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“Rock 'n' roll is just entertainment, and the kids who like to identify their youthful high spirits with a solid beat are thus possibly avoiding other pursuits that could be harmful to them.”
-Bill Haley
Development of Rock and Roll – part 5 – 1953-1954
Playlist for part 5 linked at the bottom of this post.
It is to be applied to each song as you listen. Answer for me, if you would, “Is this song rock and roll?”
The best part of that is that we might just have different answers along the way! Now, when it comes to THIS list, part one, I doubt many, if any songs could be called “rock and roll”, but damn, a couple of them come close in here, and I want to know from YOU! The first time you hear a song in these lists that causes you to think “This one. This is rock and roll.” Let me know it! Let me know what about it that makes you feel that spirit!
For this part, rather than a long introduction and background, I think it’s best to cite some of the more important events along the way. So let’s get to it!
Song one:
Love My Baby – Little Junior’s Blue Flames – Early 1953
Junior Parker, this side or that of twenty years old, had already worked with Sonny Boy Williamson, Howlin’ Wolf, Ike Turner, Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland, B.B. King and others. That guitar by Pat Hare is a straight up rockabilly sound to my ears! Parker recycled the melody for another recording later this year called “Mystery Train”, and when Elvis covered it, Scotty Moore lifted the riffs straight from ‘Love My Baby’. Both tunes became rockabilly standards.
Song two:
Gee – The Crows – Feb 1953 (released Mar 1953)
This is straight up doo wop. Some would argue that doo wop is not rock and roll, but I have a really hard time even THINKING of early rock and roll without a number of doo wop songs. Plus, I think the early rock fans embracement of the style into the beginnings of the rock and roll umbrella is key for later groups that had strong vocal harmonies rather than just a lead singer and a band.
This song started as a bit of a slow burn, but by 1954 had reached number 1 on the R&B and number 14 on the pop charts. It was the first song of its kind to sell over a million copies, and for that reason, some experts point to this as the ‘first’ rock and roll song.
Song three:
Crazy Man, Crazy – Bill Haley and his Comets – April 1953 (released April 25, 1953)
This is Haley’s second single since changing the name to the Comets and moving steadily away from western swing. He’s still carrying his steel guitar player though. Haley recorded a lot of covers and did occasionally write a song, like the one he gave to the Esquire Boys last year. This one is an original and he’s leaning into the back beat and the new hipster lingo. And it was a hit!
This song went to number 12 on the pop chart, and number 66 on the R&B chart. He slowly percolating the right blend of country and rock with energetic delivery. He later recalled he was hearing the title and the ‘go, go, go, everybody’ as catch phrases amongst the teens when he and his band would play high school dances.
Because of its success, some credit this as the first rock and roll pop hit. While I think that’s right, it didn’t kick the doors open either. And we’ll be talking about that in part 6.
Song four:
Mess Around – Ray Charles – May 17, 1953 (released June 19, 1953)
Charles had been recording since ’49, and this was his third single with Atlantic records. It went to Number 3 on the R&B. Most folks wouldn’t classify this as rock and roll, but I don’t think R&B is quite right either. What’s more, you look at Charles’ long career and you just can’t pin him down! By the 70s he was even releasing country albums and charting on the country charts.
But what you can say is that this song, like any other rock and roll, has lineage. You can literally trace this back to the stride piano day and Pine Top Smith’s song from 1928. If you missed it, go on back to part 1! Listen to these back to back. Concept, lyrics, and tempo. Even if the groove is different. This is such an up tempo jpy tyat the drum is practically drifting from back beat to country two-beat just to keep up! We WILL be checking in on Ray Charles again before the part 5 list is done!
***Important historical interlude***
On July 18, 1953, and eighteen year old truck driver walked into Sun Studios to record an acetate for his mom’s birthday. Sam Phillips was not present but told his assistant Marion Keisker to handle the recording, note his name, and make some notes if there was anything there. As it turned out, she thought he was a pretty good singer, so while he was recording, she turned on a separate tape recorder. She noted Elvis Presley as “Good ballad singer. Hold.”
In spite of Keisker recalling that Phillips, fully aware of the stigma for white audiences buying black music, frequently said 'If I could find a white man who had the Negro sound and the Negro feel, I could make a billion dollars.', Phillips slept on the tape she made.
Song five:
Money Honey – Clyde McPhatter and the Drifters – Aug 9, 1953 (released Sept 1953)
The newly formed Drifters back up McPhatter, who recently left the Dominoes to go solo. This fusion of doo wop and R&B shot to number 1 on the R&B and eventually sold two million copies.
Song six:
Work With Me Annie – The Midnighters – Jan 14, 1954 (released Feb 1954)
This song brings the sex back to rock and roll! A fusion of vocal group with a strong back beat and pure rock guitar riffs. The double entendre lyrics caused to the song to: A) Break the color barrier, going to number 1 on the R&B charts and number 22 on the pop charts; and B) Be banned from radio by the FCC. The song sold a million copies and The Midnighters produced a couple of answer songs. “Annie Had a Baby” and “Annie’s Aunt Fannie” were also banned from radio, also hits, and also sold a million copies.
Song seven:
Shake, Rattle, and Roll – Big Joe Turner – Feb 14, 1954 (released March 1954)
This song, with what is by now a ubiquitous back beat, went to number 1 on the R&B charts. By summer, Bill Haley would cover it and take it to number 7 on the pop charts.
Haley cleaned the lyrics just a little. This is not new. This idea of white acts recording songs originally released by black artists goes back to the 20s at least, and the idea of cleaning up the lyrics a bit to make it more ‘family’ friendly had been going on for years. What strikes me odd in this case, especially on the heels of “Work With Me Annie” was that even in Haley’s ‘cleaner’ version, the line “I’m like a one-eyed cat peeping in the seafood store” stayed tye same, and no one batter an eye.
I have a hard time with any list of early rock and roll songs that doesn’t include this number. What’s more, to my taste, it HAS to be Big Joe Turner!
Song eight:
Sh-Boom – The Chords – Spring 1954
This is another ‘must include’ song from the era. It was the B-side of the single, but became much more popular. It went to number 2 on the R&B and number 9 on the pop charts.
By summer, The Crew Cuts from Canada covered this song and took it to number one. We’re going to see that a lot from here on out. “Safe” versions of R&B records being rerecorded and often becoming bigger hits. The result, though, was the original recordings often sold even more copies as a result. At any rate, I think for most people NOW who are familiar with this song, hear the original Chords version in their heads if someone starts singing a line from it.
Songs nine and ten:
(We’re Gonna) Rock Around the Clock – Sonny Dae and his Knights – March 20, 1954
(We’re Gonna) Rock Around the Clock – Bill Haley and his Comets – April 12, 1954 (released March 20, 1954)
If you go all the way back to part one to Jim Jackson’s Kansas City Blues, filter the same melody through Hank Williams’ Move It On Over from part four, and then make it rock and roll, you get this song!
Now, listening to these back to back, you can hear why the original didn’t do anything. It’s fine, but it just kind of ‘lays’ there. As it turns out though, this iconic song (released as a B-side) fell flat for Bill Haley too. At least for now.
***Important historical interlude***
In June Sam Phillips of Sun Records obtained a song called “Without You” and remembers that teen truck driver his assistant recorded. He brought Elvis Presley in to sing it, and it just wasn’t coming together. He asked Elvis to sing every song he could think of and it was enough for Phillips to think they could make a record from this somewhere.
On July 5, Phillips called in Scotty Moore and Bill Black to do a session with Elvis. After hours, until quite late, they weren’t in the groove and about to quit when Elvis started playing Arthur Crudup’s “That’s All Right” (refer to part three), the energy pick up right away, and they were all in the pocket.
Songs eleven and twelve:
That’s All Right – Elvis Presley - July 5, 1954 (released July 12, 1954)
Blue Moon of Kentucky – Elvis Presley – July 7, 1954 (released July 12, 1954)
This is the A and B sides of the same single. And I can’t think of one record that encapsulates the dawn of rock and roll better. A minimal arrangement with a strong singer, and the one song is a revamped ‘blues’ song (I say the original is rock and roll, but many would dispute that), and the other is a revamped country song. They are unified in sound and unified on the same release. That’s rock and roll.
The song got good local radio support and became a local hit. Also, it didn’t chart. Not on the pop, not on the country, and not on the r&b. It may have encapsulated rock and roll, but it was too late to birth it, and too early to make it a craze.
In an interview years later when asked what Elvis’ goal was as a musician, he responded “To sound like Arthur Crudup”.
***Another historical update***
In July, 1954, Alan Freed moves to New York City as a DJ on WINS (1010 AM). The station is the first in a large market to change over its entire programing to Rock and roll.
Song 1thirteen:
Earth Angel – The Penguins – August 1954 (released October 1954)
The Penguins collected into record producer Dootsie Williams ad hoc recording studio in Los Angeles (literally a garage of one of his relatives) where he recorded demos with his circle of musicians to hammer out new songs. With the drums stuffed with pillows to mute them and the session constantly interrupted by the barking of the neighbor’s dog, they recorded “Hey Senorita”. Oh, also, they recorded “Earth Angel” too. All on a single track recorder.
They took the rough acetate to John Dolphin’s record shop in Hollywood to feel him out if he thought the song was any good, and then they would do a fuller, cleaner recording. Dolphin also broadcast an R&B show out of the shop and played the rough cut demo that night. By morning, they were getting requests and Williams decided to leave the demo along and produce it as is with Hey Senorita on the A-side and Earth Angel as the B-side.
He rushed the single into production and by October it was a regional hit in LA. By November, it reached number one in NY. Oh, but not Hey Senorita! The requests and plays were all for Earth Angel on the B-side. It went to number one on the R&B, and even with many radio stations across the country still segregating their playlists, it went to number 8 on the pop chart. The following year, the Crew Cuts would cover this song too and bring it to number 3 on the pop charts.
For a slow doo wop ballad, these guys just might’ve invented garage rock. Home grown music in the right place at the right time. Man, that’s rock and roll.
Song fourteen:
I’ve Got a Woman – Ray Charles – Nov 18, 1954
In a departure from the blues form, following more of a “mama don’t ‘low” progression, Charles re-established to gospel vocal style back into rock! Also, Charles is considered the founder of soul music. Basically R&B infused with the heavy gospel vocal inflection in a secular setting. This is just a great tune. Rock and Roll hadn’t even been coronated yet and he can still swing it back to its roots and came back with something new!
Song fifteen:
The Wallflower – Etta James and the Peaches – Dec 1954 (released 1955)
Johny Otis and Etta James co-wrote this as an answer song to “Work With Me Henry”. They were going to title the song “Roll With Me Henry” but were trying to avoid a copywrite issue with Hank Ballard, plus “Roll with me” was still regarded as a euphemism for sex. Also, “roll with me” is a euphemism for sex.
The song was an instant hit on the R&B charts, and Etta James wasn’t yet 17 years old when she recorded it!
Georgia Gibbs recorded the ‘safe’ version with the cleaned up lyrics. And, of course, that one went to number one on the pop charts.
That wraps up this installment. We’ve covered over three decades of music and eight sold years of what I consider the first rock and roll songs. The you ger artists are stepping up and the combinations of sounds are stunning!
So if all of this was going on, and the color barriers steadily eroding, what hadn’t it hit big yet?
In part six (the final part) I’ll talk about what happened in 1955 that suddenly made rock and roll a phenomenon.
It will be a shorter song list, but there will still be a lot to talk about with these upcoming tracks!
Comments
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R+C
Two songs that I am familiar with ..
#7 - #11
I would say both are Rock N Roll
I'd say three and ten are pretty undisputable too.
Some of the doo wop numbers on this list would depend entirely on if you consider doo wop to be part of the rock and roll mélange.
How do you feel about "That's All Right" compared to the 1946 original?
by Cranky Old Witch; ; Report
That’s all right ??
Elvis Presley I think.
Definitely Rock N Roll ...
by R+C; ; Report
Lol, I meant the original from Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup. I had it at the end or part two, and in my highly unprofessional opinion, I consider that to be the first 'true' rock and roll recording. Naturally, I feel Elvis's version is just ss much rock and roll!
Crudup has the back beat, the straight rhythm, the crunchy guitar riffs, the vocal breaks, and his version has drums!
Scotty Moore's guitar work on Elvis's take is quite different, pulling in more rockabilly licks, and is also brilliant! If there is anything I'd wager the Elvis version lacks, it's drums.
by Cranky Old Witch; ; Report
Forgive me. Honestly, you are more versed in what music concerns. But, it’s always fun to experience your music knowledge. Keep it a coming ...
by R+C; ; Report
Expert I ain't, I just listen! Anyway, what 'counts' as the 'first' rock and roll recording has no right answer. So much a matter of opinion.
For me, I love the stories behind the music just as much as the music itself. What inspires a person to write a song, and about what, and how they want it to sound, and why?
What did they have available in terms of talent, instruments, recording technology, experience, etc?
How did any of this affect their writing/recording? How did it influence listeners? Who was innovative, intentionally or even accidentally?
Val, I expect there's a string of 'questions of the day' on all of that.
by Cranky Old Witch; ; Report
I am feeling a bit brain dead this morning. Possibly I will have a more inquiring mind this weekend
by R+C; ; Report
After the late night, I'm not surprised! A bit of the breaky you described should get the wrinkles in the grey matter straightened out
by Cranky Old Witch; ; Report
And so it shall be ...
Thank you ...🌺
by R+C; ; Report