On This Day – Eddie Cochran Has The Summertime Blues, in November!
Nov 7, 2011 On This Day
On this day in 1958 the Wonderful Eddie Cochran made the UK Charts with Summertime Blues, one of the classic rock songs that has been covered by many, many artists.
Sadly, EC died just some 2 years later. He was in a taxi with Gene Vincent and his girlfriend Sharon Sheeley when it left the road at Rowden Hill, Chippenham Wiltshire, UK. It seems that Eddie threw himself over his grlfriend to stop her being thrown out of the car when the door burst open. The next day he died of head injuries in hospital.
Dave Dee (of Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick, Tich & rubbish) was a police cadet at the time and taught himself to play guitar on EC’s impounded Gretsch guitar. You may well know that earlier in the tour a young Mark Field carried the same guitar to EC’s car for him. Mark Field later changed his name to Marc Bolan.
Tags: classic rock, classic rock music, eddie Cochran, gene vincent, love rock music, On This Day, real rock and blues, rock and blues, rock music, sharon sheeley, summertime blues
On this Day – Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young
Jun 8, 2010 On This Day
On this day in 1955 Faron Young reached number one in the US C & W (it was called American Country at the time I think) charts with his Live fast, Love Hard, Die Young. (Covered unsuccessfully, by Eddie Cochran)
To my ears there is something very odd and unsettling about this track. It might be the ‘country’ violins, the semi yodel delivery. It might be that all such calls to youth become more and more distasteful as the singers get older (My Generation performed by geriatric members of The Who, for example – ‘though Patti Smith still pulls it off with great aplomb and style). Two videos here, one as originally recorded and a live performance sometime later.
The artist as a young man, as they say
The artist as an older man….
Faron Young was 64 when he committed suicide in 1996. He had grown bitter, feeling that older performers were forgotten and ignored. There were also health problems including emphysema. After a divorce to his wife of 32 years he had alienated his family. A lonely, seemingly forgotten and bitter man he shot himself in the head on 9th December 1996.
He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2000.
Tags: eddie Cochran, faron young, live fast love hard die young, patti smith, rock and blues, the who
