Julie Bracken's photostream  

Oh well, I've got a girl with a record machine
When it comes to rockin' she's the queen
We love to dance on a Saturday night
All alone, I can hold her tight
But she lives in a twentiest floor up town
The elevator's broken down

So I walked one, two flight, three flight, four
Five, six, seven flight, eight flight more
Up on the twelfth I started to drag
Fifteenth floor I'm ready to sag
Get to the top, I'm too tired to rock

When she calls me up on the telephone
Said c'mon over honey, I'm all alone
I said baby, you're mighty sweet
But I'm in the bed with a achin' feet
This went on for a couple of days
But I couldn't stay away
~Eddie Cochran
www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-Es_mxFc9U

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2 Mar 12

Eddie Cochran (October 3, 1938 – April 17, 1960), was an American rock and roll pioneer who in his brief career had a small but lasting influence on rock music through his guitar playing. Cochran's rockabilly songs, such as "C'mon Everybody", "Somethin' Else", and "Summertime Blues", captured teenage frustration and desire in the late 1950s and early 1960s. In the words of Lester Bangs, writing in Rolling Stone in 1972, "Eddie may have imitated Elvis vocally even more than a dozen or so other stalwarts of the day such as Conway Twitty, but his influence on pop consciousness of the magnitude of The Beatles and The Who was deep and profound". He experimented with multitracking and overdubbing even on his earliest singles, and was also able to play piano, bass and drums.

Cochran was 21 when he died in April 1960 in a road accident during his British tour. Though his best known songs were released during his lifetime, more of his songs were released posthumously.

His image as a sharply dressed, rugged but good looking young man with a rebellious attitude epitomized the stance of the Fifties rocker, and in death he achieved iconic status. (source Wikipedia)

Oh yes, I remember him well....

It will not have gone unnoticed that i have dedicated this series of photographs to the memory of Eddie Cochran, whose music i very much enjoyed as a teenager. It has sparked off a nostalgic trip down memory lane!

Certain moments in modern history are indelibly inscribed on my brain....my first, aged not yet 7, was the death of King George VI in Feb 1952; Buddy Holly's sudden death in 1959, aged 22, followed a year later by Eddie Cochran, aged 21; the thirteen day Cuban Missile crisis of 1962, JFK's assassination in November 1963 and the 1967 'Six Day' Arab Israeli war, immediately spring to mind.

Perhaps the most lasting and vivid memory i have, is of Churchill's funeral on 30 January 1965, when, aged 20 and at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, i was privileged to be one of over 7,000 service personnel, marching to the sombre sound of military bands beating out the great funeral marches, as we processed slowly through London's streets from Westminster Hall to St Pauls, and then onto The Tower of London, behind the Gun carriage bearing the coffin.

Thanks to the marvels of the internet, i have been able to relive that event, as recorded by the BBC, which can be found here.... www.bbc.co.uk/archive/churchill/11023.shtml.

The magnificant commentary is by the great broadcaster, Richard Dimbleby and it faithfully conveys the sense of the drama and majesty of the occasion, in a style that WSC would surely have approved.

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2 Mar 12

Ah well, c'mon everybody and let's get together tonight
I got some money in my jeans and I'm really gonna spend it right
Well I've been a-doin' my homework all week long
And now the house is empty and the folks are gone
Ooo c'mon everybody
~Eddie Cochran

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2 Mar 12

I'm just a-sittin' in the balcony
Just a watchin' the movie
Or maybe it's a symphony, I wouldn't know

I don't care about the symphonies
Just the cymbals and the timpanis
Just a-sittin' in the balcony on the very last row
~Eddie Cochran
www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=vAczfB0qCNw&feature

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2 Mar 12

Now there are three steps to heaven
Just listen and you will plainly see
And as life travels on
And things do go wrong
Just follow Steps 1, 2 and 3

Step 1 - You find a girl you love
Step 2 - She falls in love with you
Step 3 - You kiss and hold her tightly
Now that sure seems like heaven to me
~Eddie Cochran 1960
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbWvp4wD5hE&feature

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2 Mar 12