Fresh Air - Roots Of Rock: "Blue Suede Shoes"

Episode Date: August 25, 2025

All week we're revisiting archival interviews with key figures in early rock and roll, rockabilly and R&B. We're kicking it off with Terry Gross's interviews with Elvis Presley's guitarist Scotty Moore, who tells stories about playing with the King and recording "Blue Suede Shoes." That song was written by rockabilly musician Carl Perkins, who also spoke with Terry about his career. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Support for NPR and the following message comes from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. RWJF is a national philanthropy, working toward a future where health is no longer a privilege but a right. Learn more at RWJF.org. This is Fresh Air. I'm Terry Gross. It's a fresh air tradition that the week leading into Labor Day, we do a themed series of interviews from our archive. This week's theme is R&B, Rockabilly, and Early Rock and Roll. I got that idea while listening to a terrific podcast I recommend called A History of Rock Music and 500 songs. While listening to the early episodes about the prehistory and early history of rock,

I often found myself thinking, wait, that person is in our archive. Those are the people we'll be hearing from. Later today, we'll hear my interview with one of the pioneers of rockabilly, Carl Perkins, who wrote and made the first recording of Blue Suede Shoes. After that, Elvis made his hit recording. We begin our series with the guitarist on Elvis's version, Scotty Moore. He played with Elvis from 1954 to 1964. He reunited with Elvis for his 1968 comeback special.

As Peter Goralnik, the author of the definitive biography of Elvis, wrote, quote, guitar players of every generation since rock began have studied and memorized Scotty's licks, even when Scotty himself couldn't duplicate them. unquote. Scotty Moore died in 2016 at the age of 84. We're going to hear the interview I recorded with him in 1997 after the publication of his memoir about his years with Elvis called That's All Right Elvis. The title is a reference to Elvis's first single, That's All Right, which was recorded in 1954 and featured Moore on guitar. It was recorded for Sun Records,

the label created and owned by Sam Phillips, who will hear from on Tomorrow Show. When we spoke, a box set of previously unreleased Elvis tracks had just been released. We started with a previously unreleased take of Lordy Miss Claudi. Listen for Scotty Morris solo. G2. WB. 129.3

Take one. Tell my my band. Yeah, something like... Well, Lordy, Lordy, Lordy, Miss Claudia, girl, you sure look good to me. Well, please don't excite me, baby. No, it can't be me.

Because I give you all of my money, girl, but you just won't treat me right. Like to ball every morning, don't come until late at my heart. at Sun Records, more recorded at Sun with his own country band, The Starlight Ranglers. That's how we got to know the owner and mastermind of Sun Records, Sam Phillips. But we became just great friends through that connection. And we'd have coffee next door at a little cafe there. And just discussed the business in general.

You heard so and so, and the record they've got out and the way they're doing it and different sounds. and Sam was always saying, well, if we can just find something different, we can find that little niche, you know, to get in between all this other stuff that's happening. And Marion, his secretary, was having coffee with us one day, and she said, Sam, what about that boy was in about a year ago and cutting that estate for his mother. And Sam said, yeah, best I remember, he had a pretty good voice. And he turned to me, he said, give him a call and get him come over to your house

and see what you think about it. I called him, he came over on Sunday afternoon and it seems like he knew every song in the world Well, when you asked him to come over and do some songs for you What songs did he sing? Everything. I mean, he did Billy Eckstein, he did Eddie Arnold I don't remember a specific song necessarily,

but I mean, he just knew all these songs. And did he do them in the style of the singer who had the hit version? Yes. So musically, you thought he was versatile, but you couldn't tell who he was? that's fair to say and in fact when after he left that day I called and relayed

that basic information to Sam I said I said you remember you told us to go out and get some original material and he said well he said I'll call him and get him come in an audition and said just you and Bill Black come in I don't need the whole band just need a little

you know just a little noise behind him so the next night we went in which was the audition and we were taking a break is when the thing exploded the Elvis just jumped up and started just frailing his guitar and singing that's all right mama just nervous nervous energy now that was a song by arthur cruda did you know the song when he was starting to play no no no i never heard it so so you just started to fill in behind him right bill started to just slapping the bass and and uh it sounded pretty good with his own

so I started just playing some kind of rhythm thing with him too. And then Sam Phillips, the head of Sun Records, liked it and asked you to lay it down on tape? Yeah, he was in the control room. The door was open, and when he was doing that, and he stuck his head out there. He said, what are you guys doing? He said, just goofing around, you know.

He said, it sounded pretty good through the door. He said, let's put it on tape, see what it sounds like. Well, let's hear the version that was actually released. Well, that's all right. Elvis Presley, my guest, Scotty Moore on guitar Well, that's all right Mama, that's all right for you

That's all right, mama Just any way you do That's all right That's all right That's all right That's all right, my mama anyway to do Well, mom

Wish she done told me, Papa don't told me too, son that guy you fooling wish he ain't no good to you, but that's all right, that's all right, that's all right, mama anyway, do. Tell me the truth, after you started recording with Elvis, did you think, this guy's a great singer, or were you thinking, this guy's okay? Oh, well, we became more aware after just three records that he, he, he, He liked a challenge, but he was very particularly about songs. He had to get into him, feel them good. Now, true, most of the stuff on Sun was, it wasn't original material.

There were, there were some. There were remakes of R&B and some couple of country things like Milk Cow Blues and things like things like that. But when we went to RCA, things changed. He was absolutely picking his own material in. And we'd go into the session and have a stack two feet high of acetates. In the first couple of hours, he would spend going through those. And he might listen to eight bars and zap across the room. Then he'd listen about halfway, and he'd put that in another stack to come back and listen to again.

These are what demos that had been made? Demo, I was right. And that's the way he did it. And very few times that I ever seen, that one, he had kept in the maybe stack, and that we would actually try, that he would then throw it away after he heard it back. He had that good a year.

Do you remember one of the songs that was picked out of the demo pile like that? I think Don't Be Cru was picked like that. Of course, Hill and Raidens could try to keep their main writers and what they thought at the top of the stack, too, you know. Let me play another record from the Sun Sessions, and I thought we'd play Mystery Train. Hey, good, that's my signature song. Yeah, so tell me a little bit about what you're playing on this and what it was like to record this track.

Here's some memories about it. It was a slow R&B song. The Junior Parker had to work before. Yeah, and we ended up just getting the tempo up more, and I changed the rhythm thing around. And I've always loved it. It's just a fun thing to do. Okay, well, this is Mystery Train.

Elvis Presley, my guest, Scotty Moore, on guitar. Train, I ride, 16 coaches low While that long black train got my baby had gone Train, train, coming round, round the bed here. Train, train, Coming right out of bed Well, it took my baby But it never will again

No, not again For just joining us, my guest is guitarist Scotty Moore, who we just heard on Mystery Train, and he's written a new autobiography called That's All Right Elvis. When did you start realizing that Elvis was really catching on in a very emotional way with his fans? I would say that after we did the first couple of TV shows with Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, after we went to RCA.

Before that, most of our shows and stuff had been all in the southeast. There had been some, granted, that starting to see. the hysteria and so forth, but it really didn't come home to us until we did those shows, that national exposure. Then it just seemed like the floodgates opened up, you know. What would you say is your most copied guitar solo from the Elvis Records? Hmm. Or one of the most?

Probably Heartbreak Hotel, maybe. I don't know. I've never been asked that before. Can we do a survey? Right in, folks, and tell me. Well, why don't we go for Heartbreak Hotel? Okay. Tell me your memories of this session.

Well, of course, that was the first one on RCA. They were trying to get basically the same sound that Sam was getting, had gotten with us in Memphis. They had this big, long hallway out in the first. front that had the tile floor so they put a big speaker at one end of it and mic at the other end and the sign do not enter and they used that that's where it ended up with that deep real room echo instead of the tape delay echo that salmon used now there is it's hard to hear there is a little tape delay on it but either their tape machine didn't match his and so it's just

very slight and then they ended up just with the acoustic echo I'll give them credit. They didn't, I don't think they knew, maybe they didn't think about it, but Rumico at that point was sound effects they used in the movies. They weren't using them for recording. And then here comes this, and it's so drastic. But it worked for the song.

When you say, you know, at the end of Lonely Street, it's so distant. And I like to say this, if you don't mind, in speaking of these technical things, one thing that Sam did that I don't believe, he realized when he was doing it and I did until years later that I got in engineering

he pulled Elvis' voice back close to the music you know all the Sinatra and all those things where the voices so far out in front and he more or less used Elvis' voice as another instrument into the mix

even to the mix but didn't bury him like a lot of the rock things you know later right now your solo on Heartbreak Hotel is that something you had prepared before the session, or is this something you had worked out? No, no. No, everything we ever did was just spur of the moment. Did you learn the song at the session, or did you know it before that?

No, learned it at the session. Well, all right, let's hear it. 1956, Heartbreak Hotel. Well, since my baby left, well, I found a new place to dwell. Well, it's down at the end of lonely street, that heartbreak hotel will love. I'll be, I'll be so lonely, baby Well, I'm so lonely I'll be so lonely, I could die

Although it's always crowded You still can find some room For broken-hearted mothers To cry there in it glue I'll be so lonely, baby I'll be so lonely, baby I'll be so lonely They're so lonely

They're so lonely, they could die Man, the bellops' tears keep flowing The death clerks dressing black Well, they've been so long on the street They'll never, never look back and think you so They'll make you so lonely, baby Well, they're so lonely Well, they're so lonely and they could die

Well, if you're a baby leaves you You've got a tale to tell Well, just take a walk down on the street to our break. Whatever you will be so lonely, baby, well, you'll be lonely, baby, well, you'll be lonely. You'll be so lonely, you could die. It's Heartbreak Hotel, my guest, Scotty Moore, on guitar, and he's written an autobiography, which, of course, includes his years, playing guitar with Elvis Presley.

It's called That's All Right, Elvis. When did you stop playing with Elvis, and what was behind stopping? The, well, actually, the 1968 special, what you know what you call, the comeback special. That great TV special, he's wearing the leather jacket and a little other pants. He was, I mean, he would, if I might sound funny for a man, to say, but he was an absolute Adonis on that show. He looked good, he was in great shape,

and if that man had a pill in him at that point, I'd like to support him to prove it to me. I mean, he was just, and he was ready. He was nervous because when he found he was going to have to, these two little groups they brought in when we did our

in-the-round thing, that made him nervous. But he was anxious. He only had, I think, one more movie to finish before all the contracts were done, and he wanted to get back performing. That's where he was best at, what he loved to do. When you stopped playing with Elvis, you virtually gave up the guitar for, I don't know, close to 25 years, I think. 24 years, right. And I guess I can't understand that. Well, after I saw my studio, then I started a tape duplicating company, and then also an industrial

printing company. And so I was pretty busy. I mean, there really wasn't time for thinking about playing. I sold up with what guitars I had. You started playing again, what, in the early 90s, was it? 92. And what was behind that? Well, I'll have to back up a little bit there. About 18, two years, 90. I went to a little gathering for Carl and I, of course, had known each other from Sundays. I had done one session with Carl in 75. He wrote a song with all Elvis

song titles called EP Express. But other than that, we never had recorded anything together. And that's when this guy asked him, said, why don't you do guys record something? Carl and I looked at the other and said, well, why not? When you picked up your guitar about 24 years after you'd put it down to record with Carl Perl. had you played it, I mean, did you remember how to play? Had you played at home in the interim?

No, I didn't even have any guitars. Gosh. Can you tell me you didn't miss it those years? I really didn't. I thought about that really hard. Well, I was so busy doing other things, I guess. It just, but the thing that really got me, when I realized it was in my blood, the Elvis Celebrate. August of that year, 92, I went to Memphis and did the show with Carl.

And I'm standing over in the wings. Carl's fixing to bring me out. And I'm thinking to myself, you're supposed to be nervous. And I walked out and just, it just bothered me a bit. And I was really surprised. And that's when I told myself,

between your blood, you might as well admit it. Well, Scotty Moore, I'm really glad you're playing again. and a pleasure to have the chance to talk with you. Here it's been a pleasure and enjoyable. My interview with Scotty Moore was recorded in 1997. He died in 2016 at age 84.

After we take a short break, we'll hear from Carl Perkins, the rockabilly guitarist and singer who wrote and first recorded Blue Suede Shoes and a song The Beatles later recorded, Honey Don't. Let's listen to the song Moore and Perkins recorded together in 1975. This is E.P. Express. I'm Terry Gross, and this is Fresh Air. Support for NPR, and the following message comes from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. RWJF is a national philanthropy, working toward a future where health is no longer a privilege, but a right. Learn more at RWJF.org.

This is Fresh Air. I'm Terry Gross. Let's continue a week of interviews from our archive with R&B, Rockabilly, and Early Rockenroll, musicians and songwriters. Up next we have Carl Perkins, one of the originators of Rockabilly. Perkins' singing, guitar playing, and songwriting brought together country and rock and roll. He recorded at Sun Records, the label that also launched the careers of Elvis Presley, Cherry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, and Roy Orbison. Perkins was best known for writing the song Blue Suede Shoes. In 1956, his version of Blue Suede Shoes was a pop, rhythm and blues, and country hit. Soon after, Elvis had a huge hit with the song.

Perkins also wrote Honey Don't, which was covered by the Beatles. Later on, Perkins' songs were recorded by Dolly Parton, the Judds, and George Strait. I spoke with him in 1996 after he'd written a memoir. He died two years later at the age of 65. Here's Perkins' recording of his best-known song, Blue Suede Shoes. Well, it's one for the money, two for the show, Three to get ready, now go cat, go, but don't you step on my blues-rayed-shoes You can do anything, lay half of my blue-sway shoe

Well, you can knock me down, step in my face, slander my name all over the place And do anything that you want to do, but uh-uh, honey, lay half of my shoes, don't you Step on my blue suede shoes You can do anything for my blue suede shoes Carl Perkins, welcome to fresh air. Thank you, Terry. It's a pleasure to be here.

I'd love to hear the story of how you wrote blue suede shoes. Well, I'd love to share it with you. It was October the 21st, 1955. I was playing what we called back in those days a honky talk. They call them clubs now, but it was a honky talk where people get together and scream and hollering and dance and have a good time. And I had not owned a pair of blue suede shoes at this point. I'd seen a few of them around my hometown in Jackson, Tennessee.

But at the end of a song, this couple had been dancing. A very attractive young lady and a cat that had on a pair of blue swades. And at the end of the song, he said, uh-uh, don't step on my swades. And it bothered me, you know, not having owned a pair. I didn't realize that, you know, if you step on them, you kind of got to brush them off a little bit. It discolors the toe of them. But the thing it bothered me was he thought that much of a pair of stupid. shoes to actually hurt her feelings.

So I went home that night, and I just, I could not go to sleep. I mean, I just kept seeing her face, and she said, oh, I'm sorry, and she really was. And I laid there, and I thought the old nursery rhyme, one for the money, two, for the show, three, get ready and four to go. I got up, went down the concrete steps. I was living in a government project house, and I got my guitar. down and I said, well, there's one for the money,

two for the show. And I never will forget. I couldn't find any paper to write on because we had two small children, my wife, Valda, who thank God, is still with me after 44 years.

All of our folks lived close by, so I guess we had no need to have, you know, writing papers. So I took three hours potatoes out of a brown paper sack I did and bless her heart she

saved that sack the original words the blue suede shoes is hanging in my den in Jackson Tennessee and I never will forget I call Sam Phillips at Sun Studios down here in Memphis who had a boy

by the name of Elvis who had a couple of records already out at that time and I said Mr. Phillips I wrote me a a good song last night. He said, what is it? I said, I guess we'll call it maybe blue-sweighed shoes.

He said, is it anything like old them golden slippers? I said, no, man, this is about a cat that don't want nobody stepping on. He said, it sounds interesting. Now, as you pointed out, the nursery rhyme,

is three to get ready and four to go. So how did it become Go Cat Go? Well, the original line there that I came up with, I said, three to get ready, Now, go man, go. I wrote the song, Go Man, Go.

And the first attempt I made it recording it, I said Go Man. And then I got excited because I could tell through the glass control window that Mr. Phillips was liking this song. And I got excited and forgot the word man. On my original record, there was a slight pause. I said, three to get ready, and I go, cat. go, but don't you? The word cat flew in there

instead of man, and after I got through with it, he said, that's it. I said, Mr. Phillips, I made a terrible mistake. I called that man a cat. He said, I heard you, and he's going to stay a cat. This was the first rock and roll record to

top the pop charts, rhythm and blues charts and country charts at the same time. Yeah, it was. And a lot of people made their own recordings of blue suede shoes. Lawrence Welk among them. He sure did. Pee Wee King and the Golden West Cowboys.

There was every kind of version. And, you know, to this day, Cherry, this song still gets put on albums all around the world. It's amazing. You ought to hear it in the Japanese language. Yeah. Yeah. Now, of course, Elvis Presley did a version of your song. How did he end up doing it?

When my record came out, January the 2nd, 1956 of Blue Suid Shoes, RCA Victor contacted Elvis. They had bought him from Sun Records at that point. And they said Elvis, there's a hit song out there. We want you to get in the studio and record it. He said, there's a lot of hits out there. What are you talking about it? And Steve Shult allegedly was a man who recorded.

I recorded Elvis back in the early part of his career at Victor. I said the song's Blue Suede Shoes. He said, yes, sir, you're right. I think it's a hit song myself. But that's my friend, Carl Perkins, and that's a son record. And he didn't want to do that song at the time they wanted him to, which was in January of 1956. He waited until April of that year,

letting my record do what it was going to and then he recorded it and that was the kind of guy he was you know he could have jumped on it first and nobody would have ever known Carl Perkins existed but because of the

nature of this this fine individual human being named Elvis he wanted me to have success with it and he thought I would have if he stayed off of it and that's what he did what do you think of his version. I loved it. You know, I fell into the trap. Elvis did it faster than I did. And I love

in the music industry, we call it the groove. The beat that he put to it was up-tempoed from mine quite a bit. And I loved his so much till I drifted into doing it like he did, you know, faster. And when I met the Beatles in 1964 in England, and we was at a party, and they wanted me to do, you know, blue-sweighed shoes, and I did. And Harrison said, why don't you do it like you did it? I said, well, I think I am.

He said, no, you're not. My record was, well, it's a one for the money, a definite two stops, you know, and Elvis was, well, it's a one for the money, to for the show it was a one leg and Harrison was really disturbed with that

he said man you do it different than anybody ever did and now you're doing it like everybody else but I really like Elvis's record of it I still to this day do

and I catch myself unconsciously speeding it up to the very groove he had it did you think of yourself as trying something new of bringing together rock and roll and country? Well, we didn't know exactly what we were doing, Terry, but we did know that it was different.

We did know that instead of leaning back and sitting comfortably in their theater seats or wherever we were playing, these people were scooting around moving, some were getting up shaking. Young people were dancing in the aisles. and we knew that we were causing a stare with this and it wasn't as far as I was concerned or any of the guys in the early days we didn't feel like it was anything wrong with what we were doing.

Did you develop that style playing in honky talks? Oh, yeah. You move there because of a flying bottle or an ashtray flying at some cat's head close to the stage yeah you're on your toes playing in those places and even you know back in those years i was playing the same kind of music that was later recorded in memphis and 54 i started playing the talks when i was gosh 16 17 years old and i played uh i did roy cuff's uh great speckled bird or Walbash cannonball, but I

you know, I said, what a beautiful thought? Lord, I'm thinking, that old upright bass. My daddy, we used to tell me, he'd say, son, put that guitar back on the nail, you are messing up, Mr. A. Cuff's

song. He don't do it that fast and ain't no need than you do it. And rest of my mama's soul, it was her who would say, Buck, leave the little fellow alone. He's not hurting Mr. A. Cuff's song and because

of what she would say to him, he'd backed off of me and I just always felt good playing my songs up tempo because that's the music I heard in the cotton fields. I picked cotton with

many, many black people and we'd start singing. They would and I'd start singing with two or three o'clock in the afternoon with the sun beating down on you You know, I can hear Uncle John Westbrook said, Mm-hmm, about ten rows over, sister wanted it. Whoa, whoa, yeah, yeah.

And now my little blood is start boiling. I said, wow, they're fixing the same. Gone to lay down my burdon. The ones who didn't know the words used their voices. And to this day, Terry, I can vividly hear that up-tempo gospel music. Then I'd go home at night and get my old beat-up guitar off of the wall from the nail,

and I tried to make the strings, you know, sound like the voices I was hearing. When I do some glad morning, my bass string was going, that was filling in for the sounds of the voices I heard in the cotton fields. We're listening back to my 1996 interview with Carl Perkins. We'll continue the interview. After a break, this is fresh air.

This is fresh air. Let's get back to my interview with Carl Perkins, one of the originators of Rockabilly. He wrote and recorded blues white shoes, which was also recorded by Elvis. And Honey Don't, which the Beatles later recorded. There's a great story about how you ended up going to Memphis to record at Sun Studios.

your wife heard Elvis Presley on the radio singing Blue Moon of Kentucky and she called you and she said, look, there's someone on the radio who sounds like you because you and Elvis were both putting together country music, rhythm and blues and rock and roll. And when you heard that, you went right to Memphis to the Sun Studios to see if Sam Phillips

would record you too. You're right about that. So was he, was too willing to give you a shot right away? Did you have to work hard to convince him? If I hadn't have felt that was my own. only opportunity i would have i wouldn't even turned around i'd have put it in reverse and backed back to jackson because he wasn't there when i walked in my brothers were sitting out in the car and i went

into a little front office there and a lady by the name of mayor and casler who was sam philip's secretary who was really the lady who found elvis presley she told sam about this good-looking boy and how unique he's saying he came in to make a record for his mom Paid $3 for it. It was called Memphis Recording Service then. But I walked in, and I guess she could tell her looking at me, that I was a hungry guitar picker. And she said, if you come to audition, you're out of luck.

Because we got this boy Elvis, and he's more than we can handle. Mr. Phillips is not listening to anybody. I said, well, I appreciate it. It's all right. We set out front for a while until he gets here. And just a few seconds after a few minutes, really, after that, he pulled in and he got a little close to my old Plymouth because I was in his parking place and right in front door. And he whipped in there in that two-tone 54 Cadillac Coup de Bill. I never will forget it.

It was dark blue and light blue, and he got out, he had on a dark blue pair of. pleaded pants with a light blue coat I said wow that's either Elvis Presley or the cat that owns this place I beat him to the front door I had my foot in the door I said Mr. Phillips I'm Carl Perkins that's my brother sitting in the car and I was talking 90 miles now we come down we want to make a record for you he said I just I'm too busy man I just

he told me after that he said Carl I don't know why I listened to you I had no intentions I was wrapped up with what I was going to do to get records pressed of this boy, Elvis, but you look like your world would have ended. And I said, Mr. Phillips, it might have. Because my heart was, I was just aching to get in that studio. I just felt, you know, with encouragement from my wife,

I thought I can't let vow down. I got to get in there, and we did. So Sam Phillips gave you a, shot what did he do ask you to play a lot of your songs my brother jay had a couple of songs that he'd written so uh jay started doing one that he'd written and he stopped him after about one verse he said i've got anything else he did another one and got about that four and he stopped him again jay liked a country singer with the name of ernest tub and had developed a style like him because he loved him so much and he sounded a little bit like him and I never

will forget mr. Phillips said boy there's already an earnest tub you need to forget about him your song's pretty good but I can't use you guys and and I didn't realize we didn't know the microphone was still on and he was back in the control room I said boys don't put them they started to put their instruments you know back in the cases and I said don't put them up I'm gonna doing one of mine. We can't leave here. But he was hearing this, and he heard a convicted little old skinny armed boy of the name of Carl Perkins that when I got the shot, he walked back through there. I said, Mr. Phillips, will you listen to one of my song? He said, yeah, take off. So he

stood there. But I got real nervous, because after I got past the first verse, he hadn't stopped me. And I thought, oh, Lord, he's going to listen. to the whole song and I got to jumping around and I the first thing he said to me after I did that he said that's a cute song and I like it he said can you sing standing still he said you're gonna have to because if you ever make a record you're gonna have to stand still I said yes or I can do whatever you tell me to and he said well I like that song go home and write you another one in that vein and we'll talk about putting a record out so on the way back to Jackson and a

model Plymouth, I must have written 10 or 15 songs on the dashboard, and I called him back in a couple of weeks. I had a thing he liked. It was a country song called Turnarounds, and that was my first record. Well, why don't we hear Turnaround, your first recording, and this is different from we've heard. This isn't, this is more of a country ballad than an uptempo rockabilly song. Yeah. Now, the song on the other side was a rockabilly country thing called Movie Mad. but he liked I tell you what he told me he said this boy Elvis

is doing I know where your heart is but he's got that ball and going with it and I can't have two you cats sounding a lot of like and singing this up tempo we call it feel good music there was no word no name for it at that point

some of the hillbillies in Nashville I think rockabilly sprang out of there they said you know these boys in Memphis are rocking our music. So it got called Rockabilly, and it kind of stuck there. But he didn't feel like that he had room for Elvis and I doing the same kind of music. So he told me, he said, I'm going to put out this song,

turn around. And then he sold Elvis Darcy Bictor, and he said, now you can rock. So that's when I came up with blue-sweighed shoes and honey don't. Oh, that's interesting. Well, why don't we hear the country ball? All right. Turn around.

Okay. When you're all alone and blue, and the world looks down on you. Turn around. I'll be following you. When you feel that love is gone and you realize you're wrong, turn around, I'll be following you. Turn around, I'll be waiting behind you.

with a love that's real and never ever die if you feel your love will laugh and you'd like to live your past turn around I'll be following you listening back to my 1996 interview with Carl Perkins. We'll hear more of it. After a break, this is fresh air. This is fresh air. Let's get back to my interview with Carl Perkins, one of the early rockabilly performers. He wrote and recorded blues white shoes, which was later recorded

by Elvis. And he wrote and recorded Honey Don't, which was later recorded by the Beatles. after the rockabilly era sometime in the early 60s your music wasn't doing that well commercially anymore and you decided to give up music back then why did you want to give it up well I was drinking a lot I was drinking because I thought I don't really I really can't pinpoint why

I got so deep into alcohol I thought it was a racing memories it was causing me maybe to to dodge the real problems that were out there for me and that was the crowds were falling off my music was suffering but alcohol was causing most of this thank god i had a good church-growing wife who who kept raising my children in the right direction and and pray in that i'd see the light and one day i did and life's been wonderful ever since but it got it got it got bad for a while. It sure did. No, after you started feeling forgotten

and neglected in America, you became a real hero in England. The Beatles did some of your songs, including Honey Don't. Yeah. How did you end up getting so popular there? Did you tour England? Yeah, I did. I went over 1964

with Chuck Berry, who had not been to England at that time, and the tour was very, very successful, and this was before the Beatles came to America. a month or two before they came, and I met them over there and come find out, you know, they told me that they'd been listening to a lot of my old son records and liked what I did and kind of inspired them. I think the inspiration I gave the Beatles was the fact that I wrote

my own songs, I played my own lead guitar, and sang my own songs, and this is what they were doing and if I inspired him it was in that way I don't think and never will think that it was my quality of music although George Harrison does hit

a little lick of two that I use on some of our earlier records but he does it's so much better than I ever did but you're right I have been pretty successful in England and I still go over every year and

most of the years I'll do a couple of tours over there. Rockability music's helped up real well and for some reason other old Carl Perkins just feels good over there with those kids. They won't set down and I just

I just come alive and rock with them. Well I'm glad you're still recording. I really enjoy this. Thank you so much for talking with us. Oh, it's been a trick, girl. Anytime. Just holler. Carl Perkins will be on this end of the line. Thank you so very.

much my interview with karl perkins was recorded in 1996 he died two years later at the age of 65 well how come you say you will when you won't you tell me you do baby when you don't let me know honey how you feel tell the truth now is love real uh-uh oh honey don't well honey don't tomorrow on fresh air we'll continue our R&B Rockabilly and Early Rock and Roll series with Sam Phillips, whose son record label was the first to record Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash. And we'll feature my interview with Johnny Cash. I hope you'll join us.

Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Anne Meebaudinato, Lauren Crenzo, Theresa Madden, Monique Nazareth, Thaya Chaloner, Susan Yucundi, Anna Bauman, and John Sheehan. Our digital media producer is Molly C.V. Nesper. Our consulting visual producer is Hope Wilson. Roberta Shorak directs the show. Our co-host is Tanya Mosley. I'm Terry Gross. Support for NPR and the following message comes from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. RWJF is a national philanthropy working toward a future where health is no longer a privilege but a right. Learn more at RWJF.org.