Three Steps to Heaven - Eddie Cochran
Almost exactly eighteen years ago, shortly before midnight on April 16th, 1960 a taxi carrying touring rock and roll stars Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent crashed in Chippenham, Wiltshire. The next day Cochran died in hospital of head injuries incurred when he was thrown from the car while attempting to shield his girl friend. Among the first to arrive at the accident scene was police cadet Dave Lee later to become the lead singer of Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich (see yesterday's post). Cochran was the only passenger to die in the accident, but the car and contents were impounded at the police station for weeks awaiting the inquest, including Cochran's Gretsch guitar which Dee picked up and began to teach himself how to play between shifts and whenever he got the chance, setting him off on the road to pop stardom.
Straight after his death, possibly very cynically, Cochran's record company released "Three Steps to Heaven" which shot straight to number one in the UK, making it his most successful British hit.
However cynical they were, there is a sad and beautiful irony here, with Eddie giving his life to protect his love, which may be seen as a kind of heaven
"....and as life travels on and things do go wrong....
....yeah that sure seems like heaven to me"