Blue Suede Shoes

by

Carl Perkins

Album: Carl Perkins      Released: 1956

US Chart: 2     UK Chart: 10

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This was the first song to hit the US Pop, Country, and R&B charts at the same time.

Perkins recorded this in Memphis for Sam Phillips at Sun Records, as he was driving to make his first national appearance to promote it (on the Perry Como Show), he got into an accident that seriously injured him and killed his brother. Perkins never fully recovered, either emotionally or career-wise. With Perkins unable to touring and promote it, Elvis' cover version became a massive hit. Presley's copy was done at RCA studios in Nashville. (thanks, Gary - Thetford, England)

Phillips discovered Elvis Presley but sold his contract to RCA for $35,000. The money helped Phillips finance this and other records by artists like Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison, but Elvis became The King. Elvis recorded this later in 1956. His version hit US #20 and UK #9.

This was the only hit for Perkins. He was extremely influential to other artists, including Elvis, The Beatles, and Johnny Cash.

The lyrics are about stealing cars and drinking. This helped convince adults that Rock 'n' Roll was Devil's music.

Johnny Cash was the first to give Perkins the idea for this. He told Perkins about soldiers in the US army who wore their combat boots in the mess hall and would warn their fellow soldiers not to "step on my blue suede shoes." Later on, Perkins was watching a dancer at a high school sorority dance -- the didn't pay too much attention to his date, but he kept everybody else away from his new shoes. At 3:00 a.m. the night of the dance, Perkins woke up and wrote the lyrics. He couldn't find any paper, so he wrote it on a potato sack. (thanks, Brad Wind - Miami, FL)

Perkins based the beginning on a nursery rhyme: "One for the money, two for the show, three to get ready and four to go."

Sam Phillips, the owner of Sun Records, came up with the idea of changing the line "Go, man, go" to "Go, cat, go." He thought the change would make it seem like less of a country song and more of a rocker.

The B-side of the single was "Honey Don't," which was covered by The Beatles.

The Count performed this on an episode of Sesame Street. It became a counting exercise (one, two, Blue Suede Shoes...).

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Comments:

Carl was able to ressurect his career, somewhat after his near-fatal car crash. He had several songs on country music charts in the 1960s and was a regular perfomer on Johnny Cash's ABC television show. Carl was also a part-time actor and did a duet with Paul McCartney on Paul's Tug Of War album. George Harrison was also a friend of Carl's and appeared on Perkins' cable TV special taped in London. George spoke and sang at Carl's funeral in Jackson, TN.
- Ken, Louisville, KY

I do not think that the song is entirely about that. It does mention drinking booze and stealing a car but not by the singer
- Joel, Amsterdam, --

Rockabilly at its best
- Henry O. Godwinn, Wheeling, WV

I worked for a non profit agency in Tennessee that Carl Perkins help found. It was (and still is) a child abuse prevention agency. One day in the early 80's, Carl saw a picture of a boy in the local paper that had been physically abused. Carl thought the boy reminded him of his own son and was deeply moved. Carl made a decision right there that he would not live in a community where child abuse occured. He did many benefit concerts and worked with local groups and politicians to get the initial funding to get the center started. It is still operational today after 25 years and has helped thousands of families break the cycle of abuse. If Carl had gone on the Pery Como Show and done Blue Suede Shoes and had gotten as big as Elvis, it's possible that he never would have stayed in his home community and would never have started this center or done many of the other charitable work he did. Unfortunately, I never got to meet him (he died before I began working there), but I did meet some of his family and people he toured and recorded with. They are all great and charitable people. Everything happens for a reason, and Carl's accident was no exception. George Harrison, Garth Brooks, the Judds and many other musical luminaries attended his funeral in a small town on short notice. It said a lot about the musical influence, and the type of person, he was.
- Anthony, East Stroudsburg, PA

Carl Perkins aas also idolised by Ricky Nelson and George Harrison and rightly so.
- mark, dublin, Ireland

Cliff Richard and the shadows did a really cool version of this on cliffs second album in 1959 "cliff sings" featured on the track is hank marvin playing the first fender strat imported from the staes to britain by cliff only a couple of months before recording the album...Also on the album cliff pays another tribute to carl perkins with his and the shadows version of "pointed toe shoes" another perkins classic...
- mark, dublin, Ireland

Perkins was poised to become a rock n roll sensation by appearing on Ed Sullivan but before he could be on the show Perkins had a terrible car crash that almost killed him.Presley went on the show instead and took the spotlight that Perkins should have gotten.Perkins does a great version of this song on Johnny Cash's "Madison Square Garden" album.
- Mark, byrdstown, TN

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 an airman whom he had know 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?" 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. Later that night, Perkins was struck with an idea for a song based on that incident. He quickly grabbed a brown paper potato sack and wrote the song down. (Source: Wikipedia)
- Leonor, tucson, AZ

Carl Perkins is the older brother of the orininal Norman "Psycho" Bates, Anthony Perkins. The interesting thing about this fact is it's not true. I made it up.
- Ralph, Newton, MA

Acftually Nick Elvis influenced Perkins a little bit. Perkins liked all of the exposure that Elvis had gotten, and wanted to take a similar path. I don't think I have all of my facts right though.
- Stefanie, Rock Hill, SC

Jude on the Anthology 3 Cd set, the Beatles do this in a medley with "Shake, Rattle, and Roll" and another song that's Rip It Up" I think.. All songs were from the 1950's. The song is on the seccond disc by the way.
- Stefanie, Rock Hill, SC

I had heard Perkins and Elvis did not like eachother, and Elvis simply recorded the hit to knock Perkins rendition off the charts.
- Nick, tampa, FL

This song is what made Elvis famous. Which is ironic considering that Perkins faded away soon after.
- Nathan, Defiance, OH

Carl Perkins was a very big influence on George Harrison. George sings lead on "Honey Don't" and also on "Everybody's Trying to Be My Bady", another Perkins song that the Beatles covered. It would be very interesting to hear their version of "Blue Suede Shoes" if one still existed.
- Jude, Thomasville, GA

A version by Boyd Bennett & His Rockets also became a hit in early 1956, but only went as high as no.61 in the Billboard chart.
- Ake, OSTERSUND, Sweden

In the 1980's RCA produced a music video of Elvis' version using Elvis footage from the 1950's. Carl Perkins has a cameo at the end.
- Ken, Louisville, KY

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