Max Picks …songs from 1956

Hello everyone…I changed the name of this series…I never liked the original name and I heard from a couple of commenters and I totally agreed… Last week I got great responses from many of you and I appreciate it.

1956

Rock and Roll was reviving up now. The song that represents it the most this year to me was Be-Bop-a-Lula. The song is a perfect piece of rock and roll. His voice with reverb is just magical and artists have been chasing that sound ever since. I can’t imagine hearing this on the radio back then. Gene Vincent must have sounded so alien to some people but it’s what rock and roll needed. The song was written by Gene Vincent, Donald Graves, and Bill “Sheriff Tex” Davis.

“That beginning – ‘we-e-e-e-e-l-l-l-l-l!’ – always made my hair stand on end.”
John Lennon

***We have a bonus today at the bottom out of Lubbock Texas***

Yes, I could have gone with the Elvis version but I wanted the rockabilly man who wrote the song. Carl Perkins with Blue Suede Shoes. This was released in January of 1956 on Sun Records. Carl was amazing with his songwriting, guitar playing, and singing. The man could rock with the best.

I will make a confession here…out of all the 50s artists…Buddy Holly was probably my all-time favorite. The man had it all and he was ahead of his time. I’ve said this before but if he would have lived…out of all the 50s artists…he is the one that could have made a huge mark in the 60s alongside the British Invasion bands. They were playing modified versions of the songs he already wrote. This was not a massive hit… in fact it was a B side but one I’ve always liked. Blue Days, Black Nights. You WILL be seeing/hearing more Buddy in this series.

Now we are getting to the meat on the bone. Little Richard sings what was my dad’s favorite rock song…Long Tall Sally. The only time I remember getting a standing ovation is when I was 16 in a bar (shhhh don’t tell) playing this song with our band. Little Richard’s voice was fierce…I compare it to Jimi Hendrix’s guitar…just relentless. The song was written by Enotris Johnson, Robert Blackwell, and Richard Penniman (Little Richard).

Saw Uncle John with Long Tall Sally
They saw Aunt Mary comin’
So they ducked back in the alley

It’s hard to go through these songs and pick only 5. Let’s close things out with The Man in Black! Johnny Cash released this in 1956 on Sun Records.

***BONUS: Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Scotty Moore, and Carl Perkins all in one place….backstage at a High School in Lubbock Texas in this really short clip. I wish we could hear the music.***

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

27 thoughts on “Max Picks …songs from 1956”

  3. Great choices, but 1956 would not be complete without this one, which hit #3 on the Billboard charts and introduced the concept of sampling. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkOMmjLoz-M Little Richard not only has three tenor players, but also a left-handed drummer, in that video. My wife likes to sing this Roger Miller parody of “I Walk the Line”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vxH5Zr-4ng There is another parody (by Gordon Lustig, also on YouTube) that points out that each verse is the same melody in a different key and walks you through those keys in new lyrics.

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    1. Your link to the Roger Miller parody of “I Walk The Line” got me on a Roger Miller kick. I’ve always been a fan since Dang Me and Chug A Lug.

      Turns out there was a Roger Miller show back a few years ago. I’d like to post the link but am having trouble.

      is a link to a Roger Miller Show that while not the best, has a little bit of interest for others amongst us.  Lyle Lovett does She’s No Lady, helped out by Tanya Tucker.  It is her only part of the show, but it is worth the couple of minutes.  She steals the scene and is delightful.

      Right after the first break.

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  4. Another great year of music. I can’t wait to see the next years. That short video at the end is wonderful to see, but also makes me sad for the musicians. They’ve told stories about how exhausted they were, driving to town after town, night after night. I feel like I see it in their mannerisms.

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    1. Yea a “break” wasn’t going to happen because they thought it would end the next day…that thinking went on and may still go on.

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  6. Great choices! I loved the Gene Vincent video – that rhythm guitarist looks kinda scary. 1956 wouldn’t be complete without this one, which introduced us to the concept of sampling (of some of the year’s top hits). It rose to #3 on the Billboard chart: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkOMmjLoz-M&t=193s. Little Richard’s band (in the video) featured not one but three tenors, as well as a left-handed drummer. My wife likes to sing Roger Miller’s parody of “I Walk the Line”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vxH5Zr-4ng. It was also parodied by Gordon Lustig, whose lyrics illustrate that each verse uses the same melody but in a different key: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhxDKWR13RQ.

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    1. Those are funny…I’ve havent’ seen any of them before. The Flying Saucer or Miller singing that right in front of Cash….Thanks!

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  7. where it all started to come together. ‘I walk the Line’, still a classic.It’s a bit funny that back then, Cash,Buddy Holly, Elvis, all seemed to be considered the same genre-wise… pop music hadn’t yet become compartmentalized.

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    1. The amount of talent here is staggering. The song I like best out of these is the Vincent song but yea most but the Holly song is still remembered today…and I like the Holly song.

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  8. I guess you cant help yourself posting this great music. Gene, Carl and Buddy are tops with me. In a Cash bio that I read he said Perkins was the man. Leaning towards your Buddy comment. I listen to him as much as any music I spin
    (Holly has a huge connection with one of the guys Im going to run by you later)

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    1. Cool I’m looking forward to that. The hard thing about these is narrowing it down and 1957 is much harder.

      Yea CB…no break for you today lol.

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  10. The music was so raw and immediate then- you can hear the joy in these songs, just letting rip- and only a couple of years ago it was all Johnny Ray, Patti Page and the Mills Brothers, all strait-laced, bow tied and buttoned down- they must have all felt past it all too soon.’Move outta the way , squares, things are getting shook up!’

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    1. I agree…from 55-59 it was raw and fun..coming off of those artists you named…. Then Elvis joined the army, Little Richard joined the church, Jerry Lee joined his cousin (sorry…but I just had to), and Buddy joined the Heavens… it reverted back for a little while. Instead of Ray, Page, and the Brothers…you had Boone, Avalon, and Fabian… but something was around the corner.

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      1. Snort and dirty schoolboy giggle at the Jerry Lee comment. Maybe he, not Elvis should have starred in ‘Kissin’ Cousins?’ But, yes the scene got very crew cut and blue eyed banal pretty boys for a while. Luckily there WAS something around the Kaiserkeller corner.

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