Ron Sexsmith on Buddy Holly's 'It Doesn't Matter Anymore'

Riffs

It changed my life. I was about five when I heard it and my mum had this incredible collection of 45s which I was able to put on myself, and this record I listened to over and over. I knew Buddy Holly was dead, and that fascinated me, and then there was his voice - the way he'd go from that low thing to that hiccupy thing.

The song is about a guy trying to get over a broken heart by saying that the person doesn't matter any more. He's trying to convince himself: "You go your way, I'll go mine/ Now and forever til the end of time." But he's really laying into the vocal and the whole track is kinda eerie. I don't think at five that I understood the depth of the song; it was totally an aural thing. I still play it, and whenever I hear it, it has the same effect on me. I guess you'd call it a toetapper, which is at odds with the theme of the song. But that conflict, that contradiction - I like it.