Blue Suede Shoes

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Blue Suede Shoes ( Blue Suede Shoes ) is a song by Carl Perkins , who in 1956 became his biggest hit. Elvis Presley's interpretation is also well known . Carl Perkins' single ranks 95th on the Rolling Stone music magazine's list of the 500 best singles of all time .

History of origin

The song is based on a story by Johnny Cash . During his stationing in Landsberg am Lech , Cash had a manager named CV White. He put a lot of emphasis on his appearance and kept asking whether he looked good. When he went on, he always said goodbye “ Just don't step on my blue suede shoes ” (German: “ Just don't step on my blue suede shoes ”). Years later, Cash told this story to Carl Perkins. A few days later, Perkins noticed a young man trying to keep his girlfriend at a distance while dancing so that she would not step on his new shoes. Carl Perkins wrote the song about both occurrences.

The version of Carl Perkins

Label of the single Blue Suede Shoes by Carl Perkins, first German pressing by London Records, 1956

Blue Suede Shoes was recorded on December 19, 1955 in Memphis with Honey, Don't , Sure to Fall and Tennessee and released as a single by Sun Records (# 234) on January 1, 1956 . The B-side is Honey, Don't . The song first reached number 1 on the regional country charts in Memphis (Tennessee) and was listed for the first time on March 3, 1956 at the same time as Elvis Presley's Heartbreak Hotel in the national Billboard pop charts, where the two titles were listed in the following weeks Delivered head-to-head races to the top. Perkins Blue Suede Shoes stayed in the pop charts for 21 weeks and reached number 2 as the highest ranking, overtaken by Heartbreak Hotel just before the finish line . Blue Suede Shoes came in at number 3 on the national Billboard country charts .

When Perkins' single Blue Suede Shoes sold a million copies in April 1956, Sun Records owner Sam Phillips gave Perkins a Cadillac . This made Blue Suede Shoes the first million seller from Sun Records. A serious car accident in the spring of 1956 prevented Carl Perkins from signing a successor agreement and almost ended his career. In Germany, the original version was released in June of the same year on the London Records label (DL 20 037), which was distributed by Teldec .

Elvis Presley's version

Single Blue Suede Shoes by Elvis Presley, German pressing by RCA Records, 1957

In early 1956 Elvis Presley recorded his own version of Blue Suede Shoes . In contrast to Perkins' version, Presley's version did not initially appear as a single, but together with several other titles on an extended play and on Presley's first album. This was done in consultation between RCA Records and Sun Records, because RCA had only bought Presley's contract in November 1955 from Sun owner Sam Phillips. This approach suited Presley, who knew Perkins personally from joint appearances - he was initially not enthusiastic about the suggestion of his new record company to cover the song, especially since he had already launched his own hit with Heartbreak Hotel .

Presley sang Blue Suede Shoes for the first time live as part of his third television appearance on the brothers Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey's Stage Show on February 11, 1956. Due to the popularity of the DJs who often played Presley's version on the radio, it was unusually exclusive in early April this way into the singles charts, where it later reached number 20 as the highest listing. A single by Presley with Blue Suede Shoes and Tutti Frutti did not appear until September 1956. In Germany, the RCA single was released in January 1957 (# 47-6636), once again distributed by Teldec.

Perkins said he was initially concerned that Presley's faster version might hurt the success of his own single, especially after seeing Presley's live version on the Milton Berle Show during his April hospital stay. However, his fears quickly turned out to be unfounded, as the lack of a single version at the beginning inhibited the sale and thus the chart position as expected. The situation did not lead to a competitive relationship for Perkins and Presley. Both of them continued to get along well, as can ultimately be heard from the dialogues during the well-known Million Dollar Quartet session of December 1956.

Compared to his own very successful version of Blue Suede Shoes , Perkins describes that of his colleague Presley as follows:

“I loved it. He did it faster than I did; it had a real groove to it. I still like it today and sometimes catch myself unconsciously speeding it up and doing it his way. Ain't that strange? But I had no idea he was gonna record it and when I saw him do it live on television, I gotta admit that I felt real proud. "

- Carl Perkins

More cover versions

Label of the single Die Blaue Suedeerschuhe by Paul Kuhn , 1956

The Plastic Ono Band , Black Sabbath , Buddy Holly , Lemmy Kilmister and Jimi Hendrix have covered the song . The first German-language version was recorded by Paul Kuhn on July 24, 1956 and published by EMI Electrola on the Columbia label. The German text of The Blue Suede Shoes was written by Peter Moesser .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Franz Dobler : The Beast in me. Johnny Cash . Kunstmann, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-88897-302-3 , p. 70
  2. ↑ rockabillyhall.com
  3. ^ Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles, Chart Data Compiled From Billboard's Pop Singles Charts, 1955-2008, and Bubbling Under The Hot 100 Charts, 1959-2008 . 12th edition. Record Research, 2009, p. 753; on Presley's chart debut and positions see Whitburn pp. 774ff
  4. ^ Franz Dobler : The Beast in me. Johnny Cash . Kunstmann, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-88897-302-3 , p. 97
  5. ^ Ernst Jorgensen: Elvis Presley, A Life in Music . St. Martin's Press, 1998, p. 37 u. 39
  6. ↑ Jerry Osborne: Elvis Word for Word . Random House, New York 2000, p. 62
  7. ^ Alan Clayson, Spencer Leigh: Aspects of Elvis, Trying to Get to You . Sidgwick & Jackson, 1994, p. 108; the pop chart statistics were still (until July 1958) determined from the statistics of various distribution channels: Most Played by Disc Jockeys , Best Sellers in Stores , Most Played by Juke Boxes , see Joel Whitburn, p. 10
  8. ^ Ernst Jorgensen: Elvis Presley, A Life in Music . St. Martin's Press, 1998, p. 38 u. 44. Joel Whitburn 'Top Pop Singles 1955-2008 . 12th edition, Record Research 2009, p. 774
  9. ↑ cf. Carl Perkins own statements in: Ken Sharp: Writing for the King . Denmark 2006, p. 42f
  10. ↑ “I loved his version. It's faster than mine and has a real groove. I still like them today and sometimes catch myself unconsciously increasing the pace when I play them myself. Isn't that weird? Little did I know he was going to record the song himself, and when I saw it live on TV, I must confess I was proud. ”Quoted from: Ken Sharp: Writing for the King , p. 43