Matchbox (song)



"Matchbox" is a rock and roll song written and recorded by Carl Perkins and released in 1957. Blind Lemon Jefferson wrote and recorded a song entitled "Match Box Blues" in 1927, which is musically different but which contains some lyric phrases in common.

"Matchbox" was recorded as a rockabilly song by Carl Perkins in December 1956 and by fellow Sun Records performer, Jerry Lee Lewis - who played piano on the original track - in 1958. The Carl Perkins tune shares some lyrics with 1920s blues songs by Ma Rainey and Blind Lemon Jefferson but the music is totally different. Sam Phillips and Sun Records released the Carl Perkins version as the B-side to "Your True Love". Although only the A-side became a record chart hit in 1957, "Matchbox" is one of Perkins' best-known recordings and variety of musicians have recorded the tune.

Background
Ma Rainey recorded "Lost Wandering Blues" in Chicago in March 1924. Paramount Records issued it on the standard ten-inch 78 rpm single (no. 12098) Her lyrics include the matchbox as a suitcase reference:

Three years later, Blind Lemon Jefferson used it for the title of his recording as "Match Box Blues" on March 14, 1927, for Okeh Records in Atlanta, Georgia. Blues author Paul Oliver stated that both Rainey and Jefferson "may have absorbed [the line] from traditional usage."

Jefferson recorded the song twice more in April 1927 for Paramount Records. Although they contain some differences, they include

Subsequently, the song was recorded by several blues and country swing musicians, such as Lead Belly, Big Bill Broonzy, the Shelton Brothers, and Roy Newman and His Boys.

Perkins recording
After recording "Your True Love" at Sun Records studio, Carl Perkins's father Buck suggested that he write a song based on snatches of lyrics that he remembered. Buck knew only a few lines from the 1927 song from the recordings by Jefferson or the Shelton Brothers. 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. The Sun recording on December 4, 1956 was produced by Sam Phillips at Sun Studios in Memphis.

Perkins maintained that he had never heard Jefferson's song when he recorded "Matchbox". The songs are musically, thematically, and lyrically totally different. Jefferson's song is about a mean spirited woman; Perkins' is about a lovelorn "poor boy" with limited prospects. The song was published and copyrighted in 1957 in the US with words and music by Carl Lee Perkins by Knox Music/Hill and Range Songs of New York.

The "Matchbox" recording session is historically significant as a milestone in rock and roll history because later that day, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Lewis were all in the Sun Studio with Sam Phillips with Carl Perkins and his band. The impromptu group formed at this jam session became known as the Million Dollar Quartet.

Carl Perkins performed the song on ABC-TV's Ozark Jubilee on February 2, 1957. Perkins and his band also performed the song on the syndicated TV show Ranch Party hosted by Tex Ritter in 1957. There was also a promo ad for the release of the Sun single in Billboard magazine.

The Beatles' rendition
The Beatles were fans of Perkins and began performing the song circa 1961. Their then-drummer, Pete Best, performed the lead vocals. The only known recording of the song featuring Best singing the song is a live recording. 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 sang lead vocals 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. "Matchbox" appeared on the Long Tall Sally EP in the UK. In the US, it appeared on the Capitol Something New album, and was released as a Capitol single on August 24, 1964, which reached number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Matchbox" reached No. 6 on the Canadian CHUM Hit Parade charts in 1964. It was also included on the Past Masters and Mono Masters compilations released in 1988 and 2009, respectively. The song was the first A-side single released with Ringo Starr on lead vocals.

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", perhaps a reference to an earlier name for the Beatles, the Silver Beetles.