ON THIS DATE (59 YEARS AGO) January 1, 1956 – Carl Perkins: “Blue Suede Shoes” b/w “Honey Don’t” (Sun 234) 45 single is released. Blue Suede Shoes is a rock and roll standard written and first recorded by Carl Perkins in 1955 and is considered one of the first rockabilly (rock and roll) records and incorporated elements of blues, country and pop music of the time. The song was notably covered by Elvis Presley. Johnny Cash planted the seed for the song in the fall of 1955, while Perkins, Cash, Elvis Presley, and other Louisiana Hayride acts toured throughout the South. Cash told Perkins of a black airman whom he had met when serving in the military in Germany. He had referred to his military regulation air shoes as blue suede shoes. Cash suggested that Carl write a song about the shoes. Carl replied, I dont know anything about shoes. How can I write a song about shoes? When Perkins played a dance on December 4, 1955, he noticed a couple dancing near the stage. Between songs, Carl heard a stern, forceful voice say, Uh-uh, dont step on my suedes! Carl looked down and noted that the boy was wearing blue suede shoes and one had a scuff mark. Good gracious, a pretty little thing like that and all he can think about is his blue suede shoes, thought Carl. That night Perkins began working on a song based on the incident. His first thought was to frame it with a nursery rhyme. He considered, and quickly discarded Little Jack Horner... and See a spider going up the wall..., then settled on One for the money... Leaving his bed and working with his Les Paul guitar, he started with an A chord. After playing five chords while singing Well, its one for the money... Two for the show... Three to get ready... Now go, man, go! he broke into a boogie rhythm.[4] He quickly grabbed a brown paper potato sack and wrote the song down, writing the title out as Blue Swade; S-W-A-D-E – I couldnt even spell it right, he later said.[5] According to Perkins, On December 17, 1955, I wrote Blue Suede Shoes. I recorded it on December 19. Producer Sam Phillips suggested that Perkinss line go cat go be changed to go man go, but it wasnt. The Sun recording of Blue Suede Shoes was released on January 1, 1956, as Sun 234. Two copies of the song on 78 rpm records were sent to Perkins, but arrived broken. Carl soon discovered that the song was available in the newer 7 microgrooved 45 rpm format and was disappointed that he didnt have a copy in the older, more substantial 78 rpm format. In both Jackson, where Perkins lived, and in Memphis, radio stations were playing the flip side of the record, Honey Dont. In Cleveland, Ohio, however, disc jockey Bill Randle was featuring Blue Suede Shoes prominently on his nightly show, and before January was over, the Cleveland distributor of the record asked Phillips for an additional 25,000 copies of the record. Shoes became the side of choice throughout the South and Southwest. On February 11 it was the No. 2 single on Memphis charts, was number one the next week, and remained there for the next 3 months. Perkins made four appearances on the Big D Jamboree on radio station KRLD (AM) in Dallas where he played the song every Saturday night, and was booked on a string of one nighters in the Southwest. The Jamboree emanated from the Dallas Sportatorium with about four thousand seats, and it sold out for each of Perkins performances. Music shops in Dallas ordered a huge number of records, and at one point the record was selling at a rate of 20,000 copies per day. A Song Hits review of the song, published February 18, stated that Perkins has come up with some wax here that has hit the national retail chart in almost record time. Interestingly enough, the disk has a measure of appeal for pop and r.&b. Customers. On March 17, Perkins became the first country artist to reach the number three spot on the rhythm & blues charts. That night, Perkins and his band first performed Blue Suede Shoes on television on ABC-TVs Ozark Jubilee (coincidentally, Presley was on Stage Show on CBS-TV that same night, singing the song for a second time). Perkins was booked to next appear on The Perry Como Show on NBC-TV on March 24, but on March 22 he and his band members had a serious automobile accident on the way to New York City, resulting in the death of a truck driver and the hospitalization of both Perkins and his brother. While Perkins recuperated from the accident, Blue Suede Shoes rose to number one on most pop, R&B, and country regional charts. It also held the number two position on the Billboard Hot 100 and country charts. Presleys Heartbreak Hotel held the number one position on the pop and country charts, while Shoes did better than Heartbreak on the R&B charts. By mid-April, more than one million copies of Shoes had been sold, earning Perkins a Gold Record. Blue Suede Shoes was the first million selling country song to cross over to both rhythm and blues and pop charts. Sam Phillips retained the rights to the song, although it was represented by the New York house of Hill and Range as part of the agreement when Phillips sold Presleys contract. Perkins would acquire the rights to Shoes, along with all of his Sun Records songs, in 1977.
Posted on: Fri, 02 Jan 2015 17:15:50 +0000
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