The Rockabilly Legends: They Called It Rockabilly Long Before It Was Called Rock 'n' Roll (Book & DVD) by Jerry Naylor  (7)
$23.10
|
Good Rockin' Tonight: Sun Records and the Birth of Rock 'N' Roll by Colin Escott (3)
$13.46
|
Go Cat Go ~ Carl Perkins (5)
|
This item is not eligible for Amazon Prime, but millions of other items are. Join Amazon Prime today. Already a member? Sign in.
|
|||||||||
Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Carl Perkins tends to turn up in rock-and-roll chronicles as an also-ran: the guy who wrote "Blue Suede Shoes," cut a crackling version of the song for Sun, and then saw Elvis nudge it out of the spotlight with his version. Certainly he lacked Presley's personal magnetism as a performer. But Perkins, who was born in Tennessee in 1932, was a true original. As a singer and guitarist, he was one of the prime begetters of rockabilly. And his songs--not only "Blue Suede Shoes," but "Dixie Fried," "Matchbox," "Honey Don't," and "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby"--were definitive expressions of hipster attitude, which probably explains why the Beatles recorded the latter three. David McGee, a frequent contributor to Rolling Stone, writes about Perkins with great sympathy and tact. He manages to describe his subject's struggles (of which there were many) without descending into voyeuristic pathography. As for Perkins himself, he remains proud of his legacy: "I loved it--there ain't nothing prettier than two clean teenagers out there jitterbugging. And if they want to jitterbug at my funeral to 'Blue Suede Shoes,' I might just raise up and say: Go, Cat, Go!"
From Publishers Weekly
The man who wrote "Blue Suede Shoes," and who will forever be associated with the seminal early rockabilly of Memphis's Sun Records label, has always raised a question mark in rock histories: Why, when his lead-guitar playing was so extraordinary and his songwriting talent so obvious, did he never become a celebrity on the magnitude of his label-mates Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison and Elvis? In this unusually pricey amalgam of biography and autobiography (on which McGee holds sole copyright), Perkins and McGee (a music journalist making his book debut) continually play at that puzzle. Born in 1932 as a sharecropper's son in Tiptonville, Tenn., Perkins had a perfect primary education in American roots music: he grew up picking cotton alongside his family, internalizing field spirituals, and as a teenager made music with his brothers in rough-hewn "tonks." When his "Blue Suede Shoes" single sold a million copies in 1956, Perkins found himself singularly unequipped for stardom: married with two children, he disliked mob scenes and had no PR sense. As the Sun years fade, the narrative spins ever faster: the ten years 1969-1979 are dealt with in as many pages. Ultimately, the Perkins/ McGee collaboration hinders narrative flow, with McGee's third-person prose, full of historical and critical insight, frequently disrupted by Perkins's unilluminating homilies about death, love and self-reliance. Photos, discography not seen by PW. Author tour.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
See all Editorial Reviews
Carl Perkins tends to turn up in rock-and-roll chronicles as an also-ran: the guy who wrote "Blue Suede Shoes," cut a crackling version of the song for Sun, and then saw Elvis nudge it out of the spotlight with his version. Certainly he lacked Presley's personal magnetism as a performer. But Perkins, who was born in Tennessee in 1932, was a true original. As a singer and guitarist, he was one of the prime begetters of rockabilly. And his songs--not only "Blue Suede Shoes," but "Dixie Fried," "Matchbox," "Honey Don't," and "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby"--were definitive expressions of hipster attitude, which probably explains why the Beatles recorded the latter three. David McGee, a frequent contributor to Rolling Stone, writes about Perkins with great sympathy and tact. He manages to describe his subject's struggles (of which there were many) without descending into voyeuristic pathography. As for Perkins himself, he remains proud of his legacy: "I loved it--there ain't nothing prettier than two clean teenagers out there jitterbugging. And if they want to jitterbug at my funeral to 'Blue Suede Shoes,' I might just raise up and say: Go, Cat, Go!"
From Publishers Weekly
The man who wrote "Blue Suede Shoes," and who will forever be associated with the seminal early rockabilly of Memphis's Sun Records label, has always raised a question mark in rock histories: Why, when his lead-guitar playing was so extraordinary and his songwriting talent so obvious, did he never become a celebrity on the magnitude of his label-mates Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison and Elvis? In this unusually pricey amalgam of biography and autobiography (on which McGee holds sole copyright), Perkins and McGee (a music journalist making his book debut) continually play at that puzzle. Born in 1932 as a sharecropper's son in Tiptonville, Tenn., Perkins had a perfect primary education in American roots music: he grew up picking cotton alongside his family, internalizing field spirituals, and as a teenager made music with his brothers in rough-hewn "tonks." When his "Blue Suede Shoes" single sold a million copies in 1956, Perkins found himself singularly unequipped for stardom: married with two children, he disliked mob scenes and had no PR sense. As the Sun years fade, the narrative spins ever faster: the ten years 1969-1979 are dealt with in as many pages. Ultimately, the Perkins/ McGee collaboration hinders narrative flow, with McGee's third-person prose, full of historical and critical insight, frequently disrupted by Perkins's unilluminating homilies about death, love and self-reliance. Photos, discography not seen by PW. Author tour.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
See all Editorial Reviews
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Customers Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed
|
The Rockabilly Legends: They Called It Rockabilly Long Before It Was Called Rock 'n' Roll (Book & DVD) by Jerry Naylor (7)
$23.10
|
Hellfire: The Jerry Lee Lewis Story by Nick Tosches  (19)
$10.40
|
Blue Suede Shoes DVD ~ Ringo Starr  (10)
$12.99
|
Frogs into Princes: Neuro Linguistic Programming by Richard Bandler |