The Lowdown on Eddie Cochran

In our Lowdown on Eddie Cochran, we celebrate how, despite his tender years, the pioneering rocker left numerous classics of lasting influence and inspired a generation…

Eddie Cochran’s place in the pantheon of 1950s rockers is unquestioned. He has an instantly recognisable image, and was responsible for several songs that, no matter how often revived elsewhere, are indelibly associated with him. But he stands a little apart from the rest of that elite group because in the US during his short lifetime he was only a middle-status performer, and never managed to land more than one solitary single, Summertime Blues, in the Billboard Hot 100’s Top 10.

Like Buddy Holly, the tragic nature of Eddie’s death made him one of the first rock’n’roll martyrs. But time has revealed a more complicated character than the stock image of the handsome dude with the gruff, remarkably mature voice, grinning and pouting while twirling a big orange Gretsch. Widely liked, it’s been shown that, despite his charisma, this easy-going guy wasn’t totally at home on stage, took his musicianship very seriously, and preferred experimenting with sound and the studio dynamics of writing, arranging and producing.

As with so many of the first rockers, it’s the Brits who’ve treasured him (eight Top 30 hits in the UK, four of them posthumous, two in the US, none posthumous). The UK bond is especially strong in Cochran’s case, given his death aged 21 in a road accident near Chippenham, in which Gene Vincent, his co-star on a first ever all-rock’n’roll tour on these islands, survived with injuries.

Never To Be Forgotten…

It was British fans who formed Cochran fan clubs from the 60s, and British enthusiasts who did the key job of visiting the vaults and unearthing unreleased and live recordings, demos, alternative takes and outtakes, as well as hunting for details on other artists’ sessions on which he played. It was leading British rockabilly artist Darrel Higham who co-wrote the first full biography on Cochran, recorded tribute LPs, and has generally spread the word about his hero.

Beyond that, British artists from a much wider field have made clear their affection. That 1960 tour was actually organised by Larry Parnes to showcase the cream of young British rock, with Vincent and Cochran the cherries on top. A host of homegrown rockers including Marty Wilde, Vince Eager and Albert Lee, have spoken of the impact that Cochran had on them.

Less directly, so have The Kinks’ Dave Davies, The Who and T.Rex. It’s fitting that some claim Cochran’s Somethin’ Else, which the Sex Pistols did so well with in 1979, was the first punk record. It speaks for the broadness of Cochran’s music, blending country and blues influences, and moving beyond straight rockabilly to embrace rock’n’roll, R&B and pop. Never to be forgotten indeed.

KEY SONGS

From movie songs to Billboard hits, Eddie Cochran produced a compact yet peerless catalogue of rock’n’roll

Summertime Blues

Only Chuck Berry bettered Eddie as a pop chronicler of teenage hope, joy and frustration in the 50s. Although Summertime Blues is technically a whinge about obstacles blocking adolescent fun, the stop-time syncopations, hand claps, hard-strummed acoustic guitar and electric bass add up to a creation bursting with energy. It rose to US No.8 in 1958, the one occasion Cochran made the Top 10 in his homeland, and was his first UK entry (No.18).

C’Mon Everybody

Along with Summertime Blues and Somethin’ Else this is one of a trilogy of Cochran singles (a quartet if you include Weekend, amazingly unreleased until 1961) that have passed beyond rockin’ circles to become anthems to youth. Here’s an uninhibited call to party. ‘Guybo’ Smith’s pulsing bass is joined by a tambourine, a snare and an acoustic guitar, and then Eddie exclaiming, “Oh well, c’mon everybody and let’s get together tonight!”

Somethin’ Else

A fine example of Cochran’s studio enterprise. The slamming intro features an electric bass overdubbed by Eddie to fit with some epic drum thrashing by Earl Palmer, clearly inspired by Little Richard’s Keep A-Knockin’. Sometimes overlooked in admiring its raucous thrill is the fact that it has a witty pay-off at the end. Perhaps too ahead of its time for 1959, it’s since been hailed an all-time rock classic and, for some, the first punk record.

Twenty Flight Rock

One single into his solo career (Skinny Jim), Cochran got the call to appear in Frank Tashlin’s 1956 music biz send-up The Girl Can’t Help It. His performance of this number mesmerised many who saw it, especially in the UK. The film version, recorded as a demo, is preferred by rockabillies because the string bass of ‘Guybo’ seems more prominent. But it was another version released as a single that ended up on the UK pressing of LP, Singin’ To My Baby.

Jeannie, Jeannie, Jeannie

His image is that of an electric guitar-playing rock star, so it’s surprising how many of Cochran’s biggest songs are driven by rhythmic percussive effects, rather than headline guitar solos. But Jeannie, Jeannie, Jeannie, his fifth Liberty single, from 1958, has a steaming hot solo, while the vocal combines Little Richard’s frantic approach with Jerry Lee Lewis’ higher register style.

Drive In Show

Cochran never pulled off the tremulous romantic songs that Elvis excelled in. What he did do with great charm, though, was a series of rockaballads for Liberty, starting with Sittin’ In The Balcony, followed by the slightly obvious One Kiss, before Drive-In Show and Pocketful Of Hearts, both withCochran on ukulele. Sneered at by pop haters, they evoke their period perfectly. Cochran, the all-American 50s teenager, is the quintessential interpreter.

Teenage Cutie

It’s only a demo and not even a Cochran original (first waxed by Nick Todd in 1958), but this sees Eddie at his most hardcore rockabilly. First issued in the early 70s, on the Legendary Masters double LP, Jerry Capehart also suggested, since dismissed, that it was considered for The Girl Can’t Help It. Darrel Higham cut a superb take that brought out the swing element of rockabilly on the first of two The Cochran Connection LPs for Rockstar in 1998.

Three Steps To Heaven

Not his best, but his only UK No.1, when it claimed the top spot in May 1960, weeks after his death. Eerily, he’d cut it at L.A.’s Goldstar Studio, backed by Sonny Curtis (electric guitar) and Jerry Allison (drums) of Buddy Holly’s Crickets, just days before flying to Britain. With a lilting Latinate melody, it was paired with the delightful story song Cut Across Shorty, which alternates between country and rock beats for the verses and chorus.

Rock’n’Roll Blues

An example of Cochran’s versatility, it was recorded at Goldstar in early 1959, but didn’t see the light of day until 1963, with the UK release of the Cherished Memories LP and as the flipside to My Way. It’s another teenage angst song, but this time with a wistful tone. It reflects the poppy direction Cochran often leant towards, a fine example of the way vocal backing groups could add extra elements to recordings in this period.

Pink Peg Slacks

One for diehards. Eddie originally did this at Goldstar while working as one half of the Cochran Brothers with Hank Cochran, returning to it a couple of months later. An overdubbed version featured on the Cherished Memories LP, but the key is to listen to the slightly oddball demos, that show him still finding his rockabilly voice. The Cochran Brothers laid down several unreleased rockin’ gems, the best of all being the uplifting I’m Ready.

KEY ALBUMS

His Liberty debut, a posthumous Top 10, Eddie’s bluesier fare, Bear Family’s all-encompassing boxset and more

Only one long-player was released in Eddie Cochran’s lifetime, 1957’s Singin’ To My Baby. While often read as reflecting Liberty boss Si Waronker’s lack of enthusiasm for rock and indecision about how to market Cochran, it has charming elements. The UK version included Twenty Flight Rock, albeit a different version to the one heard in The Girl Can’t Help It.

While there was inevitable repackaging of familiar Cochran songs over the years, there were a selection of notable early vinyl compilations. Within months of Cochran’s death, The Eddie Cochran Memorial Album (1960) made the UK Top 10. Along with the hits, it had less recalled numbers such as Pretty Girl and Teresa as well as a reworking of an old folk country hybrid Boll Weevil Song, which had Cochran adding a tongue-in-cheek line about his alleged Okie origins (he was actually born in Albert Lea, Minnesota).

Cherished Memories

Cherished Memories from 1962 included Let’s Get Together, the slightly edgier prototype for C’Mon Everybody, and Pink Peg Slacks. My Way (1964) found space for the bluesier side of Cochran (Eddie’s Blues, Jam Sandwich), and carried his lively instrumental tribute to ‘Guybo’ Smith, Guybo.

For the CD age, the 113-track, four-disc The Eddie Cochran Box Set: A Complete History In Words And Music (1988), released by Rockstar, remains the master collection, offering an accessible overview of Cochran’s range, with cuts from the Cochran Brothers era, his instrumentals, and selections from his 1960 UK radio and TV appearances. A detailed booklet amounted to a heroic work of rock’n’roll archaeology, with a discography compiled by Derek Glenister and a 34-page essay by Rob Finnis.

Bear Family Records has since introduced their monumental 8CD boxset, 2009’s Somethin’ Else: The Ultimate Collection, and subsequent releases from the company on Cochran have been the self-explanatory Rocks (2012) and 2013’s The Ballads Of Eddie Cochran. Their The Year 1957 (2018) concentrated on the star’s recordings and live appearances in his last 12 months as a teenager.

EDDIE ON FILM

Along with the likes of Little Richard, The Platters, Gene Vincent, Fats Domino and Julie London, Eddie Cochran was enshrined for eternity in the glory of Cinemascope and De Luxe colour via Frank Tashlin’s 1956 music industry send-up The Girl Can’t Help It.

One of the few teen movies of the era to rise above the contrived and exploitative, Cochran, still only 17 and hitless, is introduced as “one of America’s top rock’n’rollers, and performs Twenty Flight Rock. In contrast, 1957’s Untamed Youth was cheaply shot in black and white. Cochran plays a character named Bong, who bursts a cappella into the song Cotton Picker in the middle of cotton field.

In the Alan Freed-produced Go, Johnny, Go! (1959), another low budget movie, the cardigan-clad Eddie performs Teenage Heaven and dances with his guitar. Released as a single, this solid rocker only made No.99 on the US Billboard Hot 100.

ESSENTIAL READING