Blue Suede Shoes

Infobox Single
Name = Blue Suede Shoes


Artist = Carl Perkins
from Album =
B-side = Honey Don't
Released = January 1 1956
Format = 7" single
Recorded = December 19, 1955
Genre = Rock and roll
Length = 2:14
Label = Sun Records
Writer = Carl Perkins
Producer = Sam Phillips
Certification =
Last single = "Gone, Gone, Gone"
1955
This single = "Blue Suede Shoes"
(1956)
Next single = "Tennessee"
(1956)
Misc = Infobox Single
Name = Blue Suede Shoes


Artist = Elvis Presley
from Album = Elvis Presley
B-side = "Tutti Frutti"
Released = September 8 1956
Format = 7" single
Recorded = January 30 1956
Genre = Rock and roll
Length = 1:58
Label = RCA Records
Writer = Carl Perkins
Producer = Steve Sholes
Certification =
Last single = "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You"
(1955)
This single = "Blue Suede Shoes"
(1956)
Next single = "I'm Counting on You"
(1956)
Misc = "Blue Suede Shoes" is a rock and roll standard written and first recorded by Carl Perkins in 1955. The 12-bar blues is considered one of the first rockabilly (rock and roll) records and incorporated elements of blues, country and pop music of the time.

Origin

Johnny Cash had planted the seed for the song in the fall of 1955, while Perkins, Cash, Elvis Presley, and other Louisiana Hayride acts toured throughout Texas and 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 don't know anything about shoes. How can I write a song about shoes?" [Rockabilly Legends by Jerry Naylor and Steve Halliday p.131 ]

When Perkins played a dance on December 4, 1955, he noticed a couple dancing near the stage. The girl was gorgeous, he thought, and the boy wore blue suede shoes. As they danced the boy cautioned his date "don't step on my suedes." Perkins was bewildered that a guy would value shoes over a beautiful girl. [Robert Rodriguez, [http://books.google.com/books?id=xLaSd2Qyb3AC&pg=PA90&lpg=PA90&dq=todd+duncan+unchained+instrumental&source=web&ots=M888sbPZh3&sig=KyWuaRIozpSa-_wKBfWtlQQhXMk#PPA90,M1 The 1950s' Most Wanted: The Top 10 Book of Rock & Roll Rebels] , "Brassey's", p.90 ]

Later that night, while in bed, Perkins began working on a song based on that 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, it's one for the money... Two for the show... Three to get ready... Now go, man, go!" and broke into a boogie rhythm. [Go, Cat, Go! by Carl Perkins and David McGee 1996 p.130 Hyperion Press ISBN 0-7868-6073-1] 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 couldn't even spell it right", he has said. [Rockabilly Legends by Jerry Naylor and Steve Halliday p.131; also on DVD]

The song was recorded weeks later and producer Sam Phillips suggested that Perkins's line "go boy go" be changed to "go cat go".

uccess of Perkins' Sun Records Release

The Sun recording of "Blue Suede Shoes" was released on January 1, 1956. Two copies of the song on 78rpm records arrived broken. Perkins soon discovered that the song was only available in the newer 7" microgrooved 45rpm format. Meanwhile, in both Jackson, where Perkins lived, and in Memphis, radio stations were playing the flip side of the record, "Honey Don't". 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 25,00 copies of the record. [Go, Cat, Go! by Carl Perkins and David McGee 1996 pp.152,153 Hyperion Press ISBN 0-7868-6073-1] "Shoes" became the side of choice throughout the South and Southwest. On February 11 it was the #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" [Go, Cat, Go! by Carl Perkins and David McGee 1996 p.157 Hyperion Press ISBN 0-7868-6073-1] on radio station KRLD in Dallas [http://www.rockabillyhall.com/BigD.html] 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 Carl's performances. Music shops in Dallas ordered a huge number of records. [Go, Cat, Go! by Carl Perkins and David McGee 1996 pp.154 Hyperion Press ISBN 0-7868-6073-1]

At one point the record was selling at a rate of 20,000 copies per day, and Perkins and his band were booked to appear on two nationally broadcast television shows: "Ozark Jubilee" and "Perry Como Show". Carl and the rest of the Perkins Brothers Band performed "Blue Suede Shoes" on the "Jubilee" on Saturday night, February 11, 1956. The show was broadcast by the ABC television network. [Go, Cat, Go! by Carl Perkins and David McGee 1996 pp.171, 172 Hyperion Press ISBN 0-7868-6073-1] A Song Hits review of the song, published February 18 states 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." [Go, Cat, Go! by Carl Perkins and David McGee 1996 p.158 Hyperion Press ISBN 0-7868-6073-1]

Unfortunately for Perkins and his band members, they would have a serious automobile accident on the way to New York City, resulting in the death of a truck driver and the hospitilisation 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. Elvis Presley's "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. [Go, Cat, Go! by Carl Perkins and David McGee 1996 p.187 Hyperion Press ISBN 0-7868-6073-1] "Blue Suede Shoes" was the first million selling country song to cross over to both rhythm and blues and pop charts. [ [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1070070 NPR story on Blue Suede Shoes] ]

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 Elvis Presley's contract. Perkins would not acquire the rights to "Shoes", along with all of his Sun Records songs until 1977. [Go, Cat, Go! by Carl Perkins and David McGee 1996 pp.188, 344 Hyperion Press ISBN 0-7868-6073-1]

Presley and Blue Suede Shoes

Both Perkins and Presley started at Sun Records under Phillips, but Presley recorded the song in early 1956 after his Sun contract was purchased by RCA Victor. Presley's version was recorded at the RCA Studios in New York, with Presley on vocals and rhythm guitar, backed up by his regular touring trio of Scotty Moore on lead guitar, Bill Black on bass, and D.J. Fontana on drums. According to Scotty Moore, when the song was recorded, "We just went in there and started playing, just winged it. Just followed however Elvis felt." According to reports confirmed by Sam Phillips, RCA producer Steve Sholes agreed not to release Presley's version of the song as a single while Carl's release was hot. ["Go, Cat, Go! by Carl Perkins and David McGee 1996 pp.162, 163 Hyperion Press ISBN 0-7868-6073-1]

Elvis performed the song to nation wide television audiences three times in 1956. The first time was on February 11, 1956 on the Dorsey Brother's Stage Show. Elvis performed it again on his third Stage Show appearance on March 17, then again on the Milton Berle Show on April 3. [http://www.kki.pl/elvisal/elvis_tv.htm] On July 1 Steve Allen introduced Elvis on the Steve Allen show, and Elvis, appearing in formal evening wear, stated "I think that I have on something tonight that's not quite right for evening wear." Allen asked, "What's that, Elvis?" "Blue Suede shoes" was the answer, as Elvis lifted his left foot to show the audience. Elvis mentions Blue Suede shoes a second time on this show. In a song during the "Range Roundup" comedy skit with Steve Allen, Andy Griffith, and Imogene Coca, he delivers the line, "I'm a warnin' you galutes, don't step on my blue suede shoes." [Elvis Volume 1 Home Video Syndications, Ltd 1990] These performances and mention of Blue Suede Shoes on nationally broadcast shows were seen by millions of Americans.

Meanwhile, although Presley is supposed to have promised Perkins that he wouldn't cover the song on a single record, [Naylor, Jerry and Steve Halliday (2007). "The Rockabilly Legends; They Called It Rockabilly Long Before they Called It Rock and Roll" (Book and DVD). Hal Leonard Publishing Corporation. p.140. ] "Blue Suede Shoes" was the first song on the first ground breaking album Elvis Presley, which was released in March. RCA released two other records with "Blue Suede Shoes" the same month: one an Extended Play with 4 songs, and a 2x extended play version with 8 songs. [http://www.sergent.com.au/elvis/1956.html]

RCA released the Presley version as a single on September 8. [http://rcs.law.emory.edu/rcs/titles/b/bl.htm] This single reached #20, whereas the Perkins version had topped the chart.

In 1960, Presley re-recorded "Blue Suede Shoes" for the soundtrack of the film "G.I. Blues". While Elvis' character's group "The Three Blazes" plays a ballad at a Frankfurt night club ("Doin' The Best I Can" by Doc Pomus & Mort Shuman [http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/elvis_presley_doc_pomus_mort_shuman.shtml] ), a bored GI plays "Blue Suede Shoes" by Elvis Presley on the juke box, remarking that he wants "to hear an original". When another soldier tries to unplug the juke box, the entire place erupts into a fight. [G.I. Blues DVD] This studio re-recording marked one of only a few occasions in Presley's career in which he agreed to re-record a previously issued song.

Other 1956 recordings

"Blue Suede Shoes" was recorded and released many times in 1956. [http://rcs.law.emory.edu/rcs/titles/b/bl.htm] February releases were by Delbert Barker and the Gateway All Stars on the Gateway [http://rcs.law.emory.edu/rcs/pics/d14/14871.htm] and Big Hits labels, Thumper Jones (aka George Jones), [http://rcs.law.emory.edu/rcs/artists/j/jone3400.htm] [http://rcs.law.emory.edu/rcs/pics/d15/15671.htm] Hank Smith [http://boogiewoogieflu.blogspot.com/2007/07/who-are-mystery-guests.html] , and Buzz Williams. [http://rcs.law.emory.edu/rcs/artists/b/bark2600.htm] [http://rcs.law.emory.edu/rcs/pics/d16/16233.htm] RCA Victor released a Pee Wee King version on March 3 of that same year, [http://rcs.law.emory.edu/rcs/artists/k/king3700.htm] [http://rcs.law.emory.edu/rcs/pics/d02/2378.htm] the same date as a Capital release by Bob Rubian. [http://rcs.law.emory.edu/rcs/artists/r/roub1000.htm] [http://rcs.law.emory.edu/rcs/pics/d03/3672.htm] These releases were followed closely by the March 10 releases of a Boyd Bennett version on King, [http://rcs.law.emory.edu/rcs/pics/d00/227.htm] [http://rcs.law.emory.edu/rcs/ss/00/ss242.mp3] and the Columbia release of a Sid King version. [http://rcs.law.emory.edu/rcs/artists/k/king4600.htm] [http://rcs.law.emory.edu/rcs/pics/d02/2388.htm] Decca, too, released a version by Roy Hall, [http://rcs.law.emory.edu/rcs/artists/h/hall5200.htm] [http://rcs.law.emory.edu/rcs/pics/d01/1819.htm] and the Dot label then released a recording by Jim Lowe. [http://rcs.law.emory.edu/rcs/artists/l/lowe3000.htm] [http://rcs.law.emory.edu/rcs/pics/d02/2647.htm]

Legacy

"Blue Suede Shoes" is often referenced in other songs including Chuck Berry's "Roll Over Beethoven" with "I'm giving you the warning, don't you step on my blue suede shoes."

"Blue Suede Shoes" was chosen as one of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. In 1986 Perkins' version was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame, and was included by the National Recording Preservation Board in the Library of Congress National Recording Registry in 2006. [ [http://www.loc.gov/rr/record/nrpb/nrpb-2006reg.html 2006 National Recording Registry choices] ] The board selects songs on an annual basis that are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

RS500S|95|Perkins' version [cite web|url=http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/11028260/the_rs_500_greatest_songs_of_all_time/1|title=The RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time|publisher=RollingStone.com|accessdate=2007-06-02] It is his only song on that list. Presley's recording of the song was also on the list at number 423.

In 1999, National Public Radio included "Blue Suede Shoes" in the "NPR 100," in which NPR's music editors sought to compile the one hundred most important American musical works of the 20th century.

elected list of recorded versions

The song is a rock and roll standard and has been performed and recorded by many artists, including:

*1955 Carl Perkins, US #1
*Buddy Holly as recorded on the Buddy Holly Story compilation.
*1956 Elvis Presley
*1958 Cliff Richard
*The Beatles
*1969 Cat Mother & the All Night Newsboys in the rock and roll "Good Old Rock & Roll"
*Count von Count on Sesame Street
*Eddie Cochran
*Jimi Hendrix
*Johnny Rivers, US #38, 1973
*John Lennon covered it live
*Bill Haley & His Comets Haley recorded "Blue Suede Shoes" on two occasions: in 1960 for US Warner Bros. Records and again in 1972 for Swedish Sonet Records. [http://thegardnerfamily.org/haley/discography/songs.html]
*Albert King "Blues For Elvis: King Does The King's Things" (Stax 1970) [http://bluescritic.com/albertking.html] [http://www.globaldogproductions.info/f/festival-3000-series-oz.html]
*Lemmy and The Upsetters with Mick Green
*Black Sabbath (back when they were known as Earth)
*Billy "Crash" Craddock on the album Live!
*Brian Setzer
*Jerry Lee Lewis
*The Toy Dolls
*Helloween
*Stray Cats
*Los Super Reyes
*Hurriganes

Cultural references

* Marc Cohn makes a reference to "Blue Suede Shoes" in his song "Walking in Memphis".
* Langston Hughes created a short story titled, "Thank You, Ma'am", mentioning Blue Suede Shoes.
* Chuck Berry mentions "Blue Suede Shoes" in his song "Roll Over Beethoven" in the lines: "Early in the mornin'/I'm a'givin you the warnin'/Don't you step on my blue suede shoes." "Roll Over Beethoven" has been covered by many other artists including the Beatles and Electric Light Orchestra.
* Buddy Holly's recording "Rock Around With Ollie Vee" contains the lyric "Ollie Vee says she's gonna do me right tonight / I'm gonna wear my blue suede shoes tonight."
* Larry Williams, in the song "Short Fat Fannie", mentions "Blue Suede Shoes".
* The David Essex song "Rock On" mentions about jumping up and down in her "Blue Suede Shoes".
* "Blue Suede Shoes" is also the title of a 1980 documentary film about the British rockabilly scene.
* The Nintendo DS game makes a reference to the song, in a sequence where the character mistakenly refers to Detective Gumshoe as "Detective Suedeshoes".
* Brian Setzer also refers to it in The Stray Cats' song Built for Speed.
* Gene Summers and Shawn Summers refer to "Blue Suede Shoes" in their song "Gonna Drive 'em Up A Wall" with the lyric "gonna slick up my hair wear my blue suede shoes/gonna rock all night to the boppin' blues". ("Reminisce Cafe" CD, 2008)
* The Motörhead song "Just 'Cos 'You've Got the Power" makes a reference to Blue Suede Shoes
* In , blue suede shoes can be both stolen from some houses and taken off the bodies of some non-player characters that the player kills.
* The game World of Warcraft has a pair of Blue Suede Shoes dropping from Kaz'rogal [ [http://www.wowwiki.com/Blue_Suede_Shoes note from the drop] ] , a raid boss in the game's expansion The Burning Crusade.
* In , a cheat code BLUESUEDESHOES can make all pedestrians look live Elvis.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1070070 NPR story on Blue Suede Shoes]
* [http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/music/elvis_buddy_holly_carl_perkins_johnny_cash.html Carl Perkins performs the song in a 1956 TV appearance ]
* [http://www.balletsanjose.org/videoBlueSS.htm Excerpt form Ballet San Jose's Blue Suede Shoes Ballet]