Evergreen

110 EVERGREEN Autumn
Tennessee Two. Carl later
commented on the
Presley phenomenon:
“When I’d jump
around they’d
scream some, but
they were gettin’
ready for him. It
was like TNT, man,
it just exploded.
All of a sudden the
world was wrapped up
in rock.”
And so to that night on stage in
Jackson. As the group played and the
couples danced, Carl heard a young
man say to his girlfriend: “Don’t
step on my suedes!” Surprised that
the man should be more concerned
with his footwear than the feelings
of his pretty companion, Carl looked
down and saw that they were blue
suede shoes. In the early hours of
the next morning, unable to sleep,
Carl got up and, clutching his guitar,
began writing the song, scribbling
the words down on an old brown
potato sack:
Well, it’s one for the money,
Two for the show,
Three to get ready,
Now go, man, go…
At the suggestion of Sam Phillips
the fourth line was subsequently
changed to “go, cat, go” and “Blue
Suede Shoes” (backed by “Honey
Don’t”) was released as a single on
1st January 1956.
The record’s success was
astonishing and during one period
during the following weeks the
sales amounted to 20,000
copies per day. Not only
that, but it climbed the
US charts for three
different categories of
music: blues, country
and pop. This was
unheard of at the time,
and perhaps it was
those different elements
coming together in “Blue
Suede Shoes” that, like alchemy,
actually created rock and roll. The
record reached number 10 in the
United Kingdom.
By this time, Elvis Presley had
joined RCA, but so as not to spoil
Carl’s success deliberately delayed
releasing his own version of the
song.
Since then, “Blue Suede Shoes”
has been covered by countless artists
and included on numerous lists
of the most influential songs of all
time. Perhaps the importance of the
song, and of Carl Perkins, was best
encapsulated in October 1985 when
George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Eric
Clapton and Dave Edmunds joined
Carl Perkins on stage for Suede Shoes:
A Rockabilly Session at the Limehouse
Studios in London. The concert
finished with a rousing version of
the signature song.
Carl Perkins died in 1998, but as
long as rock and roll is performed,
“Blue Suede Shoes” will be top of
every singer’s play list. Now go, cat,
go!