The Echo of a Rock Legend: Eddie Cochran's Brief, Brilliant Flame

Ever wonder how the vibrant chords of rock and roll first electrified the airwaves? Embark on a nostalgic journey with me, Harriet West-Moore, as we recount the life and legacy of Eddie Cochran, the golden boy of rock whose time in the limelight was as brilliant as it was brief. In tonight's episode, we trace Cochran's roots from the chilly climes of Minnesota to the surf-kissed avenues of California, witnessing his transformation from a country dabbler to a rock and roll devotee under the influence of icons like Elvis and Little Richard.

Our exploration goes beyond the foot-tapping hits and into the heart of a tragic hero's tale, as we celebrate Cochran's musical genius and mourn his untimely departure from the world stage. From the twang of "Mr. Fiddle" to the electric buzz of rock and roll rebellion, Cochran's indelible mark on the genre persists, echoing through time. Join us for an emotional, tune-filled tribute to a legend who left us too soon, yet gave us so much to remember. Pour a glass of your favorite vintage, and let's toast to the enduring spirit of Eddie Cochran. 🍷🎸

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Good evening, good evening. This is Harriet Westmore of the More Wine and Music podcast, the podcast where we discuss music over a glass of wine. I'd like to welcome you to season three and we're talking about the early sounds of rock and roll for this certain genre. But before we get into our story for tonight, I want to make sure everybody hit that like and hit that share, hit that subscribe button, go on wwwmorewineandmusiccom, leave your comments and if you have an artist that you would like me to talk about during that was in the early 50ies for this season, please leave me a message there. Also, I'm offering Patreon members. I am now on Patreon through the More Wine and Music podcast. It's now on Patreon and for $10 a month you will get extra episodes that are not necessarily talked about on the regular season podcast platform. I will be going more in detail about certain, the mystery, the tea, so to speak, the tragedy of certain artists across all genres. So if you want to know more information about a particular artist or group, join the Patreon page. It on all apparel on my more shopping online store so you'll automatically get every item and every accessory that is available on the more mall shopping online. Mall shopping online is you'll automatically get 10% off. And that would be. You will use your 10 for 10 discount and that's because you are a $10 a month Patreon. So therefore you will receive $10, 10% off. I think that's a pretty good, pretty good deal. So 10 for 10. Join patreoncom, backslash morewinemusic, become a Patreon member and get 10% off on all merchandise items that are available on the more Online Mall website. And actually you can go to that website at wwwmooreshoppingco and I will have that information in the link.

Speaker 1: 3:02

Okay, so, without further ado, let's talk about season three, episode 28, of the early rock and roll genre. This week we'll be talking about a lesser known but well known but lesser known if that makes sense artist, and his name was Eddie Cochran. And who was Eddie Cochran? Eddie Cochran was one of the great rock and roll stars and whose influence was very um, actually he was kind of more well-known and more appreciated, so to speak, not only here in the US but in the UK. But unfortunately, you know, he wasn't able to enhance his career because of his early, tragic life ending. But let's talk about him and let's see who he was before he became who he was. In the end, he was born Ray Edward Cochran.

Speaker 1: 4:17

He was born on October 3rd of 1938 in Alberley, minnesota. He originally lived. His parents originally came from Oklahoma, but after they moved from Oklahoma by the age of 12, his family moved to the suburbs of California and LA and his music early influences was country. He began to play drums at an early age and by 1950, he learned how to play the guitar and the piano. While in school, in junior high, he formed his first band and it was there that he became, you know, starting to hone his craft in playing. He was basically playing hillbilly drum, hillbilly songs, and so you know that obviously did not get him any kind of notoriety, but I mean he was getting a little bit of popularity. He did show some kind of talent because of his ability to play the piano and the guitar.

Speaker 1: 5:32

He did drop out of high school and he wanted to become a professional musician and in 1954, he partnered up with another musician who was named Hank Cochran. Now, which is, incidentally, they weren't related but although the last names were, you know, the same, they were not related and they deemed themselves the Cochran brothers. Again, no relations, but you know they both wanted to utilize both their last name as being Cochran. They released their first single, mr Fiddle, back with Public Consciousness. During that time Eddie Cochran's influence became.

Speaker 1: 6:23

He became really fascinated with Little Richard, chuck Berry, elvis, carl Perkins and the like, and so he wanted to kind of emulate their style of music. He, you know, admired that type of sound and he changed from, decided to change from playing country to playing rock and roll. And so he started to play rock and roll and he composed a song called Sitting in the Balcony, and that was in 1957, back with Dark Lonely Street, and in the latter the Girl Can't Help it, only street, and in the latter the girl can't help it. Those weren't really high goals, popular I mean, it didn't really make the charts at all. But again, you know when you're starting off. A lot of times you know you have to keep producing. You know more and more songs and before you get to that one song that actually catapult you to you know the top. So his major breakthrough was actually in August of 1958 with the song Summertime Blues, and that was co -written by himself and a guy named Jerry Capehart. His songs actually was considered to be upbeat and his lyrics were mostly happy go lucky the life of a teenager Pretty much. His lyrics and songs were very bubblegum, 50s rock and roll where teenagers can dance to at sock hops and high school dances and things like that. So his other song that became popular for him was the song called Come On Everybody, and that was considered a rock and roll house party type song. Consider a rock and roll house party type song.

Speaker 1: 8:39

And in 1959, this is where Cochran decided to, and it was able to kind of hone in his craft in the recording studio. He was able to learn how to dub his voice over the multi layers of the guitar parts and he did that as a influenced by Les Paul and he was able to add backing vocals to that. He was very as far as not only knowing how to play, he also was very savvy, started to learn how to do the engineering and the producing part of his music. In 1959, of course, if you listen to episode number 27, when I was talking about Richie Valens, he became really really depressed losing three icon musicians in 1959 from the plane crash of for Richie Valens, buddy Holly and the Big Bopper and that kind of like that kind of, you know, turned the tide not only with Cochran himself but with all other type of musicians at the time. I think that plane crash kind of woke everybody up, but nevertheless he still went on. But nevertheless he still went on. And it was around this time he also met who had been became his fiance and her name was Sharon Sheely. She met. He said you pretty much blew that because that could have been your million dollar seller because she is a songwriter. So he kind of regretted that and they had an opportunity to meet again later on and this time they connected.

Speaker 1: 11:20

So it was now we're going into 1960. He was becoming to be a little more famous with this song Summertime and Summertime Blues and also Come On, let's Go. So it was found that the UK, the kids, the British kids over there in the UK were starting to like his music. He was starting to get popular over there, starting to like his music. They really was starting. He was starting to get popular over there. So, as any good promoter and manager would do, they wanted to promote him and so he went over to the UK to promote his songs and he was became really popular over there, I would say more so than here in the US. So he was, you know, booked on several tour dates in the UK.

Speaker 1: 12:22

So in 1960, he was pretty much over in the UK and it was also at this time that, you know, he was still reeling from the accident and the demise of three, you know, of Richie Valens, buddy Holly and the Big Bopper. He was pretty much, you know, still reeling from that. So, so much so that he decided to write a song about them and they were called Three Stars. And if you listen to the song it's a very emotional song, I mean very emotional, very sad, but a nice tribute to the three stars. And in the end of the song he is actually very overcome with emotion and you can actually hear, you know, he could tell that he was crying because of, you know it was, it was devastating, you know, to, you know, such a big, major loss and a lot of people, a lot of artists, fellow musicians, they were devastated by that tragic accident.

Speaker 1: 13:53

Touring in England he finished one of his gigs and he and I guess, from one point to another he had to get to another destination and taking the train from where he was to get to the airport, he had to get to London Heathrow Airport and it would have took hours by train. So they decided, and that was actually Sharon, his girlfriend, or now fiance, at the time he flew her in and so she was there with him. And it was Gene Vinson, he was another artist, famous artist, early rock and roll artist, and Cochran. They decided to rent a car. They decided to rent a car, figured it would be a lot faster to drive in a car than being on a few hour train ride to the Heathrow Airport so they can catch the flight to get to I think their next destination was New York. So this was on Easter and which was April 17th of 1960.

Speaker 1: 15:33

So they, they decided to get a car and they were driving, and I think, from my understanding, that they were the driver, whoever was driving, he was driving a little bit too fast. And if anybody who's from the States and knows how the UK, their roads are, I mean, first of all, you're driving, their driving roads are opposite from what we have here in the United States, and so you're driving on, you're riding on the opposite side of the road, and not only that, a lot of the countrysides are very hilly. So I don't know exactly what happened, but the car, whoever was driving, they were driving kind of fast. They were driving, you know, because again they were trying to make it to the airport in time to catch the flight, their flight back to the States, back to New York, but unfortunately the tire blew out and it was a. They lost control of the car and the car crashed and it killed Cochran right on the spot and it put his girlfriend into the hospital and left Gene Vincent crippled. So, and that was April 17th of 1960.

Speaker 1: 17:06

So another tragic demise of a young, up and coming singer. He was only 21 at the time of his death. At the time of his death, shortly after his death, his song Three Steps to Heaven had reached the number one LP in the UK and it really devastated everybody pretty much, not only here in the United States but definitely in the UK. Fans in the UK. They were just devastated of the loss of Eddie Cochran and how he was tragically taken away in a plane, I'm sorry, in a car crash.

Speaker 1: 18:00

So again, I feel that it's interesting during those times in the early 50s and in the 50s, during the rock and roll era, that there were, if you really look back at it, there were some tragic endings to a lot of these artists' lives. Like I said, just you know, a year before was Buddy Holly. You know the playing craft of Buddy Holly, richie Valens and the Big Bopper. Now that was in 1959. Now in 1960 you've got Eddie Cochran, you know, tragically killed in an automobile accident and you know again, it was a very tragic time, although it was very fun and wild and everything. The 50s and the rock and roll era was early. Rock and roll 50s era was very fun and you know, teenagers just wanted to have dances and have fun, but it was also tragic at the same time. So you know, there you have it Another artist gone too soon and that was Eddie Cochran.

Speaker 1: 19:26

So I want to thank you for this very short video. You know, unfortunately, like I said, he really didn't make his mark until the end and he was like again on the cusp, just like Richie Valens was. He was on the cusp for stardom but his life was cut short. But you can still hear a lot of his music today, even especially in the UK. The UK, they are diehard fans of him. They will not let his memory die. So you can go on YouTube and see a lot of documentaries even today about Eddie Cochran and how much of an impact that he had his music had on, you know, uk, even though he wasn't there long, but his music is so, which I find that you know very telling.

Speaker 1: 20:32

So, again, become a Patreon member, hit patreoncom backslash more wine music. You will become a 10 for 10 member $10 a month. We'll get you beyond the videos that are what's shown on the regular podcast platforms. I will be going more in detail on different groups, different genres, and I will focus more on the scoop or the tea and the tragic side of the music industry and the music careers of a lot of these artists. I don't necessarily do it, I may skim over it here on the regular platform, but in Patreon you'll get more of a. I'll be focusing more on the actual demise and actual backstory of a lot of these artists and also, with that, you'll get 10% off on the more online mall apparel and there's a lot of t-shirts, there are bags, tote bags and men hoodies that are on the site. So I really would encourage you to take advantage of the 10 for 10. Become a Patreon member and automatically, you automatically have access to 10% off and that's. You know. That's as long as you're a member of Patreon and you can, you know, unsubscribe at any time. But once you unsubscribe, you will no longer have the 10% discount to the store.

Speaker 1: 22:25

But on Facebook, hit that like and hit that share, hit that subscribe button, and next week I'm going to be talking about the group Frankie Lyman and the Teenagers. We all know who that is right. We all know why do fools fall in love there was a movie about that. But I'm going to talk about the group themselves. Now, if you want to hear about Frankie Lyman personally, about who he was and his story, that's the type of story that I will talk about in Patreon. I will not talk about him as a single person of who he was on the regular podcast platform. You will have to get the backstory of Frankie Lyman and you have to become a Patreon member and you have to become a Patreon member. But I'm going to talk about the group Frankie Lyman and the Teenagers and their short-lived popularity as the group themselves. All right, and that will be next week. So you guys, have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and I will talk to you next week. Bye.