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3.02pm
11 November 2010
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When the Beatles recorded Matchbox on June 1, 1964, Carl Perkins was present. Years later, in the 1970’s and 1980’s, Perkins claimed to have performed a few covers of his songs with the Beatles after the serious recording was done. Here’s an excerpt of a Carl Perkins interview from October 31, 1978:
…they invited me to the recording session that they recorded three of my songs that night. I was settin’ in the studio when they recorded it. In fact, I wasn’t playin’ on any of the things that was released, but we did jam around and play a lot in the studio that night. Of course, I didn’t know, but they knew all of my old songs.
Now, in this interview, he definitely has some of his facts wrong. Just prior to the quoted section, he claims to have met them just prior to coming to America, but the session took place months after they returned to England from America. Also he claims that the Beatles recorded three songs of his that night, when they only recorded one: Matchbox . Nonetheless, the jam session gets reported as fact in many places. Perkins’ account of which song were played varied, but included – at different times – Blue Suede Shoes, Honey Don’t , Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby , Your True Love, Sawdust Dance Floor, and others.
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Whether it happened or not, it was definitely not recorded. I, personally, doubt that it ever happened. I think that Carl Perkins was simply mistaken. There’s no question that he was present at the session on 6/1/64, but I think that he may have just said that he jammed with the Beatles because it makes for a better story.
Please move the thread if it’s in the wrong section.
I'm Necko. I'm like Ringo except I wear necklaces.
I'm also ewe2 on weekends.
Most likely to post things that make you go hmm... 2015, 2016, 2017. 
11.13am
31 March 2008
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I’m actually inclined to believe it may well have happened, but wasn’t recorded for whatever reason. Although Perkins gets some facts wrong (and Beatles history is full of badly-remembered and conflicting reports), it’s not beyond the bounds of possibility that he strapped on a guitar and played some numbers. Those songs were very short (each less than three minutes) so they could have spent a short while jamming and still got through quite a lot.
So why wasn’t it recorded? Who knows? Perhaps Epstein disliked them playing with other artists, and wanted to avoid a leak. Perhaps Perkins stipulated that it wasn’t going to happen. Maybe EMI’s engineers refused to roll the tapes unless it was authorised. I have no idea.
Maybe it didn’t happen though! I like to think it did, just because it would have been pretty cool. Have the Beatles/George Martin ever commented on the claims?
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1.10pm
11 November 2010
Offline Yeah, I tried not to make too much of him having the facts slightly wrong, for the reasons you said.
As far as it not being recorded, I think I may have an idea. Perhaps they wanted to save tape. It’s really not that far-fetched, given that only a year or so before, they were recording over Beatles recordings once they had the master takes. Also, perhaps they didn’t record simply because they knew it wouldn’t be released.
I’d like to believe that it happened just because it’d be really cool if true, but I’m not sure.
I’ve never heard of any of the Beatles or related people commenting on it, but I’m no Mark Lewisohn, so I could be wrong. Maybe Tune In – Vol. 2 will address this in some way.
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ZigI'm Necko. I'm like Ringo except I wear necklaces.
I'm also ewe2 on weekends.
Most likely to post things that make you go hmm... 2015, 2016, 2017.
8.46pm
30 December 2022
Offline Joe said
I’m actually inclined to believe it may well have happened, but wasn’t recorded for whatever reason. Although Perkins gets some facts wrong (and Beatles history is full of badly-remembered and conflicting reports), it’s not beyond the bounds of possibility that he strapped on a guitar and played some numbers. Those songs were very short (each less than three minutes) so they could have spent a short while jamming and still got through quite a lot.So why wasn’t it recorded? Who knows? Perhaps Epstein disliked them playing with other artists, and wanted to avoid a leak. Perhaps Perkins stipulated that it wasn’t going to happen. Maybe EMI’s engineers refused to roll the tapes unless it was authorised. I have no idea.
Maybe it didn’t happen though! I like to think it did, just because it would have been pretty cool. Have the Beatles/George Martin ever commented on the claims?
It actually happened. I’m in the Perkins’ family. If any of y’all got Carl Perkins questions send them my way. I never met Carl but my grandma (his child) says he didn’t change stories to make them more interesting and he told everything how it was. Carl was there (he wouldnt lie about that) but they didnt record with him
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Beatlebug, vonbontee9.01pm
7 November 2022
Offline Paul could have just paused for 30 seconds in 1998 when he sat down to film a video with him jamming with Carl himself:
“Hey Carl, remember that time in 1964 when you jammed with us Beatles?”
“Oh yeah Paul, that was great. What songs did we do?”
“Well we did Honey Don’t and Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby , maybe Your True Love, Sawdust Dance Floor, I think.”
“Don’t forget Blue Suede Shoes!”
[Paul bonks his head]
“How could I forget Blue Suede Shoes!”
But no, all these opportunities to clarify interesting questions of Beatles history rarely seems to occur to Paul all these decades since right up to now.
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NeelyNow today I find, you have changed your mind
