This song was written by, and first recorded
by, Carl Perkins, whose single was released on January 1, 1956 on the Sun
Records label. It was very successful, reaching all three major U.S. charts and
battling Elvis's eventual #1 hit "Heartbreak Hotel" for chart position from week
to week. On the "Billboard" pop chart, Carl's single peaked at # 2 for 4 weeks.
Elvis recorded it on January 30, 1956 at RCA's New York studios. Elvis and
Scotty Moore played guitar. Bill Black was on bass and D.J. Fontana played the
drums. Shorty Long played piano. Elvis's version was released in March 1956 as
one of four songs on an EP (extended play, multi-song) single called "Elvis
Presley" and as a track the album entitled "Elvis Presley. In the U.S.A.,
Elvis's "Blue Suede Shoes", although on an EP, peaked at #20 on the "Billboard"
pop singles chart. (The EP peaked at #24. The album hit #1.) Elvis's recording
of "Blue Suede Shoes" was then broken out as a regular two-song single release
in August 1956 with "Tutti Frutti" as the flip side. In Britain, Elvis peaked at
#9 with this song, spending a total of 10 weeks on the U.K. singles chart. Elvis
lip-synched to this recording for part of his movie screen test and it played on
a jukebox in a scene in his 1960 film "GI Blues". A much loved song, some of the
other artists who have recorded it are: Johnny Rivers, Ozzy Osborne, Eddie
Cochran, Dion, Conway Twitty, Nine Inch Nails, Ace Cannon, Buddy Holly, Jerry
Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, John Lennon, Freddy Cannon, Charlie Rich, Jimi Hendrix,
Frank Zappa, Albert King, Commander Cody, Ritchie Valens, and Black Sabbath.