16 January 2016
A tribute to Memphis, Tennessee

The world famous Cavern Club Liverpool would like to congratulate the City of Memphis on its 50 year celebration as ‘The birthplace of Rock ‘ n’ Roll’ throughout 2016.

The Cavern itself owes its place in the history of Rock ‘ n’ Roll.  The world changing music which filtered out of Memphis into Britain became such a pivotal influence on The Beatles and many other bands who emerged from The Cavern and went on themselves to create a new wave of Rock ‘ n’ Roll in the ‘60’s.

The Cavern will mark this 50th anniversary by paying homage to the sounds of Memphis in the Club’s live music programme throughout the year and remind the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who visit the cavern every year, of where Rock ‘ n’ Roll did begin!

Please note this announcement was written on 16th January 2016, which is the Cavern’s 47th birthday

Memphis on the Mersey

billowing white gold from the
southern fields
gathered to the sound
of the Delta Blues
bails on a Liverpool dockside;
skeins loosened by billhooks
fly like flags
from the dock wall
from the Mississippi
to the Mersey
the ships that carried produce
brought the sounds of Memphis
first the Blues
the deep echo rumble of pain
that claws at you
gnaws your nerves
then Rock and Roll
that made you feel
you could touch the sky
till finally the voice of Elvis
took you there and back again
filled you up
then left you empty
gasping for more
we heard it here first
rocked before the rest of Britain
sailors played records
traded them
others brought them home
mementoes of a mythic place
we listened
kids in Liverpool
began to scrape radio dials
to catch distant faded echoes
played scratched discs
on radiograms
picked at cheap guitars
56 -7 -8 -9-60 – 61
it boiled away
till the Mersey Sound
exploded from its cellars
to flood across the world
from Beale Street to Matthew Street
from Liverpool on the Mississippi
to Memphis on the Mersey
two cities joined
by history
rock to the same beat

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