George Thorogood’s favorite Christmas song isn’t a Christmas song.
The Delaware-born rocker, best known for “Bad to the Bone,” fell in love with Buddy Holly’s song “Everyday” in 1957. The acoustic tune, featured a distinctive celeste instrumental that, to his then seven-year-old ears, sounded like Christmas bells.
The B-side of “Peggy Sue,” “Everyday” got a lot of airplay in December 1957. But the next year, with its chart run long over, young George was puzzled that his yuletide favorite wasn’t back on the radio.
While he learned that “Everyday” wasn’t really meant for the holiday playlist, George still believes the song personifies a child’s delight while anticipating Santa’s arrival. Here’s George:
“Christmas day is the big one of the year. That’s the one the whole year revolves around is that day for kids. And I thought Buddy Holly was singing about Christmas. ‘Cause he sang, ‘Every day, it’s a-getting closer.’ I was going, ‘Yeah, yeah, come on!’ So the next year, when it came around Christmas, it wasn’t on the radio. I said, ‘What happened to that good, great, really groovy Christmas song?’ And my older brother had a buddy, he said, ‘It’s not a Christmas song.’ ‘Well, to me it is.’ So to this day, it’s my favorite Christmas song. I made it a Christmas song.”
