Sunday Rerun: Echoing Through The Years

I would like to urge everyone who may someday have a baby girl who needs a name to consider the name "Echo."

I don't know why, but I love that name. Except for Echo, the name of the character played by Eliza Dushku in "Dollhouse," a TV show, the only other person named Echo that I can name was Echo McGuire, now Echo Griffith, who was Buddy Holly's girlfriend in high school and shortly thereafter.

Buddy Holly, born Charles Hardin Holley, was a legendary original early rock 'n' roller without whom we not have such great songs such as "That'll Be The Day", "Everyday", "Oh, Boy!", "Peggy Sue", "I'm Gonna Love You Too", "Maybe Baby", "Rave On!" and "True Love Ways" among others.  He started dating Echo in high school, but she went on to college and met someone else, apparently feeling that marriage to a rock and roller was in conflict with her religious beliefs.

Some credence is given to the fact that Buddy, on the rebound, married a woman he met at his music publisher's office in New York City shortly thereafter, a woman he'd known but a short while (although I am hardly in a position to oppose short engagements!) 

"Peggy Sue" was a woman named Peggy Sue Gerron, who was never Buddy's girl. They went to Lubbock (TX) High School together, but she dated (and later married, and divorced) Buddy's drummer, Jerry Allison.  Buddy had written a song called "Cindy Lou" (that was the name of his niece, his sister's daughter Cindy Lou Kaiter) but Allison was trying to impress Peggy Sue Gerron, so he talked Buddy into changing the name of the song to "Peggy Sue."  And Peggy Sue Gerron, never one to shy away from publicity, went to California, post-divorce, and became a dental technician and the first female licensed plumber in the Golden State.

Buddy and Echo

Using the name Peggy Sue as the code for the girl who was still in his heart, Buddy wrote "Peggy Sue Got Married" after his own wedding.  He recorded the tune in his apartment in New York, and this is the overdubbed and overproduced version that was later released.  The story is that he still held a torch for Echo, who had married and was a student teacher in February, 1959, when she got word of Buddy's death in a plane crash in Iowa.

To this day, Buddy's widow Maria Elena fights with Peggy Sue Gerron over their story, suits and accusations fly back and forth, and meanwhile Echo Griffith and her husband Ron have been married for over 55 years. 

The word "echo" comes from the Greek word  ēchē , meaning reflected sound.  You can be sure that Mrs Griffith has some fascinating days upon which to reflect.

And I still love that name!