JERRY Allison’s most famous creation was inspired by a trip to the cinema. Along with good friend Buddy Holly, who he’d known since junior high school in Lubbock, Texas, Allison was particularly struck by a John Wayne phrase while watching The Searchers. “Wayne kept repeating the line, ‘That’ll be the day,’” Allison told . “Buddy said, ‘Let’s write a song’, and I said, ‘That’ll be the day!’ We worked on it for about half an hour.”
