Matchbox (song)

For other uses, see Matchbox (disambiguation).

"Matchbox"
Single by Carl Perkins
B-side	"Your True Love"
Released	1957
Format	7" Vinyl
Label	Sun Records
Writer(s)	Carl Perkins

"Matchbox"
"Matchbox" cover
Song by The Beatles from the album Long Tall Sally (EP)
Released	June 19, 1964
Recorded	June 1, 1964
Genre	Rock and roll, Rockabilly
Length	1:57 (Misprinted as 1:37 on both singles and albums)
Label	Parlophone
Writer	Carl Perkins
Producer	George Martin
Long Tall Sally (EP) track listing
Side one "Long Tall Sally" "I Call Your Name" Side two "Slow Down" "Matchbox"

"Matchbox"
Single by The Beatles
from the album Something New
B-side	"Slow Down"
Released	24 August 1964
Format	7" (1964)
Length	1:57 (Misprinted as 1:37 on both singles and albums)
Label	Capitol
The Beatles singles chronology
"I'll Cry Instead" (US-1964) "Matchbox" (US-1964) "I Feel Fine" (1964)

"Matchbox" is a rock and roll and rockabilly song written by Carl Perkins and first recorded by him at Sun Records in December 1956 and released on February 11, 1957 as a 45 single on Sun Records. It has become one of Perkins' best-known recordings. Perkins' "Matchbox" has been followed by many cover versions, notably by The Beatles.

Perkins' "Matchbox"

After recording "Your True Love", Carl Perkins's father Buck suggested that he do "Match Box Blues". Buck knew only a few lines from the song, either from a 1927 recording by Blind Lemon Jefferson, or from the version by country musicians The Shelton Brothers (who recorded the song twice in the 1930s, and again in 1947). As Perkins sang the few words his father had suggested, Jerry Lee Lewis, who was at that time a session piano player at Sun Studios, began a restrained boogie-woogie riff. Carl began picking out a melody on the guitar and improvised lyrics.^[1] On December 4, 1956 Carl Perkins recorded the song called "Matchbox". Later that day, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and session pianist Jerry Lee Lewis were all in the Sun studio with Sam Phillips. The impromptu group formed at this jam session became known as the Million Dollar Quartet.

Perkins maintained that he had never heard Jefferson's "Match Box Blues" when he recorded "Matchbox". Jefferson's song is about a mean spirited woman; Perkins' was about a lovelorn "poor boy" with limited prospects.^[1]

Perkins performed the song on ABC-TV's Ozark Jubilee on February 2, 1957.

"Match Box Blues" history

Although Blind Lemon Jefferson was the first to record "Match Box Blues" under that title in 1927, Ma Rainey had earlier recorded the famous line in her 1923 recording of "Lost Wandering Blues":

"I'm leaving this morning, with my clothes in my hand

"I won't stop to wandering, till I find my man

"I'm sitting here wondering', will a matchbox hold my clothes

"I've got a sun to beat, I'll be farther down the road." [2]

In "Screening the Blues," Paul Oliver stated that both Rainey and Jefferson "may have absorbed [the line] from traditional usage." ^[2]

As later developed, the song consists of traditional blues lyrics that open with the initial verse:

"I'm sittin' here wonderin', will a matchbox hold my clothes (2X)

"I ain't got no matches but I still got a long way to go."

This verse is the only one common to all versions of the song.

The Beatles

The Beatles were fans of Perkins and began performing the song circa 1961. Their then-drummer, Pete Best, performed the lead vocals, but no studio recording featuring Best singing the song is known to exist although a live recording with Best on vocals does exist. In 1962, John Lennon sang the song during a performance at the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany; a recording of this exists and was included on Live! at the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany; 1962.

The next year, the Beatles performed "Matchbox" with Ringo Starr on lead vocals for their BBC radio show, and this version would be included on the Live at the BBC album. Starr also got to sing lead vocals on it when it was recorded in 1964. There are suggestions that Perkins may have been present in the studio at that time. As was usually the case, all instruments on the song are played by the Beatles themselves, with the exception of the piano, which was played by producer George Martin. George Harrison plays 12-string rhythm guitar, while Lennon plays the lead guitar riffs and solo. (Starr even says on the Live at the BBC version, "All right, John!") "Matchbox" appeared on the Long Tall Sally EP in the United Kingdom. In the United States, it appeared on the Capitol Something New album, and was released as a Capitol single on August 24, 1964, 5255, which reached number seventeen on the Billboard pop singles chart. "Matchbox" reached number six on the Canadian CHUM Hit Parade charts in 1964. It was also included on the Past Masters and Mono Masters compilations.

Silver Wilburys

Carl Perkins' "Matchbox," along with "Blue Suede Shoes," "Honey Don't," and "Gone, Gone, Gone," was performed live on February 19, 1987 at the Palomino Club in North Hollywood, California by George Harrison, Bob Dylan, John Fogerty, Taj Mahal, and Jesse Ed Davis. This performance was filmed and recorded. The assembled musicians were dubbed the Silver Wilburys.

Additional legacy and other recorded versions

"Matchbox" is covered by Robert Britton Lyons portraying Carl Perkins in the Broadway musical Million Dollar Quartet and on the original Broadway cast recording, copyright 2010 by MDQ Merchandising, LLC.^[3] The song is also included in the Paul McCartney live album Tripping the Live Fantastic as a soundcheck tune between concert songs; it has been performed by McCartney in every tour as a soundcheck song. In 1985 it was played at the Blue Suede Shoes: A Rockabilly Session made-for-TV concert in London, with Perkins, Starr and Eric Clapton alternating the lead vocal. ^[4]

Paul McCartney's publishing company MPL Communications administers the rights to the song, which was originally published by Knox Music, Inc., BMI.

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Perkins, Carl; McGee, David (1996). Go, Cat, Go!. Hyperion Press. pp. 221–223. ISBN 0-7868-6073-1. 
2. ^ [1]^{[dead link]}
3. ^ MDQ Merchandising LLC (2010). “Song List” and “Performing Credits”. In Million Dollar Quartet (p. 5) [CD booklet]. New York City: Avatar Studios; and Chicago: Chicago Recording Company.
4. ^ "carl perkins and friends -matchbox". YouTube. 2008-06-19. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQSmUe4H0-U. Retrieved 2011-08-20. 

External links

• "Matchbox Blues" history
• Samples of the many versions of "Matchbox Blues"