How Johnny Cash Inspired the Elvis Presley Hit “Blue Suede Shoes”

One of the many signature songs of Elvis Presley is “Blue Suede Shoes”. Though, like many of his signature songs, it was a cover. Originally written and performed by Carl Perkins in 1956, Elvis covered the song shortly after and featured it on his debut album. Subsequently, the song unofficially belonged to Elvis, but it seemingly wouldn’t have belonged to either artist if it weren’t for Johnny Cash.

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Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Elvis Presley were all artists under the infamous Sun Records label in Memphis, Tennessee. Furthermore, their rise to fandom all transpired at the same exact time, which was in the mid-1950s. Nevertheless, the big break of both Perkins and Presley might have come a little later if Cash hadn’t inspired the story behind Perkins’ monster hit, “Blue Suede Shoes”.

Johnny Cash’s Old Military Tail Got the Ball Rolling for Carl Perkins

Like many of the finest songs to grace the greater canon of modern music, all it takes is one story or a mere word to strike inspiration. Well, that’s what happened to Carl Perkins, after Johnny Cash told him a story from his military days.

In his book, Cash: The Autobiography, he recalled, “I told Carl about C. V. White and the blue suede shoes…C. V. White was a Black airman from Virginia Id 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.”

Cash continued, “One night he laid the line on me at that point,” and “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! Per Cash’s recollection, that story is the story that sparked the inspiration for Carl Perkins to write one of the most infamous and foundationally influential songs in the history of rock ‘n’ roll.

All in all, we seemingly have Johnny Cash’s friend’s stylistic tendencies to thank for one of the songs that made Elvis Presley into a cultural giant.

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