EDDIE COCHRAN - SUMMERTIME BLUES

 SUMMERTIME BLUES

EDDIE COCHRAN

SONGWRITER: EDDIE COCHRAN & JERRY CAPEHART

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: SUMMERTIME BLUES

LABEL: LIBERTY

GENRE: ROCKABILLY

YEAR: 1958

 

           Ray Edward Cochran (/ˈkɒkrən/; October 3, 1938 – April 17, 1960) was an American rock and roll musician. Cochran's songs, such as "Twenty Flight Rock", "Summertime Blues", "C'mon Everybody", and "Somethin' Else", captured teenage frustration and desire in the mid-1950s and early 1960s. He experimented with multitrack recording, distortion techniques, and overdubbing even on his earliest singles. He played the guitar, piano, bass, and drums. His image as a sharply dressed and attractive young man with a rebellious attitude epitomized the stance of the 1950s rocker, and in death he achieved iconic status.

            Cochran was involved with music from an early age, playing in the school band and teaching himself to play blues guitar. In 1954, he formed a duet with the guitarist Hank Cochran (no relation). When they split the following year, Eddie began a songwriting career with Jerry Capehart. His first success came when he performed the song "Twenty Flight Rock" in the film The Girl Can't Help It, starring Jayne Mansfield. Soon afterward, he signed a recording contract with Liberty Records and his first record for the label, Sittin' in the Balcony, rose to number 18 on the Billboard charts.

             Cochran died at age 21 in St Martin's Hospital, Bath, Somerset, after a road accident in Chippenham, Wiltshire, at the end of his British tour in April 1960. He had just performed at the Bristol Hippodrome. Though his best-known songs were released during his lifetime, more of his songs were released posthumously. In 1987, Cochran was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His songs have been recorded by a wide variety of recording artists.

         "Summertime Blues" is a song co-written and recorded by American rock and rockabilly artist Eddie Cochran. It was written by Cochran and his manager Jerry Capehart. Originally a single B-side, it was released in August 1958 and peaked at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 on September 29, 1958 and number 18 on the UK Singles Chart. It has been covered by many artists, including being a number-one hit for country music artist Alan Jackson, and scoring notable hits in versions by Blue Cheer, The Who, and Brian Setzer, the last of whom recorded his version for the 1987 film La Bamba, in which he portrayed Cochran. Jimi Hendrix performed it in concert.

I'm gonna raise a fuss

I'm gonna raise a holler

A-but-a workin' all summer

Just-a trying to earn a dollar

Every time I call my baby

And ask her to date

My boss says: Uh duh son

You gotta work late

Sometimes I wonder

What I'm-a gonna do

But there ain't no cure

For the summertime blues

 

Well my mama papa told me

Son, you gotta make some money

If you wanna use the car

To go ridin' next Sunday

Well, I didn't go to work

So my pa said I was sick

You can't use the car

'Cuz you didn't work a lick

Sometimes I wonder what I'm-a gonna do

But there ain't no cure

For the summertime blues

 

Gonna take two weeks

Gonna have a fine vacation

I'm gonna take my problem

Through the United Nations

I called up my congressman

And he said

I'd like to help you Sonny

But you're too young to vote

Sometimes I wonder what I'm-a gonna do

But there ain't no cure

For the summertimes blues.