File:Blue Suede Shoes.ogg

Audio sample from "Blue Suede Shoes" by Elvis Presley

Sample from Elvis: The King of Rock 'n' Roll

• Artist: Elvis Presley
• Songwriter: Carl Perkins
• Copyright: RCA/BMG

Elvis Presley

12 seconds (of original 2:05)

Quality reduced to 58 kbit/s

This is one of the most important recordings in popular music history, one of the defining songs of rock and roll. It is an example of how Presley transformed an existing rockabilly song through the "sensual command" of his voice and a musically aggressive approach. The sample presents a section from the middle of the song, in which Presley finishes singing the chorus then shouts interjections—one written, one ad-libbed—while guitarist Scotty Moore takes a solo in a style that would be deeply influential on the development of rock and roll. Words alone are inadequate to describe the song, and presenting the sound of this song alongside ones from earlier and later in Presley's career is necessary for a complete understanding of its nature and its contrast with material from other periods, and hence of the way Presley's music evolved and his aesthetic reach expanded over the course of his career.

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