"Black Denim Trousers and Motorcycle Boots" is a popular teenage tragedy song that was a top-ten hit for The Cheers in the fall of 1955. It went to #6 on the Billboard Best Selling singles chart. Veteran performer Vaughn Monroe covered the record, going to #38 on the Billboard charts, and a top-ten co-listing on Cashbox.
Written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, the song tells the story of a motorcycle rider and his long-suffering girlfriend Mary Lou. In the song she pleads with him not to ride one night: "I've got a feeling if you ride tonight I'll grieve," she tells him, but he ignores her and "hit a screamin' diesel that was California bound." Featuring a catchy tune and the chorus of "He wore black denim trousers and motorcycle boots and a black leather jacket with an eagle on the back," the song was the second big hit for the Cheers, after "Bazoom (I Need Your Lovin')." It was also the first song to chart about motorcycles and the "new" motorcyclists, earning it the reputation as the first biker song. In 1956, French chanteuse Edith Piaf recorded a French translation of the song entitled "L' Homme à la Moto," which became one of her biggest selling singles. This song was also recorded by Canadian group The Diamonds, who did it for the Coral Records label; the Diamonds achieved fame a couple years later with the Rock and Roll classic "Little Darlin'." In 1994, Chris Spedding recorded a new version of the song. It has also been recorded by Joan Morris and William Bolcom and has become a staple of their concert repertoire.
In 1959, Dodie Stevens became famous with her parody of "Black Denim Trousers," "Pink Shoe Laces."
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Famous quotes containing the words black, trousers, motorcycle and/or boots:
“The white American man makes the white American woman maybe not superfluous but just a little kind of decoration. Not really important to turning around the wheels of the state. Well the black American woman has never been able to feel that way. No black American man at any time in our history in the United States has been able to feel that he didn’t need that black woman right against him, shoulder to shoulder—in that cotton field, on the auction block, in the ghetto, wherever.”
—Maya Angelou (b. 1928)
“Think of the many different relations of form and content. E.g., the many pairs of trousers and what’s in them.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“Today, only a fool would offer herself as the singular role model for the Good Mother. Most of us know not to tempt the fates. The moment I felt sure I had everything under control would invariably be the moment right before the principal called to report that one of my sons had just driven somebody’s motorcycle through the high school gymnasium.”
—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)
“Boots and shoes are the greatest trouble of my life. Everything else one can turn and turn about, and make old look like new; but there’s no coaxing boots and shoes to look better than they are.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)