In her long life, Rose Marie McCoy wrote more than 800 songs, left rural Arkansas behind, came north to New Jersey and got a chance to pass judgement on Elvis Presley before he was a star.
“We thought he was terrible, because we thought he couldn’t sing,” Ms. McCoy recalled.
But her song, written with long-time partner Charles Singleton, Trying to Get to You, ended up in the Pelvis’s Sun Sessions.
Her first hit was also Big Maybelle’s first hit, Gabbin’ Blues, with Rose Marie offering up the dozens.
She died earlier this week. I’d never heard of her until I read her obituary this morning.
There was a biography written about McCoy a couple of years ago, called Thought We Were Writing the Blues: But They Called It Rock ‘n’ Roll.
Wow. Kind of like Kim Fowley in how many folks she touched. She wrote “I think it’s Gonna Work Out Fine.” Never heard of her either, before this. Shame on us, but more shame on the media and industry for not illuminating.