Songs with Earlier Histories Than the Hit Version

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Tagged: Carl Perkins

Matchbox

Written and first recorded (as “Match Box Blues”) by Blind Lemon Jefferson (1927).
Also recorded by The Shelton Brothers (1947), Jerry Lee Lewis (1958).
Hit versions by Carl Perkins (B-side 1956), The Beatles (US #17 1964).

From the wiki: “It was Carl Perkins’s father, Buck, who suggested that Carl record ‘Match Box Blues’. Buck knew only a few lines from the song, either from the 1927 recording by Blind Lemon Jefferson, or from a version recorded by country musicians The Shelton Brothers. As Perkins began singing the few words his father had suggested, Jerry Lee Lewis, who was at that time a session piano player at Sun Studios, began a restrained boogie-woogie riff. Carl picked out a melody on the guitar to the riff and improvised more lyrics. Perkins’ recording was released in February 1957 with no apparent chart impact.