radio)[6] 4 Switzerland [4] 6 US Billboard Hot 100[7] 5 US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[8] 37 US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[9] 81

Year-end charts Chart (1977) Rank Canada [10] 107 Chart (1978) Rank Canada [11] 178 Switzerland [12] 26 U.S. Billboard Hot 100[13] 90

Other versions

The following musicians recorded cover versions of the song: Bobby Vee (on the 1963 album I Remember Buddy Holly), the Astronauts (on their 1964 album Everything is A-OK!), Jimmy Gilmer and Waylon Jennings in 1964, Tommy Allsup on the album The Buddy Holly Songbook in 1964, Skeeter Davis (on her 1967 album Skeeter Davis Sings Buddy Holly), the Trashmen (on their 1964 album Surfin' Bird), Connie Francis (on her 1996 album With Love to Buddy), Phil Ochs in 1974 in a live medley, Hank Marvin (on his 1996 album Hank Plays Holly), Mike Berry and The Outlaws (on the 1998 album Rock 'n' Roll Daze), Denny Laine of Wings in a medley in 1977, Waylon Jennings with The Crickets in a medley on his 1978 album I've Always Been Crazy, P. J. Proby (on his 2003 album Memories), Hot Tuna (on their 1976 album Hoppkorv), Chris Spedding (on the 1989 compilation Every Day is a Holly Day), Zooey Deschanel and Paul McCartney in 2011, and Ian Gillan of Deep Purple in 2018.^[14]

The Beatles performed the song at the 1969 Let It Be sessions. According to Mark Lewisohn in The Complete Beatles Chronicle, The Beatles – first as The Quarrymen – performed “It’s So Easy” regularly in live performances between 1958 and 1962.^[15]

Gary Busey (portraying Buddy Holly) performed the song in the 1978 film The Buddy Holly Story.