{"id":2214,"date":"2026-10-22T15:00:56","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T08:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chuyenhay360.com.vn\/?p=2214"},"modified":"2026-10-22T15:00:56","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T08:00:56","slug":"wiped-the-whole-hand-out-the-end-of-this-thumb-was-off-the-fingers-were-just-danglin-hangin-off-the-king-of-rockabilly-on-the-gruesome-onstage-accident-that-nea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chuyenhay360.com.vn\/?p=2214","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWiped the whole hand out. The end of this thumb was off. The fingers were just danglin\u2019, hangin\u2019 off.\u201d The King of Rockabilly on the gruesome onstage accident that nearly ended his career \u2014\u00a0and his life"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"Rock<\/picture>
Carl Perkins (second from left) jams with Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash at Sun Records studio, in Memphis, December 4, 1956. The four hit-making Sun label mates were known as the Million Dollar Quartet. <\/strong>(Image credit: Michael Ochs Archives\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Carl Perkins was a rockabilly pioneer who sang with Elvis Presley, hung out and toured with Johnny Cash<\/a> and wrote classic rock and roll tunes like \u201cBlue Suede Shoes,\u201d the first recording to top the pop, country and R&B charts simultaneously.<\/p>\n

The country-inflected guitar licks<\/a> he coaxed from his 1953 Les Paul<\/a> Goldtop inspired George Harrison\u2019s early electric<\/a> leads and solos with the Beatles. The group\u2019s admiration ran deep: They covered at least seven Perkins songs onstage and in the studio, including \u201cEverybody\u2019s Trying to Be My Baby,\u201d \u201cMatchbox\u201d and \u201cHoney Don\u2019t.\u201d As Paul McCartney declared, \u201cIf there were no Carl Perkins, there would be no Beatles.\u201d<\/p>\n

But in less time than it takes a metal fan blade to spin, Perkins nearly lost his career. And his life.<\/p>\n

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\n\"Carl<\/picture>\n<\/div>
Perkins plays a Stratocaster onstage at the International Festival of Country Music, in Wembley Arena, London, in April 1978. <\/strong>(Image credit: David Redfern\/Redferns\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It happened one night in 1962 at the end of a live set in Tennessee as he stepped forward to take a bow.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were playing on a trailer in a courthouse yard. Somebody put a big window fan on the side. It had no frame on it. I was taking the guitar off, taking a bow, when I stuck my hand in there,\u201d he told Musician<\/em> magazine\u2019s Bill Flanagan.<\/p>\n

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Somebody put a big window fan on the side. It had no frame on it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>

\u2014 Carl Perkins<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWiped the whole hand out. The end of this thumb was off. The fingers were just danglin\u2019, hangin\u2019 off.\u201d<\/p>\n

The nearest hospital was 60 miles away. Perkins wrapped his mangled right hand in a towel and climbed into the back of a \u201962 Buick for the impossibly long ride. The fan blade had severed the main arteries of his picking hand, and blood pulsed out with every heartbeat.<\/p>\n

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All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\"Carl<\/picture>\n<\/div>
Performing with Eric Clapton (with Derek and the Dominos) and Johnny Cash on <\/strong>The Johnny Cash Show<\/strong><\/em> in November 1970. <\/strong>(Image credit: Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images Photo Archives\/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He recalled how \u201cblood filled the floorboards and was running out the back doors.\u201d<\/p>\n

As his life literally drained away, Perkins felt himself crossing over. The car seat fell away beneath him and he saw a gray tunnel, beyond which shone a sky the colors of blue and orchid.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went through that passing from life,\u201d he said. \u201cI was just floatin\u2019 like a feather through those beautiful colors.\u201d<\/p>\n

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I went through that passing from life. I was just floatin\u2019 like a feather through those beautiful colors.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>

\u2014 Carl Perkins<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He held on long enough to reach the hospital. The surgeon on duty recommended amputating the damaged fingers, saying they would only get in Perkins\u2019 way \u2014 if he survived. His wife begged the doctor to save them, and he reluctantly agreed to try.<\/p>\n

Perkins woke the next afternoon in a hospital bed, his hand in a cast and his wife and the surgeon at his side. Against the odds, his hand had been saved.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was happy to have a thumb left \u2014 anything!\u201d he said. \u201cI tuned my guitar in open E, laid it across my lap and picked with the end of my thumb with that big cast on. I was gonna play!\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\"Carl<\/picture>\n<\/div>
Perkins rehearses with a backing group that includes Clapton and George Harrison (left) for his U.K. television special <\/strong>Blue Suede Shoes<\/strong><\/em>, October 21, 1985. <\/strong>(Image credit: Peter Stone\/Mirrorpix\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Over time, Perkins regained the use of his thumb and first two fingers. He never recovered full use of his pinkie, which had been essential to his intricate Chet Atkins\u2013inspired picking style. It didn\u2019t matter. He was grateful simply to play again.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople have told me, \u2018Carl, you play better than you ever did.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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Rockabilly\u2019s simple music, but it\u2019s not that easy to play, If you ain\u2019t tappin\u2019 your foot, you\u2019re missin\u2019 the boat. Might as well go on to the next club.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>

\u2014 Carl Perkins<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Over the next 36 years, until his death in 1998, he carried on playing bars, cutting dozens of albums and sharing stages with artists who revered him, including Eric Clapton, John Fogerty<\/a>, Tom Petty, Joe Walsh<\/a> and his old admirers Harrison, McCartney and Ringo Starr. He appreciated that his music had the power to inspire other guitarists to excel at their craft.<\/p>\n

\u201cRockabilly\u2019s simple music, but it\u2019s not that easy to play,\u201d he told Musician<\/em>. \u201cRockabilly music gets under the skin, gets inside the ear and stays. You are part of that song. If it\u2019s real, it\u2019ll move you some way or another. If you ain\u2019t tappin\u2019 your foot, you\u2019re missin\u2019 the boat. Might as well go on to the next club.\u201d<\/p>\n

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