Seasonal Songs: "Summertime Blues" (1958)

Happy First Day of Summer!

To celebrate, let's listen to the greatest Summertime record of them all: "Summertime Blues" by Eddie Cochran on Liberty Records in 1958:

I think Eddie Cochran was great and that records just two minutes of awesomeness!

That record is a classic, so naturally a lot of artists have recorded their own versions over the song years, with the records by Blue Cheer and The Who being particularly popular.

Most of those other versions don't grab me, although I do appreciate the various artists wanting to put their own spin on the song.

We have to jump all the way to 1987 for another version on "Summertime Blues" that I do dig and it comes from the soundtrack of "La Bamba," the Ritchie Valens biopic.

In the movie, Rockabilly icon Brian Setzer (of The Stray Cats) appears as Eddie Cochran and performs "Summertime Blues":

I think Brian Setzer is great, so how can you go wrong? I like how the arrangement allows room for a guitar solo.

One thing I will say is that the authority figures on Brian's version sound more like the ones on Robert Gordon's 1977 version (which isn't bad, but like the 1962 Beach Boys version just kind of seems like an album track) than on Eddie's original.

We leave the Rockabilly field for one more version that I like, which is country superstar Alan Jackson's take from 1994:

I'm an Alan Jackson fan anyway and I like how they take the song and give it the feel of Alan's earlier hit "Chattahoochee" to make it sound exactly how the Alan Jackson version of "Summertime Blues" should sound!

"Jingle Bells" - Part 94 - Rockabilly!

Let's jump ahead to the 1990s and beyond with "Jingle Bells" for a handful of latter-day Rockabilly versions!

First up is the Honeydippers from the 1997 "12 Days of Christmas" album on the Shattered Music label:

That's a fun record, taking off from the 1957 Frank Sinatra arrangement by Gordon Jenkins.

I see this track sometimes credited to the Honeydrippers, which was the retro group led by Robert Plant that recorded "Sea of Love" on a memorable EP back in 1984, but this is the Honeydippers, featuring British singer Gary Twinn and American guitarist Danny B. Harvey.

SOme of the songs from "12 Days of Christmas" were included on 2001's "Swing Cats Present A Rockabilly Christmas" on Cleopatra, which also featured the titular Swing Cats with this snappy medley called "Christmas Tree Boogie":

I like that one a lot!

The Swing Cats were former Stray Cats Lee Rocker and Slim Jim Phantom with Danny B. Harvey and they cut some solid instrumentals.

Next is Reverend Horton Heat with their take on "Jingle Bells" from 2005's "We Three Kings" album on Yep Roc Records:

Reverend Horton Heat is one of those acts that's the group name, but the leader, in this case Jim Heath, is also known by the group name.

Here's the title track from that album:

We move to 2009 with Mexico's Rebel Cats version of "Jingle Bells" from their "Navidad Rock-A-Billy" on Grabaxiones Alicia:

That's very fun as well!

I also did "Triste Navidad," their take on "Blue Christmas":

Rockabilly and Christmas go together well!