"Boppin' the Blues" is a 1956 song written by Carl Perkins and Howard "Curley" Griffin and released as a single on

Sun Records Sun Records is an American independent record label founded by producer Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee in February 1952. Sun was the first label to record Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny ...

in May 1956. The single was released as a 45 and 78, Sun 243, backed with "All Mama's Children", a song co-written by Perkins with Sun labelmate Johnny Cash. The song was featured on the 1970 album ''Carl Perkins' Greatest Hits'', Columbia LP CS 9833 and the 1986

Rhino Records A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species ...

collection ''Carl Perkins: Original Sun Greatest Hits'', RNCD 75890. Perkins also performed the song on the ''

Town Hall Party ''Town Hall Party'' was an American country music program, firstly broadcast on radio and then television The first radio broadcast was in Autumn 1951 by stations KXLA-AM in Pasadena, California and KFI-AM in Los Angeles, California The televis ...

'' syndicated TV series in 1959 and with Dave Edmunds and

The Stray Cats Stray Cats are an American rockabilly band formed in 1979 by guitarist and vocalist Brian Setzer, double bassist Lee Rocker, and drummer Slim Jim Phantom in the Long Island town of Massapequa, New York. The group had numerous hit singles in th ...

on the 1985 HBO/Cinemax special '' Blue Suede Shoes: A Rockabilly Session''. The record was reissued in 1984 on the ''Collectables'' label on the Back to Back Hit Series featuring Sun Records as 3090 and on the Sun Golden Treasure Series in 1979 as Sun 9.

Background

Griffin was a singer and disc jockey from Jackson, Tennessee, who also recorded rock and roll songs on the Atomic Records label from 1955 to 1957, such as "Got Rockin' On My Mind", Atomic 305, released in 1957. Griffin also co-wrote "

Dixie Fried "Dixie Fried" is a 1956 song written by Carl Perkins and Howard "Curley" Griffin and released as a single on Sun Records. The song was released as a 45 and 78 single, Sun 249, in August, 1956 backed with "I'm Sorry, I'm Not Sorry". The single re ...

" with Perkins in 1956.

Chart performance

The single reached no. 9 on the ''Billboard'' country and western chart, no. 47 on the ''Cashbox'' pop singles chart, and no. 70 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 pop singles chart. The single was also released in Canada on the ''Quality'' label as #1570.

Notable recordings

The song has been recorded by other musicians, including: *

Ricky Nelson Eric Hilliard Nelson (May 8, 1940 – December 31, 1985) was an American musician, songwriter and actor. From age eight he starred alongside his family in the radio and television series ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet''. In 1957, he bega ...

, who recorded the song on his first Imperial album ''

Ricky Ricky may refer to: Places *Říčky (Brno-Country District), a village and municipality in the Czech Republic *Říčky v Orlických horách, a village in the north of the Czech Republic * Rickmansworth, a town in England sometimes called "Ricky" ...

'' in 1957. *

Gene Vincent Vincent Eugene Craddock (February 11, 1935 – October 12, 1971), known as Gene Vincent, was an American musician who pioneered the styles of rockabilly and rock and roll. His 1956 top ten hit with his backing band the Blue Caps, " Be-Bop-a-Lula ...

Brian Setzer Brian Robert Setzer (born April 10, 1959) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He found widespread success in the early 1980s with the 1950s-style rockabilly group Stray Cats, and returned to the music scene in the early 1990s with ...

*The Kingbees * Robert Gordon with Link Wray *

Johnny Rivers Johnny Rivers (born John Henry Ramistella; November 7, 1942) is an American musician. His repertoire includes pop, folk, blues, and old-time rock 'n' roll. Rivers charted during the 1960s and 1970s but remains best known for a string of hit sing ...

*The Nighthawks *Hank C. Burnette *Carla Rugg *Jussi *Merrel Fankhauser *The Razorbacks *Tarwater *The Shakers *Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers also recorded the song. *

Gene Summers David Eugene Summers (January 3, 1939 – February 17, 2021) was an American rockabilly singer, songwriter and guitarist. His most famous recordings include the late 50s "School of Rock 'n Roll", "Straight Skirt", " Nervous", "Gotta Lotta That ...

performed "Boppin' The Blues", during a live concert, that was filmed and broadcast by Warner Amex Television in 1983. *Carl Perkins recorded the song in 1970 in collaboration with the band

NRBQ NRBQ is an American rock band founded by Terry Adams (piano), Steve Ferguson (guitar) and Joey Spampinato (bass). Originally the "New Rhythm and Blues Quintet", the group was formed around 1965. Adams disbanded it for a time, and the group re ...

on the eponymous album released on Columbia Records, CS 9981. *The band Blackfeather had a no. 1 hit for two weeks on the Australian singles chart in October 1972 with "Boppin' The Blues", a recording that has little in common with the original apart from the title, although Perkins and Griffin are still credited as writers.

Popular culture

*Rick Nelson performed the song on the '' Ozzie and Harriet'' TV show on ABC in 1957, along with " Your True Love", another Carl Perkins hit on Sun Records.

References

Sources

* Perkins, Carl, and McGee, David. ''Go, Cat, Go!: The Life and Times of Carl Perkins, The King of Rockabilly''. Hyperion Press, 1996. * Morrison, Craig. ''Go Cat Go!: Rockabilly Music and Its Makers''. University of Illinois Press, 1998.
The Carl Perkins Sun Collection.
* Guterman, Jimmy. (1998.) "Carl Perkins." In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, Ed. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 412–413. * Naylor, Jerry; Halliday, Steve. The Rockabilly Legends: They Called It Rockabilly Long Before They Called It Rock and Roll. Milwaukee, Wisc.: Hal Leonard. . OCLC 71812792. {{authority control Songs about blues 1956 songs Carl Perkins songs 1956 singles Sun Records singles Songs written by Carl Perkins Ricky Nelson songs Gene Vincent songs Gene Summers songs Johnny Rivers songs