Elvis Presley – Blue Suede Shoes

“Blue Suede Shoes” – Single by Elvis Presley from the album Elvis Presley. B-side: “Tutti Frutti”
Released: September 8, 1956
Recorded: January 30, 1956

During the 1940s and 1950s, it was common to record and release cover versions of hit songs, often in different styles or genres. RCA Victor wanted to promote Elvis Presley as a rock-and-roll artist, and believed a Presley cover of “Blue Suede Shoes” could outsell the Perkins/Sun Records version, especially with RCA’s larger share of distribution and radio contacts. Presley, who had been signed at Sun Records and knew Perkins and Phillips, was reluctant to record a competing version. He eventually agreed to record the song if the company would delay its release as a single. Presley’s version, recorded at RCA Victor Studios in New York City, features two guitar solos by Scotty Moore, with Bill Black on double bass and D.J. Fontana on drums. (Wiki)

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Elvis Presley - Blue Suede Shoes (1956)

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“Blue Suede Shoes” is a rock and roll standard written and first recorded by American singer, songwriter and guitarist Carl Perkins in 1955. It is considered one of the first rockabilly records, incorporating elements of blues, country and pop music of the time. Perkins’ original version of the song appeared on the Cashbox Best Selling Singles list for 16 weeks and spent two weeks at the number two position.

Perkins never owned a pair, but Johnny Cash told him a story about someone who did. As Cash told it, he and Perkins were performing at a show in Amory, Mississippi along with Elvis Presley. When Presley was on stage, Cash told Perkins a story from his days serving in the Air Force in Germany. Cash’s sergeant, a black guy named C.V. White, would wear his military best when he was allowed off base, and at one point said to Johnny, “don’t step on my blue suede shoes.” The shoes were really just Air Force-issued black, but white would say, “Tonight they’re blue suede.”

The story Perkins told is that later on, he was playing at a high school sorority dance when he came across a guy who wasn’t paying much attention to his date, but kept telling everyone not to stop on his “suedes,” meaning his blues suede shoes. At 3 a.m. that night, Perkins woke up and wrote the lyrics based on what happened that night and the story he heard from Cash. He couldn’t find any paper, so he wrote it on a potato sack.
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. “I was 85 miles away from being the first rockabilly on national television,” he recalled.

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.

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