THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

757- Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps-Be-Bop-a-Lula.

1956-Number 16 single.

Best Bit-At 1.49. ‘White face, black shirt, white socks, black shoes, black hair, white strat, bled white, died black.’

Gene Vincent was born Vincent Eugene Craddock, on February 11th, 1935, in Norfolk, Virginia, United States, he died on October 12th, 1971, from a combination of a ruptured ulcer, internal haemorrhage and heart failure, at the age of 36. Over the course of his short life, he lived up to his bad boy image, having several altercations with fire arms, and suffering from drug, and alcohol abuse. In 1955 he was involved in a auto accident while riding his motorbike, which left his left leg shattered, he refused to have it amputated, and lived with constant pain for the rest of his life. On April 16th, 1960, while on tour in the UK, Gene Vincent was one of the passengers in the car that crashed and killed the ‘Rock ‘N Roll’ star Eddie Cochran, (1938-1960) (see also best songs 422 and 50) Gene Vincent broke his ribs, and collarbone, and further damaged his weakened leg.

At the age of 17, Gene Vincent enlisted in the United States Navy, but that career was brought to an abrupt end following his left leg being shattered in that auto crash. Eventually he turned his attentions to music, and formed a ‘Rockabilly’ band called ‘Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps,’ a ‘Blue Cap’ is a term used in reference to enlisted sailors in the U.S. Navy. The group then won a talent contest in Norfolk, Virginia, organised by a local radio DJ, Bill ‘Sheriff Tex’ Davis, (1914-2007) who then became Gene Vincent’s manager.

Bill ‘Sheriff Tex’ Davis got Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps signed to a contract with ‘Capitol Records’ in 1956. The record label were looking for a young singer to rival Elvis Presley, (1935-1977) and Davis presented the label with a demo of ‘Be-Bop-a-Lula.’ Gene Vincent would go on to release 12 studio Albums between 1956-1971, and 41 singles between 1956-1970, there are also nine official compilation Albums, and 11 extended plays available. In America on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, Gene Vincent has charted within the top 40 on three occasions, with ‘Be-Bop-a-Lula’ peaking the highest at Number 7, while in the UK, eight of his singles have reached the top 40, with ‘Pistol Packin’ Mama’ from 1960, charting the highest at Number 15.

There are several differing versions as to who wrote ‘Be-Bop-a-Lula,’ and also from where the idea for the song first came, which was all probably drummed up by the record label, and Gene Vincent’s management, in order to stir up interest. Gene Vincent and his record company circulated the story that he wrote the song during a six month stay in the ‘Portsmouth Naval Hospital,’ where he was recovering from a motorcycle accident, there he played his guitar and came up with the melody and lyrics, which were inspired by a comic strip in the 1935 American magazine ‘The Saturday Evening Post.’ In 2000 this story was disputed by Dickie Harrell, (1940-2023) who had been the drummer with the ‘Blue Caps.’ Harrell said,’Actually the song was written by a guy from Portsmouth named Donald Graves.’ According to Harrell, Vincent and his manager Bill “Sheriff Tex” Davis, bought the song from Graves for $25. Harrell said, ‘It happened a lot in those days, guys would take the sure money.’ The official songwriting credits for ‘Be-Bop-a-Lula,’ are given to Gene Vincent, Donald Graves, and Bill ‘Sheriff Tex’ Davis.

‘Be-Bop-a-Lula,’ is considered to be an early example of ‘Rockabilly’ music. ‘Rockabilly’ is one of the earliest styles of ‘Rock ‘N Roll’ music, dating back to the early 1950’s in the United States, especially in the South. As a genre ‘Rockabilly’ derives from ‘Rock ‘N Roll,’ and ‘Hillbilly,’ which is a term used to describe ‘Country Music’ from the 1940’s, and 1950’s. ‘Be-Bop-a-Lula,’ is considered to be a groundbreaking song, with both a young John Lennon, (1940-1980) and a young Paul McCartney, both being heavily influenced by the song, even before the pair first ever met. Paul McCartney has said, ‘Now this is the first record I ever bought when I was a kid, and I saved up my pocket money for months, and then I took the bus down-town to the record shop, and I remember going into the back of the shop and listening to the record and loving it. It was just very early days of Rock ‘N Roll, so it was just such a thrill, and then I got back on the bus, went home and played it endlessly, and these memories, of Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps singing ‘Be-Bop-A-Lula’ will stay with me forever.’

‘She’s the woman that’s got that beat, she’s the woman with the flying feet. She’s the one that walks around the store, she’s the one that gets more more more more.’