Wednesday, December 19, 2012

December 19: Carl Perkins....Blue Suede Shoes

On this date in History ... 1955:

Carl Perkins records “Blue Suede Shoes”, a song that is considered one of the first “rockabilly” songs that led to the birth of rock and roll. 
 
Johnny Cash first suggested Perkins write a song about blue suede shoes when Cash had an airman refer to the military shoes as blue suedes. Perkins told Cash he had no idea how to write a song about shoes! 
 
Perkins was playing at dance and overheard a young man tell his date, “Hey! Don’t step on my suedes!” Perkins noticed the man’s suede shoes were blue, but his thought was how the kid was dating “a pretty young thing like that and all he can think about is his blue suede shoes.” He went home and in two weeks had a song written and recorded. When writing the song, he spelled it “Blue Swade” and said, “I couldn’t even spell it right!” 
 
Perkins became the first country singer to hit the R&B charts with the song and earned Perkins a gold record. Elvis Presley's version reached #20 on the charts, not coming close to Perkin’s version which topped the charts.
 

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