Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CXLIII--Eddie Cochran: Summertime Blues

Alas, my introduction to this week's tune came not from the original, but from a cover version by The Who...which my youngest son thoroughly loved, especially their version from the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970.  I had mentioned to him that it had originally been done by Eddie Cochran (which I'd heard a time or two, but wasn't really familiar with), and at some point he asked me if we could find his version on Youtube.  We did...and it was love at first (give or take) listen.  We both listened to it two or three times a night for the next month.

Eddie Cochran began his musical career as so many others have done by forming a band when he was in high school at the wee age of fourteen.  A multi-instrumentalist (though he is remembered most for his guitar playing), Cochran would go on to become one of the forefathers of rockabilly, an innovator in the studio, and an influence to a number rock and roll stars higher than most republicans can count.  Though he would release only one album in his lifetime, and have 7 singles reach the charts, Cochran was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.  Sadly, Cochran's musical career was cut short when he was killed in April of 1960 when the taxi he was riding in while on tour in England blew a tire and ran into a pole.  Cochran's last act was a heroic one--when he realized the car was going to crash he thew his body in front of his girlfriend to protect her.  Cochran was thrown from the taxi and died of massive head injuries later the same night.  He was twenty-one years old.

It would be all but impossible to understate the influence that "Summertime Blues" has had on rock and roll--there are probably fewer bands who have not covered the song than there are those that have.  Released in 1958, the single would reach #8 (most assuredly with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100.  More telling is the fact that two more bands would take the single into the top 30--Blue Cheer took the song to #14 in 1968 (wasn't all that crazy about their version), and the aforementioned Who version went to #27 just two years later.

To call "Summertime Blues" the "Smells Like Teen Spirit" of the 1950's would be flattery of the highest order to both tunes.  Cochran tells the tale of summertime angst--and what a bummer it is to have to work a job for money when there's so much other fun to be had when the weather's warm and you're out of school for three months.  The song lasts a mere one minute and fifty-three seconds, but it packs an opera's worth of highlights into that short time span, from Cochran's wondrous rockabilly guitar work (I defy you to name a guitarist who hears it and doesn't immediately try to learn it--I did!), to his fuck this bullshit vocals, to the hand claps (and I loves me some hand claps in songs), to the use of a deep voice each time an adult speaks to Cochran's desires.  I would honestly say it holds its own with the great early rock and roll tunes like "Rock Around the Clock," or "Johnny B. Goode" or "Blue Suede Shoes."  It is a timeless classic that came, like those songs, at a time when American kids were first beginning to question authority and find their place in a rapidly changing America.

Lyric Sheet:  "A-I'm a-gonna raise a fuss/I'm a-gonna raise a holler/About a-working all summer/Just to try to earn a dollar..."

Enjoy (and note Cochran trying to keep from laughing each time his band mate does the adult voice):

Bonus Video (because you can never get enough of The Who--well at least I can't):

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee