So when Paul Anka was 15 he recorded his first single in New York City, and when he was 16 he had his first number one hit. That’s crazy. That’s incredible. Unprecedented. It is (as they say back home) "not fit." Here was this kid from Ottawa whose parents owned a restaurant, hanging out with Frank Sinatra and recording in the same studios as some of the biggest stars on earth. Now what if I told you all that wasn’t even that impressive compared to what he did next; he gave one of the greatest performers in the history of rock and roll his last hit.
It was 1958, Paul Anka was 17 and was being seen as the next-big-hitmaker in the United States. Even though he was still in high school, Anka was being asked my anyone who was anyone to give them their next hit. Buddy Holly had met the young Anka at a party in New York and he had made Paul promise him that he would write him a song to use in his upcoming session, his first ever with a full string orchestra. As is typical of a 17 year old who is asked to do something, Anka forgot all about it.
Legend has it that Holly called Anka on his way to New York City, wondering where that song he had promised him was. Paul feigned a “Oh hey man, yeah, that song, it’ll be there, absolutely”, hung up, and quickly scrambled to write a song that would sound alright and would fit the vibe of a rockabilly signing with a symphony. He had no way of knowing that that the song he scrambled together would not just become one of Buddy Holly’s biggest hits, but also his last.
Anka got his song to Holly and who cut it in a now famous session on October 20, 1958 where for the first time a rock and roller used a string orchestra to help back him up. It stayed on the shelf for a few months before it was released in early 1959, when the unthinkable happened.
Shortly after the single was released, Buddy Holly’s plane went down on a stormy day just outside of Mason City, Iowa. In memoriam, and out of sheer panic, radio stations all over the country started playing Buddy’s latest single -- which just happened to be the song Paul had hurried together. The tragedy and the outpouring of grief caused "It Doesn’t Matter Anymore" to become a huge posthumous hit and a big potential money maker for Anka. But Paul was better than that.
Shocked by the death of his friend and the resulting success of his song, Paul Anka felt the need to do the right thing. He chose to give all royalties from the song to Paul’s widow. He said:
“It Doesn't Matter Anymore" has a tragic irony about it now, but at least it will help look after Buddy Holly's family. I'm giving my composer's royalty to his widow - it's the least I can do”
The song that he had given to his friend would go on to be an everlasting gift to his family.
In the past few years there’s been a few deadly covers of that song, and feel free to take a listen to them down below. But make sure to return to the top, because there ain’t nothing like the real thing.