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Fact #107856

When:

Short story:

When Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins play at The National Guard Armory in Armory, Mississippi, USA, Cash tells Perkins a story about a friend with distinctive footwear which will result in the writing of the song Blue Suede Shoes.

Full article:

Johnny Cash : I distinctly remember, for instance, one night in Amory, Mississippi, when he had to take a backseat to Carl Perkins, even though he was the headliner.
At the time Carl hadn't yet had his big hit, but he'd had Movie Mag, he'd played the venue several times before on his own, and they loved him. He went on first and tore the place up; the fans went absolutely nuts.
When Elvis went on, he got a fabulous reception too, but he wasn't all the way through his song when half the audience started shouting for Carl. It was so bad that he only did one more song before giving up. He left the stage and Carl came back on to thunderous applause. I heard later that after that night in Amory, Elvis said he'd never work with Carl again. I didn't hear him say it myself, and to me it doesn't sound like Elvis - he wasn't that small-minded but that's what some people passed along, and it's certainly true that Carl stole his show.
I went up to Carl after the show. 'You did really good tonight, Carl', I said. 'I've been to Elvis' shows and I've done a couple of them with him myself, and I'll tell you, I never thought I'd see anyone outshine him'.
'Yeah', he replied, 'but there's one thing missing'.
'What's that?'
'He's got a hit record, and I don't'.

There was no arguing with that, and it got me thinking. A little while later that night, I told Carl about C.V. White and the blue suede shoes. C.V. White was a black airman from Virginia I'd known in Landsberg - he told us the initials stood for 'Champagne Velvet', but none of us ever knew the truth - and one night he said this one thing that really struck me. When we got a three day pass we'd get out our best uniforms, polish our brass, and spit-shine our shoes. C.V. would come by and say, 'How do I look, man?' 'Like a million dollars', I'd tell him, and it was true. 'You look great, C.V. You look really striking'.
One night he laid the line on me at that point. 'Well' he said, 'just don't step on my blue suede shoes!' 'They're not blue suede, C.V. They're air force black, like everyone else's'. 'No , man. Tonight they're blue suede. Don't step on 'em!' I told Carl that story and how I'd thought it had a song in it, and he took it and ran with it. He didn't record it the way I'd been thinking. My idea had been to adapt a melody from a nursery rhyme (taking a leaf out of Jack Clement's book), but I'd say Carl's version worked out pretty well.

A lot has been made over the years of a rivalry between Carl and Elvis, and of course the story of Blue Suede Shoes does lend itself to that interpretation. According to the story, after Carl was put out of action by a terrible car crash while his hit was riding up the charts, Elvis recorded it himself and capitalized on Carl's success. It's one of those 'What If' questions. If Carl had been able to ride the wave of Blue Suede Shoes all the way and follow up on it properly, could he have become as big a star as Elvis, or even bigger? I don't think so. I believe that without the accident Carl could have become a real superstar in the pop/rockabilly world. However, neither he nor anyone else could have become the star Elvis was. Ain't nobody like Elvis. Never was.
(Source : Cash : The Autobiography)



Johnny Cash : We were playing Armory, Mississippi, one night. Elvis was tearing the place out and Carl said, 'I wish I had a good rock'n'roll song and could do what he's doing.' So i told Carl about this friend of mine in the Air Force, a black man from Virginia called C.V.White. C.V. used to get dressed up to go to town on Saturday night with his three-day pass. He had his blue Air Force uniform with standard issue black shoes, and he'd always say, "Man, don't step on my blue suedes. I'm going out tonight."

I'd say, "C.V., hold on, now. They're black Air Force issue." And he'd say, "Tonight, they're blue suede shoes. Don't step on them." I never forgot that and I told Carl, "Write a song about Don't Step On My Blue Suede Shoes. He wrote it that night."
(Source : Interview by Mark Cooper in Q magazine, date unknown)