The second posthumous number one on these charts - Cochran had been killed barely weeks previously in Chippenham in a car accident involving him, Gene Vincent and Sharon Sheeley (making the title of this single either prophetic or ghoulish). He was 21. Although a long time fan, it's interesting for me to note in hindsight that my initial exposure to all of Cochran's signature tunes came via cover versions. I first heard 'C'mon Everybody' and 'Something Else' courtesy of the Sex Pistols, 'Summertime Blues' came via The Flying Lizards and T Rex while 'Three Steps To Heaven' first came to my attention via Showaddywaddy in 1975. Interesting, or pointless trivia? Well interesting to me otherwise I wouldn't have mentioned it, but interesting in general I think as it shows the durability of the songs and scope of interpretation that can be applied to them - punky rock (Sex Pistols), hippy acoustic (T Rex) and jerky new wave (The Flying Lizards who, although managing to liposuck every drop of energy out of the song, couldn't disguise its inherent quality). And cartoon rock & roll (no prizes).
With their take on 'Three Steps', Showaddwaddy pulled the same trick they always pulled with their source material - i.e. to accentuate the obvious by stripping it down to the basic melody, marrying it to a dum dum beat then shoving it up-front where it could neither be missed or ignored. Which, to be honest, is what I thought all 'rock & roll' boiled down to when I was growing up - good time party music with the IQ of a tree stump and so it came as a surprise when I finally heard Eddie's original some years later. In relation to Showaddywaddy it contained none of my own self identified rock and roll clichés and sounded as much of a quirky cover as The Flying Lizards.
"The formula for Heaven's very simple" says Eddie, "find a girl to love....she falls in love with you....you kiss and hold her tightly" - the message of 'Three Steps' always makes me smile, especially coming as it does after the run-around Cathy has just given those Everly boys. Eddie's philosophy all looks easy enough on paper, but it's that second step that did for Cathy's clowns and the bitter taste on their tongues makes Eddie's homespun wisdom sound quaint and old fashioned in comparison and in that sense it's a song that a Guy Mitchell or Eddie Fisher would have happily picked up and run the length of the pitch with. But, just like Showaddywaddy, in their haste for a touchdown they'd have doubtless fumbled the ball by missing much of what made the song more than a simple exercise in nostalgia.
Cochran's 'Three Steps' is led by a flamenco-like acoustic riff (which Bowie would purloin for 'Queen Bitch') before falling into a stutter of a rhythm with minimal percussion that's held together by the call and response between Cochran's playful lead vocal and a streetcorner doo wop chorus who are there to just agree with whatever Eddie is saying. And what he's saying is delivered with a delightful whimsy of a vocal that suggests that Cochran himself knows he's selling snake oil but is happy to go along with it ("that sure seems like heaven to me") in the hope that he's speaking the truth.
He's probably not, and in that sense one of his 'three steps' is a step backwards. But the minima of the arrangement and avoidance of the usual clingy backbeat is two steps to the future and deserve applause, despite Showaddywaddy's attempts to drag it back to the predictable status of a museum piece. Which is something that 'Three Steps To Heaven' is most definitely not.
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