On this day in 1955: Carl Perkins recorded ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ at Sun Studios in Memphis. The rock ‘n’ roll classic became a US No.2 & UK No.10 hit for Perkins in 1956, and has been covered by many acts including Elvis Presley and John Lennon.
Johnny Cash planted the seed for the song in the fall of 1955, while Perkins, Cash, Elvis Presley and other Louisiana Hayride acts toured throughout the South. Cash told Perkins of a black airman, C. V. White, whom he had met when serving in the military in Germany, who had referred to his military regulation airmen’s shoes as “blue suede shoes”. Cash suggested that Perkins write a song about the shoes. Perkins 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. Between songs, he heard a stern, forceful voice say, “Uh-uh, don’t step on my suedes!” He looked down and noted that the boy was wearing blue suede shoes and one had a scuff mark. “Good gracious, a pretty little thing like that and all he can think about is his blue suede shoes”, thought Perkins.
That night Perkins began working on a song based on the incident. His first thought was to frame it with a nursery rhyme. He considered, and quickly discarded “Little Jack Horner … ” and “See a spider going up the wall …”, then settled on “One for the money …” Leaving his bed and working with his Les Paul guitar, he started with an A chord. After playing five chords while singing “Well, it’s one for the money … Two for the show … Three to get ready … Now go, man, go!” he broke into a boogie rhythm. He quickly grabbed a brown paper potato sack and wrote the song down, writing the title out as “Blue Swade”; “S-W-A-D-E – I couldn’t even spell it right”, he later said. According to Perkins, “On December 17, 1955, I wrote ‘Blue Suede Shoes’. I recorded it on December 19”, for Sun Records. Sun’s producer, Sam Phillips, convinced Perkins to change the lyric from “go, boy, go” in the first take of the song to “go cat go” in the second, the one released.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRNyvO4QouY
