Written and performed by Carl Perkins in 1955 and covered – more popularly – by Presley the following year, the song details just how precious a pair of the eponymous footwear could be.
The inspiration for the song is disputed. In his second autobiography, Johnny Cash claimed that he, while touring with Presley and Perkins, told a story about an airman he met while in the military. The airman would call his standard-issue shoes ‘blue suede’, and insisted that they were not to be scuffed or stepped on. Cash said he encouraged Perkins to pen a song about the shoes, who replied, “I don’t know anything about shoes. How can I write a song about shoes?”
Another story is that Perkins, while on stage, noticed a young audience member scolding his date, telling her not to ‘step on his suedes’, one of which had been scuffed. Amused by the boy’s fixation, Perkins began writing the song later that night.
While the exact story is unclear, two things are certain: the song is iconic, and, whatever you do, lay off them shoes!