Many artists trying their hand at writing pop songs are probably going to be influenced by Paul McCartney without really knowing it. Even if you don’t find yourself to be a fan of anything that The Beatles ever did, chances are their innovation behind the scenes, and their way of working with studio techniques has pioneered something that you’re working with right now.
There was a scary world before the Fab Four existed, though, and the idea of merging the world of rock and roll and popular music seemed almost impenetrable. It would take a few artists to provide the necessary tools to lead the way. As far as McCartney was concerned, it didn’t get any better than listening to Carl Perkins.
In the grand scheme of rock history, Perkins seems to get written out of the story far too often. He may have had a hand in writing amazing tracks like ‘Blue Suede Shoes’, but Elvis Presley ended up taking a lot of glory from that song once Perkins didn’t have time to tour for it following a car accident.
Then again, Perkins usually let his fingers do the talking for him. Being one of the first rock guitars that could bend the life out of the strings, Perkins’ touch on the guitar was indebted to the sounds of American music, favouring country and western styles that would go on to have an effect on The Beatles.
Since the band still had to fill out a majority of their sets with cover tunes, they would end up performing a number of Perkins’s tracks throughout their career. George Harrison took the lead vocal on the song ‘Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby’, and Ringo Starr did his best version of ‘Honey Don’t’.
Once the group split up following various business falling-outs, it seemed like any chance for them to return to their roots like they did on Let It Be was going to be a thing of the past. Once John Lennon started paying respects to his youth on Rock ‘n’ Roll, McCartney eventually found a way to work with his former idol.
Following Lennon’s tragic murder, McCartney recorded the album Tug of War, which included a hodgepodge of different musical genres to work with. The order of the day was still pop, but ‘Get It’ was the first time that McCartney got to work with Perkins, singing the rockabilly song as a duet.
When talking about the work later, McCartney thought that Perkins was one of the best players he had ever seen, saying, “Anyone who was a legend in our formative years is still a legend. Carl is still the guy who wrote ‘Blue Suede Shoes’, and he can never do any wrong.” Although Perkins was thought of as a relic of the pre-British Invasion era of rock and roll, most of his successors were able to put some shine back on his name.
Outside of McCartney, Harrison was the true Perkins fanboy, eventually playing with him during a tribute to ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ in the mid-1980s. Tom Petty would also become a major advocate for Perkins’ playing, eventually letting him sit in with The Heartbreakers and collaborating with him on the album Wildflowers on ‘Cabin Down Below’. McCartney may have been known to prop up anyone who he thought deserved it, but if he had his way, Perkins would be right up there with artists like Little Richard as all-time greats.
