“Blue Suede Shoes” by Elvis Presley

"Blue Suede Shoes" is the song that kicks the door open on Elvis Presley, his self-titled debut album from 1956, where it's the very first track. Carl Perkins wrote it and got it on record first, in 1955, but Presley cut his own version in 1956 with Scotty Moore on guitar, Bill Black on double bass and D.J. Fontana on drums, playing guitar himself as well as singing lead.

It's rockabilly through and through, all coiled energy and strut, and Presley didn't leave it in the grooves: he sang it on national television on three separate occasions.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.