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60-570: The jam session seems to have happened by pure chance. Perkins, who by this time had already met success with " Blue Suede Shoes ", had come into the studios that day accompanied by his brothers Clayton and Jay and by drummer W.S. Holland , their aim being to record some new material, including a revamped version of an old blues song, " Matchbox ". Sam Phillips , the owner of Sun Records , who wanted to try to fatten this sparse rockabilly instrumentation, had brought in his latest acquisition, Jerry Lee Lewis , still unknown outside Memphis, to play piano (at

120-518: A 1972 interview, when he stated that "we did things like 'Blueberry Hill', 'Island Of Golden Dreams', 'I Won't Have to Cross the Jordan Alone', 'The Old Rugged Cross', ' Peace in the Valley ', ' Tutti Frutti ', and 'Big Boss Man'." Of these, only "Peace in the Valley" has been released. Cash himself, in his 1997 book Cash: The Autobiography commented, "I was there—I was the first to arrive and

180-436: A Musical for Escott and Mutrux, and Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Levi Kreis . Kreis won, marking the show's sole Tony win. Blue Suede Shoes " 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

240-412: A big gut and even bigger hair. Marc Cohn's "Walking In Memphis" references the song in the first line, "Put on my Blue Suede Shoes and I boarded the plane". The song is also referenced in country music band Confederate Railroad's 1992 single, "Queen Of Memphis" in the chorus, which says, I saw stars dancin' on the water, I heard Elvis singin' "Blue Suede Shoes" The Survivors Live The Survivors

300-818: A book by Floyd Mutrux and Colin Escott, dramatizes the Million Dollar Quartet session. It premiered at Florida's Seaside Music Theatre and was then staged at Village Theatre in Issaquah , Washington (a Seattle suburb) in 2007, breaking box office records. The musical opened for a limited run at Chicago's Goodman Theatre on September 27, 2008. Mutrux co-directed the Chicago production with Eric D. Schaeffer , of Virginia's Signature Theatre . The show transferred to Chicago's Apollo Theater where it opened on October 31, 2008. The Broadway production opened at

360-447: A lot of us did, Elvis was hitting them with sideburns, flashy clothes, and no ring on the finger. I had three kids." After Presley hit the chart with his version of "Blue Suede Shoes", Perkins became known more for his songwriting than for his performing. By mid-April, more than one million copies of "Shoes" had been sold, earning Perkins a gold record . "Blue Suede Shoes" was the first million-selling country song to cross over to both

420-424: A month later. In the case of "Is It So Strange", he comments, "Ol' Faron Young wrote this song sent to me to record." The title which most critics seem to highlight is Presley's rendition of " Don't Be Cruel ", one of his major hits of 1956 (see 1956 in music ). This is not Presley singing Presley, but his imitation of Jackie Wilson , then the lead singer with Billy Ward and His Dominoes . It appears as though

480-526: A night when they did not have a concert scheduled themselves. Without rehearsal, the three performed a number of songs they were known for – including Cash's " Get Rhythm " and Perkins' " Blue Suede Shoes " – as well as slightly more obscure compositions. Perkins, Cash and Lewis had previously collaborated with each other, and with Elvis Presley (who had died in 1977), during the Million Dollar Quartet session, and would later collaborate for

540-501: A number of songs, Elvis and his girlfriend Evans slipped out as Jerry Lee pounded away on the piano. Cash wrote in Cash that "no one wanted to follow Jerry Lee, not even Elvis." Whatever Elvis's feelings may or may not have been in regard to "following" Lewis, Presley was clearly the "star" of the impromptu jam session, which consisted largely of snippets of gospel songs that the four artists had all grown up singing. The recordings show Elvis,

600-414: A quartet", which could either mean that they should add a fourth, or could also mean that the four of them should become an official quartet. In the second, a female voice can be heard asking if "This Rover Boys Trio can sing 'Farther Along'?", which could imply that only three (trio) were present at that point. (Elvis' then-girlfriend, Marilyn Evans, confirmed in 2008 that the voice was not hers, though she

660-434: A serious automobile crash on the way to New York City, resulting in the death of a truck driver and the hospitalization of both Perkins and his brother. While Perkins recuperated from his injuries, "Blue Suede Shoes" rose to number one on most pop, R&B and country regional charts. "I was a poor farm boy, and with 'Shoes' I felt I had a chance but suddenly there I was in the hospital", Perkins recalled bitterly. It also held

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720-587: A short time and then left, possibly to do some Christmas shopping. Colin Escott also reports that Cash might have been brought in for the last part of the session, after Sam Phillips had decided to call the Memphis Press Scimitar . Cash's presence for the entire session might be confirmed, or denied, by four pieces of "chatter" caught on the tapes. In the first, another Sun artist, Smokey Joe Baugh , came by and his gravelly voice can be heard after " I Shall Not Be Moved ", saying "You oughta get up

780-407: A song about the shoes. Perkins replied, "I don't know anything about shoes. How can I write a song about shoes?" In another version, Perkins played a dance on December 4, 1955, and noticed a couple dancing near the stage. Between songs, he heard the boy scold his partner, "Uh-uh, don't step on my suedes!" Looking down, he saw that the boy was wearing blue suede shoes and one had a scuff mark. Perkins

840-475: Is Bound for Glory" and "Vacation in Heaven" during the 1956 session, but neither track has surfaced. The released albums contain 46 musical tracks, most of which are incomplete and are interspersed with chatter between the participants. They are not pristine, well rehearsed studio recordings, which were meant for commercial release, but rather the sound of a group of friends gathered to play old favorites and share

900-529: Is a live album by country / rockabilly musicians Johnny Cash , Carl Perkins , and Jerry Lee Lewis , released in 1982 on Columbia Records . The album was recorded live on stage on April 23, 1981, in Böblingen , near Stuttgart , West Germany, when all three singers, who had been labelmates at Sun Records at the beginning of their careers, were touring Europe. The show had initially been meant to feature only Cash, but Lewis and Perkins joined him onstage on

960-606: Is later heard requesting the song "End of the Road".) Yet on the track prior to this Elvis can be heard saying "take it easy, boy" as someone exits the session. In the third piece of chatter, Elvis is plainly heard mentioning Cash by name on the track "As We Travel Along the Jericho Road", at the 0:07 mark, although the form of the reference leaves it ambiguous as to whether Cash was on premises at that point. Finally, Elvis can also be heard saying goodbye to someone named Johnny during

1020-475: The Five Keys . Meanwhile, Lewis sings one line of Chuck Berry 's "Too Much Monkey Business" which leads into Lewis and Presley experimenting with snippets of Berry's "Brown Eyed Handsome Man". Elvis can also be heard singing a snippet of Little Richard 's "Rip It Up" (with a ribald change in the lyric) and Pat Boone 's hit of the day, "Don't Forbid Me" which Elvis on the tape claims was first offered to him but

1080-661: The Nederlander Theatre on April 11, 2010. The Broadway production closed on June 12, 2011 after 489 performances and 34 previews, and then re-opened Off-Broadway at New World Stages . Million Dollar Quartet then opened in the West End at the Noël Coward Theatre on February 28, 2011, with previews from February 8. The production closed on January 14, 2012. The Broadway play was nominated for three Tony Awards in 2010: Best Musical , Best Book of

1140-547: The Plastic Ono Band was included on Live Peace in Toronto 1969 . An album review described it as one of the album's "blues-based oldies   ... they lay it down in a dignified, noisy, glorified garage band manner". One of the characters in the 1993 ClayFighter video game is called Blue Suede Goo, which is a parody of "Blue Suede Shoes." He is an Elvis impersonator with wildly exaggerated features, including

1200-659: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll". In 1986, Perkins' version was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame and in 1999, National Public Radio included "Blue Suede Shoes" in the NPR 100 , in which NPR's music editors sought to compile the 100 most important American musical works of the 20th century. In 2004, Perkins's version was ranked number 95 on Rolling Stone ' s list of " The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time ." Presley's recording of

1260-476: The "Elvis Says Goodbye" track that closes the 50th anniversary release which seems to indicate that Presley was present when Cash left the session. Country music was not the only choice of the participants; they performed " Home! Sweet Home! ", a sentimental ballad as an energetic rockabilly clip. They can also be heard turning their attention to the hit parade of the day. Presley led the session with "Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind", an R & B song popularized by

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1320-775: The Presley entourage spent a few days in Las Vegas (most likely during Presley's short-lived tenure earlier in the year at the Frontier Hotel) and went to watch Wilson, who had obviously built an impersonation of Presley into his act. Presley describes Jackie Wilson tearing up Las Vegas audiences with a house-on-fire rendition of "Don't Be Cruel". He goes on to say that, "He tried so hard until he got much better, boy, much better than that record of mine.... I went back four nights straight and heard that guy do that," he says, imitating Wilson's bluesy smolder and big finish. "He sung

1380-567: The album Elvis Presley . This single reached number 20, whereas Perkins' version had topped the chart. In 1999, Presley's version was certified as a gold record by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), while in 2023, the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) certified the song silver for sales and streaming figures exceeding 200,000 units. "Blue Suede Shoes" was chosen by

1440-492: The album, " 'The Complete Million Dollar Session' provides a rare post-Sun glimpse of Elvis Presley momentarily free of the golden shackles of stardom and the manipulative grasp of his manager, Colonel Tom Parker . His singing, especially on the gospel numbers, is natural and relaxed, minus some of the trademark mannerisms of his official RCA releases." Colin Escott has said, "They mixed and matched their disparate styles – and their innate musicality ensured that what emerged had

1500-466: The control room while Lewis was playing and Presley commented to Bob Johnson that "[Lewis] could go. I think he has a great future ahead of him. He had a different style and the way he plays piano gets inside me." Johnny Cash 's voice does not seem to appear on any of the released tracks. Since his voice is not obvious on the tracks, the point at which Cash arrived at the studio has been a matter of discussion. Carl Perkins and others have stated that Cash

1560-518: The demo "sat around my house" without being played. In addition, Presley previewed material that he was considering for up-coming RCA Victor sessions in January and February 1957. He sang "Is It So Strange", " Peace in the Valley ", and " That's When Your Heartaches Begin ", which he acknowledges on the tape as having been one of the songs he recorded for Sun during his demo session a couple of years earlier, and which he would record again for RCA Victor

1620-402: The earliest titles. The rhythm guitar on the earlier songs was played by Charles Underwood, who was a writer for Phillips's publishing companies . Presley also brought with him another aspiring singer, Cliff Gleaves  [ de ] , who might be participating on some of the ensemble parts. Jerry Lee Lewis can be heard more frequently, often singing in duet with Presley and at the end of

1680-402: The end of the month, Phillips shipped an additional 25,000 copies to Cleveland. In Memphis and Jackson, where Perkins lived, the song's B-side , " Honey Don't ", was initially more popular on the radio, but was eventually overtaken by "Blue Suede Shoes". On February 11, "Blue Suede Shoes" was the number two single on Memphis charts; by the following week it was number one, a position it held for

1740-449: The first country artist to reach the number three spot on the rhythm and blues charts . That night, Perkins and his band first performed "Blue Suede Shoes" on television, on ABC-TV's Ozark Jubilee (coincidentally, Presley was on Stage Show on CBS-TV that same night, for which he also performed the song). Perkins was booked to appear on The Perry Como Show on NBC-TV on March 24, but on March 22 he and his band were involved in

1800-475: The hell out of the song," Elvis can be heard saying with admiration, adding with a laugh, "I was on the table lookin' at him, 'Get 'im off, get 'im off! ' " Obviously on a roll, Presley, then ripped into a slower, sassier version of "Paralyzed", a song recorded for his second album and also released on an extended play 45. He was backed up by Perkins and his trio. According to the Rolling Stone review of

1860-460: The last to leave, contrary to what has been written—but I was just there to watch Carl record, which he did until mid-afternoon, when Elvis came in with his girlfriend. At that point the session stopped and we all started laughing and cutting up together. Then Elvis sat down at the piano, and we started singing gospel songs we all knew, then some Bill Monroe songs. Elvis wanted to hear songs Bill had written besides " Blue Moon of Kentucky ", and I knew

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1920-530: The lead vocals. The other participants easily follow Presley's lead with what seems a close familiarity with his choice of songs. Critics have remarked on the irony of this as rock & roll was branded as satanic music at the time. Carl Perkins took the lead on only "Keeper of the Key" and seemed content to play guitar and supply harmony vocals. He had, however, been singing all afternoon. Clayton Perkins and Jay Perkins and drummer W. S. Holland can be heard on

1980-486: The most nationally and internationally famous of the four at the time, to be the focal point of what was a casual, spur-of-the-moment gathering of four artists who would each go on to contribute greatly to the seismic shift in popular music in the late 1950s. During the session, Phillips called a local newspaper, the Memphis Press-Scimitar . Bob Johnson, the newspaper's entertainment editor, came over to

2040-462: The next three months. A Song Hits review of the song, published on February 18, stated that "Perkins has come up with some wax here that has hit the national retail chart in almost record time. Interestingly enough, the disk has a measure of appeal for pop and r&b customers." Perkins made four appearances on the radio program Big D Jamboree on station KRLD (AM) in Dallas, where he played

2100-534: The number two position on the Billboard Hot 100 and country charts. Presley's " Heartbreak Hotel " held the number one position on the pop and country charts, while "Shoes" did better than "Heartbreak" on the R&;B charts. Perkins never attained the stardom of Presley, who, according to Perkins, "had everything. He had the looks, the moves, the manager , and the talent. And he didn't look like Mr. Ed , like

2160-638: The origin of the song. In his second autobiography Cash: The Autobiography , Johnny Cash recalled planting 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", and insisted that no one step on or scuff them. Cash suggested that Perkins write

2220-702: The piano). In 1969, Shelby Singleton bought Sun Records. He began a long search of the Sun catalogue, browsing through more than 10,000 hours of tape. At the same time, Singleton licensed much, if not all, of the Sun catalogue to the British Charly label for reissue in Europe. As a result of Singleton's and Charly's searches, a portion of the session came to light. This was issued in Europe in 1981 as "Charly/Sun" LP #1006 The Million Dollar Quartet , and it contained 17 tracks, focusing on gospel / spiritual music from

2280-409: The pleasure of making music. Bob Johnson described it as "an old fashioned barrel-house session with barber shop harmonies resulting." Country music and country gospel loom large in the choice of songs. The songs of such country and Western legends as Bill Monroe , Ernest Tubb , Hank Snow and Gene Autry are among those featured. Lewis played most of the piano and Presley took nearly all of

2340-415: The published material contains about 95 percent of the master recordings. "We found three reels", he says, "You could always argue that there were more. But in the first you can hear Elvis arriving and in the last you can hear him leaving. I doubt that there are more." In his liner notes to The Survivors Live , a 1982 album that reunited Cash, Lewis and Perkins, Cash claims that Elvis performed "This Train

2400-565: The rarest of all musical qualities: originality." The surviving members of the Quartet session would reunite several times in years to come, with Cash, Lewis and Perkins uniting in 1982 for the concert album The Survivors Live and again, in 1985, Perkins, Lewis, Cash and Roy Orbison , also a Sun recording artist in 1956, went back into the Sun Studios to record the album Class of '55 . The stage musical Million Dollar Quartet , with

2460-531: The rhythm and blues and pop charts. He became the first Sun Records performer to reach this milestone. Sam Phillips retained the rights to "Blue Suede Shoes", although it was represented by the New York house of Hill & Range as part of the agreement when Phillips sold Presley's contract. Perkins acquired the rights to the song, along with all of his other songs recorded for Sun Records, in 1977. Paul McCartney and his company MPL Communications purchased

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2520-586: The rights to "Blue Suede Shoes" and other Perkins' songs in 2003. 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,

2580-599: The session, when Presley got up to leave, he swiftly took over the piano and whipped off five piano ravers in rapid succession, including a rousing " Crazy Arms " (his debut Sun single) and a soulful make-over of Gene Autry 's " You're the Only Star in My Blue Heaven ". Colin Escott, author of the sleeve notes for Elvis Presley: The Million Dollar Quartet , reported that according to Sun employee and session participant Charles Underwood, Presley and Phillips went into

2640-452: The session. Several years later, additional material was discovered. This resulted in the release of the 1987 "Charly/Sun" two-LP set #CDX 20 The Complete Million Dollar Session , together with their simultaneous issue in CD format in Europe. In 1990, they were replicated by RCA for US distribution as a CD, Cassette and LP, titled, Elvis Presley: The Million Dollar Quartet (RCA CD # 2023-2-R),

2700-409: The show   ... Three to get ready   ... Now go, man, go!" Satisfied, he scribbled the song onto some scrap paper, spelling the title as "Blue Swade" in his haste. 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

2760-439: The sleeve notes of which were written by Colin Escott of Showtime Music, Toronto , Ontario, Canada. In 2006, RCA used a copy of the session recordings owned by Presley to create a 50th-anniversary issue of the session. The new release placed the titles in the original recorded sequence and contained about twelve minutes of previously unavailable material. According to Ernst Jorgensen, an authority on Elvis who consults for RCA,

2820-442: The song as a single while Perkins' release was hot. Moore has said that Presley recorded the song to help out Perkins after his accident. "Elvis wasn't really thinking at that time that it was going to make money for Carl; he was doing it as more of a tribute type thing. Of course, Carl was glad he did. It really helped as his record started going down." Presley performed the song on national television three times in 1956. The first

2880-555: The song every Saturday night. He was also booked for a number of one-night performances throughout the Southwest. The Jamboree was broadcast from the Dallas Sportatorium , with about 4,000 seats, which sold out for each of Perkins' performances. Music shops in Dallas ordered a huge number of copies of the record, and at one point it was being shipped out at a rate of 20,000 copies per day. On March 17, Perkins became

2940-541: The song to "go, cat, go" in the second, which became the release version. Perkins' recording of "Blue Suede Shoes" was released in early 1956, as Sun 234. Two copies of the song on 78-rpm records were sent to Perkins but arrived broken. He soon discovered that the song was available in the newer 7-inch microgrooved 45-rpm format and was disappointed that he didn't have a copy in the older, more substantial 78-rpm format. In Cleveland, Ohio, disc jockey Bill Randle played "Blue Suede Shoes" often on his nightly show, and before

3000-569: The song was also on the list, ranked number 423. The National Recording Preservation Board included the song in the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress in 2006. The board annually selects songs that are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." As a rock-and-roll standard, "Blue Suede Shoes" has been performed and recorded by many artists. In 1969, a live performance by John Lennon and

3060-621: The studio and some time later, the jam session began. At some point during the session, Sun artist Johnny Cash , who had recently enjoyed a few hit records on the country charts, arrived as well. (Cash wrote in his autobiography Cash that he had been first to arrive at the Sun Studio that day, wanting to listen in on the Perkins recording session.) Jack Clement was engineering that day and remembers saying to himself "I think I'd be remiss not to record this," and so he did. After running through

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3120-480: The studios with UPI representative Leo Sora with photographer George Pierce. Johnson wrote an article about the session, which appeared the following day in the Press-Scimitar under the headline "Million Dollar Quartet". The article contained the now-famous photograph of Presley seated at the piano surrounded by Lewis, Perkins and Cash (the uncropped version of the photo also includes Evans, shown seated atop

3180-451: The time, a Wurlitzer Spinet) on the Perkins session. Lewis's first Sun single would be released a few days later. Sometime in the early afternoon, 21-year-old Elvis Presley , a former Sun artist now with RCA Victor , arrived to pay a casual visit accompanied by a girlfriend, Marilyn Evans. After chatting with Phillips in the control room, Presley listened to the playback of Perkins's session, which he pronounced to be good. Then he went into

3240-585: 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. Elvis Presley recorded "Blue Suede Shoes" in 1956 and it appears as the opening track of his eponymous debut album Elvis Presley . Presley performed his version of the song three different times on national television. It was also recorded by Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran , among many others. There are differing accounts about

3300-514: The whole repertoire. So, again contrary to what some people have written, my voice is on the tape. It's not obvious, because I was farthest away from the mic and I was singing a lot higher than I usually did in order to stay in key with Elvis, but I guarantee you, I'm there." Other reports, including one in a very detailed account in Peter Guralnick 's book, Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley , suggest that Cash stayed for only

3360-501: Was February 11 on Stage Show . He also performed it again on his third appearance on Stage Show on March 17, and again on the Milton Berle Show on April 3. On July 1, Steve Allen introduced Presley on The Steve Allen Show . Presley, dressed in formal evening wear, said, "I think that I have on something tonight that's not quite right for evening wear," and showed the audience his blue suede shoes. "Blue Suede Shoes"

3420-481: Was already at the studios when Presley arrived, with Perkins adding that Cash had stopped into the studios to "get some money". Colin Escott reports that according to attendee Bob Johnson (whose article was published in the Memphis Press-Scimitar the day after the session), Cash joined Presley, Perkins and Lewis on " Blueberry Hill " and "Isle Of Golden Dreams". This was confirmed by Carl Perkins in

3480-469: Was amused to see that the boy cared more about his shoes than the pretty girl he was with, and began working on a song about the incident that night. In either case, Perkins decided to use a nursery rhyme for the basis of the song, settling on " One for the Money ". Working with his Les Paul guitar, Perkins started with an A chord and improvised some lyrics: "Well, it's one for the money   ... Two for

3540-663: 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 lead guitarist Scotty Moore , with Bill Black on double bass and D.J. Fontana on drums. According to Moore, when the song was recorded, "We just went in there and started playing, just winged it. Just followed however Elvis felt." According to reports confirmed by Sam Phillips, RCA Victor producer Steve Sholes agreed not to release Presley's version of

3600-488: Was the opening track on the groundbreaking album Elvis Presley , which was released in March. RCA Victor released two other records with "Blue Suede Shoes" the same month: an extended play with four songs (RCA Victor EPA 747) and a double extended play with eight songs (RCA Victor EPB 1254). RCA Victor released the Presley version as a single on September 8, one of a number of singles RCA issued simultaneously, all culled from

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