By the time Linda Ronstadt recorded “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore,” the song already carried an important place in rock ‘n’ roll history.
Written by Paul Anka for Buddy Holly, the heartbreak ballad was released by Holly in early 1959, just weeks before his death at 22. More than 15 years later, Ronstadt brought the song into the country rock era, placing her interpretation on the blockbuster album that transformed her into one of the biggest stars of the 1970s.
Anka was still a teenager when he wrote the song for Holly.
“In the beginning, I was Buddy Holly’s nemesis,” Anka wrote in his book, My Way. “Like me, Buddy Holly wrote his own songs, so he wasn’t dependent on outside writers like Boudleaux and Felice Bryant, who wrote the Everly Brothers’ songs. Buddy also had his own group, the Crickets. He didn’t play with pickup bands like the Everlys.”
But, eventually the pair became collaborators. Already successful with hits including “Diana,” Anka crafted “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore” around the resignation that follows a failed romance. Holly recorded it in New York during an October 1958 session featuring an orchestral arrangement, a notable departure from the stripped-down rock ‘n’ roll sound associated with many of his earlier hits.
The single arrived in January 1959.
On Feb. 3, Holly was killed in the plane crash that also claimed the lives of Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson. “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore” subsequently climbed the charts, reaching No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and becoming a posthumous No. 1 hit in the U.K.
“‘It Doesn’t Matter Anymore’ has a tragic irony about it now, but at least it will help look after Buddy Holly’s family,” Anka said at the time. “I’m giving my composer’s royalty to his widow – it’s the least I can do.”
Ronstadt revisited the song during a pivotal moment in her own career.
Her rendition appeared on 1974’s Heart Like a Wheel, an album that paired rock and country influences with songs drawn from an eclectic collection of writers and performers. Alongside “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore,” the record included her No. 1 remake of Betty Everett’s “You’re No Good” and a hit interpretation of the Everly Brothers’ “When Will I Be Loved.”
Released as a single in 1975, “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore” reached No. 47 on the Hot 100. It also showcased Ronstadt’s growing ability to introduce earlier pop and rock songs to a new generation without simply recreating the originals.
Heart Like a Wheel ultimately reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200, establishing Ronstadt as a major star and beginning an extraordinary commercial run through the remainder of the decade.
“I don’t think of myself as a star,” Ronstadt told Rolling Stone in 1978. “I didn’t set out to become a star, I set out to become a singer. I would have sung no matter what. The star part is just something that they made up in Hollywood in 1930.”
Fifty-one years after her version became a hit, “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore” remains a bridge between two eras. Written for one of rock ‘n’ roll’s earliest icons, the song found another defining voice in Ronstadt and proved that a great heartbreak song rarely belongs to just one generation.
Related: 1976 Iconic Ballad, Written by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Is Still a Beloved Hit 50 Years Later
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