1956 Songs: Blue Suede Shoes

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If you haven’t noticed, just two songs into this look back 70 years at the music of 1956, there’s A LOT of influence coming from that truck driver from Tupelo. And, don’t you worry about a thing, he’ll be along himself later. But first, a song that I would personally put top the list of “songs that changed rock and roll,” regardless of what others say. There are countless arguments about the first rock and roll song, but I don’t think there’s any debate about the first “atomic bomb” song…this one. Blue Suede Shoes - Carl Perkins Carl Perkins was an afterthought, thanks to a car wreck. He was riding high with this song, topping the pop, country, AND R&B charts…then he had a car wreck and was laid up. Along came Mr. Presley, covered this song, and the rest is history…although I’m pretty sure Perkins never objected to the royalty checks he got from writing this song. Oh, if you’re interested (even if you aren’t, doesn’t change the fact ), if you remember Johnny Cash’s hit “Daddy Sang Bass,” that, too, was written by Carl Perkins. If you watch the video (part of which is from the Perry Como TV show [you’ll hear where the splice is, because the rest of the song is in a different key], appropriate since he, too, will be along later), you’ll see that Perkins had quite the charisma to be a major star. That convalescence time took it away from him, but he’s still regarded as one of the founding fathers of rock and roll…thanks in no small part to this song. Blue Suede Shoes Written by Carl Perkins Recorded by Carl Perkins Released as a single, 1956 Slander my name all over the place: