Alan Jackson - Summertime Blues (1994)

"Summertime Blues" is a song co-written and recorded by American rock artist Eddie Cochran.[2] It was written by Cochran and his manager Jerry Capehart.[3] Originally a single B-side, it was released in August 1958[1] and peaked at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 on September 29, 1958, and number 18 on the UK Singles Chart. It has been covered by many artists, including being a number-one hit for country music artist Alan Jackson, and scoring notable hits in versions by Blue Cheer, the Who and Brian Setzer, the last of whom recorded his version for the 1987 film La Bamba, in which he portrayed Cochran.

Lyrics
The song is about the struggle between a teenager and his parents, his boss and his congressman during the summer.[4] The narrator resents having to take a job in order to earn pocket money, and he cannot go on a date with his girlfriend because his boss keeps scheduling him to work late.[3] After falsely telling the boss he is sick in order to get out of going to work, his parents will not let him use their car due to his laziness. Finally, he considers visiting the United Nations to complain about his situation; he settles for writing to his congressman, who brushes him off since he is too young to vote.[a]

Eddie Cochran version
"Summertime Blues" was recorded on March 28, 1958, at Gold Star Recording Studios in Hollywood, California. Eddie Cochran sang both the vocal and bass vocal (the "work-a-late" portions, Cochran's tribute to the Kingfish character from the Amos and Andy television series), played all the guitar parts, and added the hand clapping with possibly Sharon Sheeley. Connie 'Guybo' Smith played the electric bass and Earl Palmer drums.

Legacy
The 1958 Liberty Records single by Eddie Cochran was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999 and the song is ranked number 73 in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In March 2005, Q magazine placed it at number 77 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks.[5] The song is also on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum list of "The Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll".[6] The song appears in the films Caddyshack, This Boy's Life and American Shaolin, as well as season 4 of Beverly Hills, 90210.

Chart performance
Chart (1958) Peak
position
Austrian Singles Chart[7] 18
Canadian Singles Chart (CHUM)[8] 10
Rhodesian Singles Chart (1968)[9] 12
South African Singles Chart (1968)[9] 18
UK Singles Chart[10] 18
UK Singles Chart (1968)[10] 34
US Billboard Hot 100[11] 8
Johnny Chester version
"Summertime Blues"

Single by Johnny Chester
from the album Wild and Warm
B-side "I Love Mary"
Released November 1962
Genre Rock and roll
Length 2:00
Label W&G
Songwriter(s)
Eddie CochranJerry Capehart
Johnny Chester singles chronology
"Let's Dance"
(1962) "Summertime Blues"
(1962) "Nick Nack Paddy Whack"
(1963)

Australian rock 'n' roll singer Johnny Chester cited Cochran as one of his idols and had used the track when rehearsing his first band in 1959.[12] Chester released his cover version on W&G Records in 1962 and was backed on the recording by local instrumental group the Chessmen, with Bert Stacpool on piano, his brother Les Stacpool on guitar, Frank McMahon on bass guitar, and Graeme Trottman on drums.[13] In December it peaked at No. 30 on the Kent Music Report.[14][15]

Hep Stars version
"Summertime Blues"

Single by the Hep Stars
B-side "If You Need Me"
Released March 1965
Recorded December 1964
Studio Borgarskolan, Stockholm
Genre
Rock and rollgarage rock
Length 1:52
Label Olga
Songwriter(s)
Eddie CochranJerry Capehart
Producer(s) Åke Gerhard
The Hep Stars singles chronology
"A Tribute to Buddy Holly"
(1965) "Summertime Blues"
(1965) "Farmer John"
(1965)

Swedish rock band Hep Stars recorded Summertime Blues as a single in late December 1964.[16] It was a six-hour, consecutive session in which the Hep Stars recorded six tracks: "Summertime Blues", "A Tribute to Buddy Holly", "Farmer John", "If You Need Me", "Bird Dog" and "Donna".[17] The sessions for these were the first professional recordings of keyboardist Benny Andersson, later of ABBA fame.[16][18][19] Their manager, Åke Gerhard had booked the recording sessions, as cheaply as he possibly could get away with. He booked Borgarskolan in central Stockholm and quickly turned it into a makeshift recording studio.[20] Andersson would later comment on the sessions:
It must have been one of the cheapest sessions in the history of recorded music, we put two microphones on the stage of the assembly hall in a school and then we just played

— Carl Magnus Palm, Bright Lights, Dark Shadows: The Real Story of ABBA
Of these tracks, only "A Tribute to Buddy Holly" was released as a single in February 1965.[18] While that initially failed to chart, their increasing popularity was fueled by their March 23, 1965 appearance on Drop-In which quickly made "A Tribute to Buddy Holly" climb the charts.[21] This prompted Gerhard and his record label Olga Records to quickly issue "Summertime Blues" "Farmer John" and "Cadillac" as singles in late March 1965. While "Farmer John", "Cadillac" and "A Tribute to Buddy Holly" peaked at number 1, 2 and 4 at the same time on Tio i Topp,[22] "Summertime Blues" missed the charts altogether. This was most likely due to the fact that guitarist Janne Frisk provided lead vocals on the track, as opposed to Svenne Hedlund singing it.[23] "Summertime Blues" and "A Tribute to Buddy Holly" became the Hep Stars only singles to feature Frisk on lead vocals.

While not issued on any album at the time, it, along with the B-Side were issued as bonus material on the 1996 remaster of their debut album We and Our Cadillac

Personnel
Janne Frisk – guitar, lead vocals
Christer Pettersson – drums
Benny Andersson – keyboards, piano
Lennart Hegland – bass guitar
Blue Cheer version
"Summertime Blues"

Netherlands single picture sleeve, 1968
Single by Blue Cheer
from the album Vincebus Eruptum
B-side "Out of Focus"
Released January 23, 1968
Recorded 1967
Genre
Hard rock[24]heavy metal[25]
Length 3:43
Label Philips
Songwriter(s)
Eddie CochranJerry Capehart
Producer(s) Abe "Voco" Kesh
Blue Cheer singles chronology
"Summertime Blues"
(1968) "Just a Little Bit"
(1968)

The American rock band Blue Cheer recorded their version of "Summertime Blues" in 1967 and included it on their 1968 release entitled Vincebus Eruptum. The single peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100, pushing the sales of the album even higher to number 11.[26] It topped the Dutch charts for one week in 1968.[27] This version was ranked number 73 on the list of "The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time" of Rolling Stone.[28]

Chart performance
Chart (1968) Peak
position
Canadian Singles Chart[29] 3
Dutch Singles Chart[30] 1
US Billboard Hot 100[31] 14
The Who version
"Summertime Blues"

German single picture sleeve, 1970
Single by the Who
from the album Live at Leeds
B-side "Heaven and Hell"
Released June 1970
Recorded February 14, 1970
Venue University of Leeds Refectory, Leeds, UK
Genre Hard rock[32]
Length 3:22
Label
Track (UK)Decca (US)
Songwriter(s)
Eddie CochranJerry Capehart
Producer(s) The Who
The Who singles chronology
"The Seeker"
(1970) "Summertime Blues"
(1970) "See Me, Feel Me"
(1970)

The Who played "Summertime Blues" as a staple of their concerts from their early days up to 1976, with intermittent appearances thereafter.[3] It has not been played since the death of bassist John Entwistle in 2002. It was performed during the 1967 US tour, from which the first known Who recordings of the song were made, including a June 1967 date at the Monterey Pop Festival.

The first version to be released by the Who appeared on the 1970 album Live at Leeds.[3] The single from this album peaked at number 38 in the UK and number 27 in the US.[33] "I'm a big fan of 'Summertime Blues' on that album," remarked Rush bassist Geddy Lee, "which we covered [see below] to a large degree because of their version."[34]

This version by the Who differed from the original in both the sense of aggression and volume. As lead singer Roger Daltrey noted, "We'd taken the song from being in kind of a swing rhythm on the off-beat to a rock rhythm on the one."[3] Entwistle would sing the bass parts on the song, but the band struggled to capture the same energy of it in the studio. The live version recorded at the Leeds show managed to capture this fully.[3]

Studio version
The Who recorded at least two studio versions of this track in 1967. They went unreleased until 1998 and 2009, when they appeared on the remastered CD of Odds & Sods and the deluxe edition of The Who Sell Out, respectively. Other live versions from the Who are featured in the Monterey Pop Festival CD box set and the concert and documentary film Woodstock (1970), as well as Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970 and the CD release of Live at the Royal Albert Hall.[3]

Critical reception
Billboard magazine reviewed the song favorably, saying that the Who gave it a "wild updating" and was "certain to put them right up there at the top."[35]

Chart performance
Chart (1970) Peak
position
Canadian RPM Top Singles[36] 8
Dutch Singles Chart[37] 25
UK Singles Chart[3] 38
US Billboard Hot 100 27
Buck Owens version
"Summertime Blues"
Song by Buck Owens
from the album Hot Dog!
Released November 16, 1988
Recorded Late 1988
Studio Maximus Studio
Genre
Countryrockabilly
Length 2:33
Label Capitol
Songwriter(s)
Eddie CochranJerry Capehart
Producer(s) Jim Shaw
In 1988, Country singer Buck Owens released a cover version of the song for his comeback album "Hot Dog!", released in November that year, produced by Jim Shaw.[38] In said album, Owens resurrected the rockabilly sound of his earlier works. The album also featured a cover of another rock and roll classic, "Memphis, Tennesse" by Chuck Berry (Owens's version titled as, "Memphis", a common shortened title of the latter song). Though not released as a single nor charted, This cover version would later inspire Alan Jackson's country version in 1994 as noted by Jackson, a hit in the country charts in the US and Canada that year.[39]

Alan Jackson version
"Summertime Blues"

Single by Alan Jackson
from the album Who I Am
B-side "Hole in the Wall"
Released June 6, 1994
Recorded January 11, 1994[39]
Genre Country, country rock
Length 3:11 (album version)
Label Arista Nashville
Songwriter(s)
Eddie CochranJerry Capehart
Producer(s) Keith Stegall
Alan Jackson singles chronology
"(Who Says) You Can't Have It All"
(1994) "Summertime Blues"
(1994) "Livin' on Love"
(1994)

American country music artist Alan Jackson recorded the song for his 1994 album, Who I Am. It was released in June 1994 as the lead single from the album and the song reached Number One on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart and number 4 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 (equivalent to number 104 on the Billboard Hot 100). Jackson said that he was inspired by Buck Owens' version.[39]

Critical reception
Deborah Evans Price of Billboard magazine reviewed the song favorably, saying that Jackson "gives the oft-covered Eddie Cochran oldie the full, twangy 'Chattahoochee' treatment." She goes on to say that "until the vocal starts, you may not know which song you're listening to. But who cares?" She says that with his "signature laid-back vocal style, the long, tall Georgian turns this '50s teen anthem into a '90s country classic."[40] Kevin John Coyne of Country Universe reviewed the song unfavorably, saying that Jackson blatantly attempted to recreate the "Chattahoochee" phenomenon. He goes on to say that the "charm of the Eddie Cochran original is lost by forcing those country line-dance beats into the backing track."[41]

Music video
The video was directed by Michael Salomon and was released in June 1994. Considered by Jackson as the "sequel" to his "Chattahoochee" video a year earlier, it was also the only video of his that Salomon directed. It begins with a shot of him water-skiing (which ends the "Chattahoochee" video) before transitioning to him and a band performing the song while seated in the bed of a pickup. Many 4-wheelers, ATVs and a limo full of middle-aged farmers are seen riding through the mud and getting stuck. Jackson, in a plain white t-shirt, is seen riding around in the mud in his pickup before getting out and walking in between many people fighting in the mud. However, he stays stainless until the very end, where he only gets one small spot of mud on the left side of his shirt before finally joining in the tussle. It ends with Jackson posing as a scarecrow.