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New World Records NEW WORLD RECORDS 701 Seventh Avenue, New York, New York 10036; (212) 302-0460; (212) 944-1922 fax email: [email protected] www.newworldrecords.org

Shake, Rattle & Roll: rock ’n’ roll in the New World NW 249

n his novel Slapstick Kurt Vonnegut proposed Window?,”“Shrimp Boats,” and “Come On-a My I a scheme for artificial families, whereby every House” that white audiences placed on the Hit citizen would be given a new middle name, and Parade but did not dance to. all of us having the same middle name would be At the same time, monumental changes in the relatives. Loneliness would be banished. The social relationships of whites and blacks were notion was inspired by Vonnegut's observation beginning. In 1954 the Supreme Court decided that there has long existed a limited number of that segregated schools were unconstitutional. artificial families, such as the American Medical Still, the radio airwaves were segregated, and Association, Veterans of Foreign Wars, artists, when a New York disc jockey played a record by and union members. In the middle fifties a the black balladeer ,it was considered socio-musical phenomenon called rock 'n' roll a bold step. Pop music at the time was white; created the largest artificial family in postwar anything black was considered jazz (which had American life: the family of teenagers. Within a moved into the realm of art and was no longer few years it provided an umbrella for white competing for Hit Parade status), , or kids; black kids; city kids; country kids; wealthy, . A talented black middle-class, and poor kids; lonely, impression- like Otis Blackwell could expect only modest able, rebellious, and socially aspiring kids. It success if one of his songs was recorded by a gave them symbols, anthems, solidarity, and black performer, because the white pop stations codes of dress, coiffure, and romance.Above all, would not play it. Several people realized that a it gave them a beat to dance to. white singer who could convincingly render big- This is important, because the dancing habits of beat R&B could make a lot of money. the nation—which were prolific and panracial in There was nothing new about white perform- the swing era of the thirties (see notes to New ers aping and popularizing black styles.As early World Records NW 261, Straighten Up and Fly as 1822, Charles Matthews, an English music-hall Right) - were severely altered by World War II. performer, visited America and got the idea of Blacks continued to dance to big bands and blacking himself up to perform the songs of rhythm-and-blues combos led by black bandlead- southern slaves.Thus began minstrelsy, the most ers, including Lucky Millinder, , important medium of American popular culture , Count Basie, Tiny Bradshaw, Earl in the nineteenth century. In this century we've Bostic, , , Amos Milburn, seen Paul Whiteman self-proclaimed the King of Bullmoose Jackson, and even the more conscien- Jazz for watering down black syncopations and tiously artful Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges Benny Goodman boosted as the King of Swing (the latter of whom had an R&B hit with “Castle for popularizing the music of black swing Rock”). Whites, on the other hand, had aban- bands. By the fifties a new wrinkle in minstrelsy doned the ballrooms.The white bands had folded —the “cover”—surfaced. A cover was a white and were replaced by the singers once featured version of a black song, usually one that had with them.They sang ballads and painfully trivial proved popular with a black audience. Georgia novelties like “How Much Is That Doggie in the Gibbs, for example, covered LaVern Baker's

1 “Tweedle Dee,” covered several Fats Haley's “Rock Around the Clock” as theme music. Domino and songs, cov- The movie dealt with juvenile delinquency—a ered Joe Turner's “Shake, Rattle and Roll.” Usually favorite theme of the fifties—and the music came the white version was bowdlerized and sold to be associated with rebellious youth. More impor- much better than the original. tant was the rise of from a local attrac- The first white man to campaign for R&B was tion to a national star through television. Presley neither a musician nor a producer but a Cincinnati- was explosive. He looked like the symbol of a new, based disc jockey named . Freed was white-directed music—full and leering lips, a obsessive about the music; he would frequently porcelain complexion, straight hair rolled back in a accompany records on the air by pounding the pompadour. He swaggered and shook and moaned, backbeat—the accented second and fourth beats— and his ability to elicit screams from girls and imi- on a phone book. He coined the phrase “rock 'n' tation from boys suggested a hermaphroditic force. roll” by putting together two ubiquitous blues The release of his record “Heartbreak Hotel,” a terms with sexual connotations. After he used the blues spiced with electronic echo and full of mor- phrase repeatedly on his shows,“rock 'n' roll” lost bid self-pity, made “How Much Is That Doggie in its double meaning and came to categorize a dance the Window?” sound like the product of another music that whites and blacks alike were respond- century, if not another planet. ing to. The whitening of R&B was taking place all Presley had a lovely tenor, which he manipulated over the country: in 1954 Bill Haley, the leader of a with a hefty use of vibrato (in yet another rever- western-swing band in Philadelphia, started to sing sion to the methods of pre-microphone singers), R&B numbers and recorded “Rock Around the but he was by no means the outstanding singer of Clock”; Elvis Presley, a Mississippi country boy who the period. Nor is it correct to say that he gave liked the blues, led a trio at the Sun record studio rock 'n' roll its style, for Little Richard, , for a rocking version of “That's All Right”; Buddy and were nothing if not stylists with Holly of Texas put together a “western-bop” band mature and incomparable stage personas. Presley with a drummer and a rhythm-and-blues beat. embodied the style for whites, however, which is Black performers were also crossing cultural bar- something else again. (His style, disseminated in riers. Several blues singers who had been trained in Europe, came home again in the sixties with the church—notably Billy Ward and the Dominoes, British groups like the Beatles and the Rolling , , and Little Richard—began Stones.) Presley had money behind him, and he adapting gospel inflections to secular perfor- consolidated his position in the entertainment mances. Chuck Berry of St. Louis wrote blues tunes world by receding from rock into the middle- with a country accent and innovated a percussive American enthusiasms for country and middle-of- style flavored with the steel-guitar effects of the-road ballads. . Most of the rock stars were conservative and An amalgamation of sources was being whipped professional, quite different from the hoodlum together around an uncomplicated backbeat. The images they were said to inspire. Even Elvis' scan- sources included the black church, blues, rhythm dalizing pelvic wiggle, which was censored when and blues, jazz, western swing, honky-tonk or white he appeared on the show, would have barrelhouse dance music, boogie-woogie, and Tin seemed a lot less revolutionary if it had been pre- Pan Alley pop music. In the days when pop music ceded with a clip of Al Jolson singing the last meant jazz, vaudeville-trained singers and entertain- chorus of “Toot, Toot, Tootsie” in the 1927 movie ers had been dismissed as hopelessly dated, if not The Jazz Singer. downright corny. But now jazz had become com- Rock 'n' roll changed many attitudes about music, plicated; it was no longer the simple dance music sometimes for the better, sometimes not. It opened that once gave life to Saturday-night get-togethers. the business to independent companies that had The white southerners, whose music was briefly previously been squeezed out by the major labels. called rockabilly (from “rock” and “hillbilly”), But, ironically, the most successful independents admired the older performing style as represented were taken over by the superlabels and became by Al Jolson. It was sentimental, melodic, accessi- the establishment of the sixties and seventies.The ble, compelling, and popular; it offered standards of industry unfortunately became more hit conscious showmanship, which jazz had long ago dismissed. than before. With records regularly selling in the Two things put rock 'n' roll on the map.The first millions, it suddenly seemed unprofitably altruistic was the movie “Blackboard Jungle,” which used for companies to give attention to specialized

2 musics. A rock-'n'-roll star was measured almost ence got younger and younger, and twelve-year- entirely by how high he had last risen on the hit olds will buy anything if the pitch is persuasive charts; no other music is so full of one-shot suc- enough.A music that only a few years before had cesses. The producer who engineered successful audaciously combined Kansas City swing with recording sessions became the real power, and rhythms, and New York street har- often the singer was just an arbitrarily chosen front monizing with Spanish melodies, had been blend- for selling a new song or recording concept. ed into an innocuous soup. The radio was full of Under-the-table deals over composing rights and simpering love ballads and novelty songs again, radio play were rampant. One thing rock 'n' roll until British rock, southern soul, protest-oriented can claim credit for is introducing black music and folk, and free jazz revived pop music in the mid- musicians to huge white audiences; on the other sixties. The “'n' roll” was dropped, but the family hand, the blackness of their music was often white- got bigger than ever. washed beyond recognition with teen lyrics and fruity arrangements. Gary Giddens is jazz critic for the Village Voice, New York maga- By 1960 rock 'n' roll was all but dead. It had zine, and Hifi/Stereo Buyer's Guide. He teaches at New York been taken over by the Madison Avenue pack- University's School of Continuing Education, conducts a radio pro- agers, who could find an untalented teenager like gram on WBAI, and has twice won the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award for music criticism. Fabian and build him into a neo-Presley.The audi-

T HE RECORDINGS Permissions for using recordings somely disdainful voice had were with R&B-oriented studio by Elvis Presley on RCA and Little shouted away the blues with ter- musicians in New York, Chicago, Richard on Specialty were unob- ritory jazz bands, boogie-woogie and New Orleans and with some tainable; we regret these omissions. pianists, and rhythm-and-blues of the most celebrated names in The lyrics are given as performed groups. The early trappings of jazz in New York. here, not necessarily as published. rock 'n' roll were just another Turner's biggest hit was “Shake, suit of clothes for him. Rattle and Roll,” which was cov- Side One Turner was born in 1911 in ered by Bill Haley in a heavily Band 1 Kansas City, Missouri, and bowdlerized workmanlike ver- Shake, Rattle and Roll became, with Oklahoman Jimmy sion.The song was written under (Charles E. Calhoun [Jesse Rushing, one of the two laureate a pseudonym by Stone]) vocalists of Kansas City jazz. In (born 1901), a Kansas City band- 1938 he recorded the popular leader since 1920 and the com- Joe Turner, vocal; other person- “Roll 'Em, Pete” with pianist Pete poser and lyricist of “Idaho” nel unknown. Recorded February Johnson (reissued on NW 261); (1942). The form of “Shake, Rat- 15, 1954, in New York. Originally they performed together that tle and Roll” is a twelve-bar blues issued on Atlantic 1026. year at Carnegie Hall and began with a refrain; there is a steady a five-year engagement with 4/4 rhythm, a constant piano When in 1941 Joe Turner sang, pianists Albert Ammons and lick, and simple band riffs.About “I feel like rockin' till the rooster Meade “Lux” Lewis (see NW 259, the only thing that distinguishes crows for day,/I ain't jivin', I Cuttin' the Boogie: Piano Blues the performance from one mean just what I say,” it wasn't and Boogie Woogie 1926-1941) Turner might have made in music he had on his mind. The at New York's Café Society that Kansas City fifteen years earlier world changed drastically started a craze for boogie-woo- is the ineptness of the tenor-sax between the years when gie. Turner recorded for several solo. Notice the quiver in “rockin’” and “rollin'” meant labels during the forties, usually Turner's voice during the third weekend partying in general and with rhythm-and-blues accompa- stanza and the characteristic glid- sex in particular and when they niment, but achieved little suc- er he makes of the last note. came to define a musical style cess. of Atlantic that, paradoxically, was usually Records signed him in 1951 and The lyrics to this song are available from associated with white adoles- recorded him in several con- the publisher. cents. But Turner's style changed texts; the two most important not a whit. His elemental, hand- 3 Band 2 The time Ace sings of in “The Recorded 1953 in New York. Clock” ran out early when he Originally issued on Federal The Clock lost a game of Russian roulette 12068. (David J. Mattis) on Christmas Eve 1954, back- stage after a concert in Houston. Billy Ward was a prophet of Johnny Ace, vocal and piano; The posthumously released rock 'n' roll. He was one of the the Beale Streeters, vocals: per- “” proved to be first backstage auteurs—he sonnel unknown. Recorded 1952 his biggest-selling record. handpicked the Dominoes from in Memphis. Originally issued “The Clock” was written by among his music students—and on Duke 112. (David J.) James Mattis, a a force in bringing gospel tech- Memphis disc jockey who had niques to R&B, even before Ray The sentimental ballad of unre- founded Duke Records. The per- Charles. Despite the many simi- quited love was a rock-'n'-roll sta- formance is typically very slow larities between blues and ple. Johnny Ace died in 1954, a (the whole piece is twenty-eight gospel vocal styles, it was long year before the shock waves of bars) and spare. There is a mes- considered a sacrilege to mix the R&R were felt, but a series of hit meric quality to the rhythm, two. Albert Murray points out in records that made him the most established by piano and drums Stomping the Blues: popular R&B performer of 1954 in the introduction. The horns Downhome church music (by served as prototypes for the are confined to organ chords, which is meant the conventional genre. He was born John except for the tenor saxophon- music of southern U.S. Negro Prot- estants) is not of its nature funda- Marshall Alexander, Jr., in ist, who plays a pretty obbligato during the chorus and a rather mentally less dance-beat-oriented; Memphis in 1929. In the late for- it simply inspires a different mode lachrymose four-bar solo. ties he played piano with a local of dance, a sacred or holy as band led by Adolf Duncan that opposed to a secular or profane included singer I looked at the face of the clock on the movement, a difference which is wall, sometimes a matter of very deli- (born 1930). Memphis was brim- And it doesn't tell me nothin' at all. ming with sophisticated blues That face of the clock just stares at me; cate nuance. talent in the postwar years, and a It knows I'm lonely and always will be. Ward originally rehearsed the local movement was given impe- Dominoes in a style indebted to tus by a Mississippi-born disc Refrain the Ink Spots, even using some I want to cry my heart out, of their material. jockey turned bluesman, B. B. Want my baby back to me, King (horn 1925). Ace, King, Got nothin' but time to step out, In 1950 he discovered a young Bland, and several others often But time means nothin' to me. gospel singer named Clyde worked together as the Beale If you hear me, please come back real McPhatter (1933-1972) and soon, made him lead tenor. McPhatter Streeters. 'Cause the clock and I are so lonely in In 1952 Don D. Robey (1904- this room. had a high, piercing, slightly 1975), a sharp-tempered, hus- nasal voice; he would shake tling businessman from (Repeat) notes in a way that recalled Little Houston, bought Duke Records Willie John (1937-1968) and fore- Copyright © April 9, 1953 by Lion Music shadowed Little Richard, and his and signed several Memphis Publishing Co., Inc., a Division of ABC/Dunhill musicians, including Ace. Among Music, Inc.All rights reserved. Used by permis- time was infallible. In 1952 the Ace's hits were “My Song,”“The sion. Dominoes had a huge success Clock,” and “Saving My Love for with “Sixty-Minute Man,” one of You,” songs that made him a Band 3 the first R&B hits to get a strong- black teenage heartthrob in the hold on the pop charts; Bill same years that was Have Mercy, Baby Brown sang lead. Ward followed shedding tears on the white (Billy Ward) it with “Have Mercy, Baby,” a mas- market. Ace's style owes some- terfully effusive church-inspired thing to the plaintive phrasing Billy Ward and his Dominoes: performance, built on a simple of Charles Brown (born 1920) vocals: Clyde Mcphatter, lead twelve-bar blues form and featur- and the heartier shouting of Joe tenor; James Van Loan, second ing McPhatter at his best. It was Turner, especially on a blues like tenor; Joe Lamont, baritone; and the number-one R&B hit of “Don't You Know,” but his mater- Bill Brown, bass; Billy Ward, 1953. Shortly afterward ial and delivery were his own. piano; other personnel unknown. McPhatter left the group to form 4 the Drifters, one of the finest and Lionel Hampton (born 1913) I'll take care of you male quartets in American before starting his own band. He Anyplace and anywhere. music, and had several big was one of several black band- Refrain records under his own name. He leaders who managed to ride the , shake a hand, (Repeat was replaced by another gospel- wave of R&B popularity in the twice) trained lead, Jackie Wilson. forties, when the more swing-ori- Shake a hand if you can. “Have Mercy, Baby” begins with ented bands were folding right Be truthful to me, a four-bar tenor intro, with an and left. His blues-riff recordings I'll be truthful to you; accent on the third beat of the were a training ground for both I'm in love with you so first two measures. McPhatter jazz players like Till I don't know what to do. sings four choruses, taking and and R&B singers So let's call it a day; increasing liberties as he pro- like Laurie Tate and Faye Scruggs. I've said all I had to say, gresses, and is echoed constantly In 1953 Morris switched from Except don't forget to pray, by the other singers. There are Atlantic to Herald Records, and And shake a hand every day. two well-played if unimaginative his vocalist, Faye Scruggs, choruses by a tenor saxophonist; changed her name to Adams. She (Refrain) his second chorus is augmented had a stark, take-your-time style, Copyright © 1953 by Merrimac Music by the chanting of the singers.At with an effective, maternal cry in Corp. Used by permission. the end McPhatter breaks down her voice not unlike that of her and cries, which became some- contemporaries Band 5 thing of a trademark for him. (born 1928), Big Maybelle (1926- l972), and LaVern Baker (born See You Later, Alligator Have mercy, mercy, baby, I know I done 1929). Adams' version of Morris' (Robert Guidry) you wrong. (Repeat) “Shake a Hand” was Herald's first Now my heart is full of sorrow, so take me back where I belong. successful record and was subse- Bill Haley and the Comets: Bill quently covered by Little Haley, vocal and guitar; Rudy I’ve been a good-for-nothin', I've lied and Richard, LaVern Baker, and Jackie Pompelli, tenor saxophone; John cheated too. (Repeat) Wilson. It is a remarkable song, Grande, piano; Billy Williamson, But I reaped it all, my darlin', and I don't cast in a gospel mode yet alter- know what to do. steel guitar; Francis Beecher, gui- nating religious and secular sen- tar; Al Reed, bass; Don Raymond, So have mercy, mercy, baby, please don't timents.With phrases like “I'm in drums. Recorded 1955 in New slam that door. love with you so” and “don't for- York. Originally issued on Ha-ha-ha-have mercy, mercy, baby, please get to pray, the lyric is open to don't slam that door. Decca 9-29791. 'Cause I know if you refuse me, I'll never interpretation. Adams' earthy be the same no more. reading is flawless, and she's Bill Haley was a pivotal if abetted by a deaconlike male unwitting figure in the growth of (Repeat first chorus) voice on the refrain.The arrange- rock 'n' roll. Born in 1925 in ment is simple, relying chiefly on Michigan, he grew up in Chester, Copyright © 1952 (unpublished) and © 1965 by Billy Ward Music co. All rights a saxophone bottom and piano Pennsylvania, where he led a reserved. Used by permission. obbligato. The a-cappella open- series of western-swing and hill- ing of each stanza adds tension. billy bands. He credits Hank Band 4 Adams had two later hits for Williams (1923-1953) and Joe Herald—“I'll Be True” and “Hurts Turner as direct influences and Shake a Hand Me to My Heart”—but she was has pointed out that Williams ( Joe Morris ) unable to make the crossover started him listening to race from R&B to R&R. In the sixties records and Dixieland jazz. Black Faye Adams, vocal; Joe Morris she recorded for Warwicke and music appealed to him, and his and His Orchestra: personnel Prestige. country-and-western band start- unknown. Recorded 1953 in ed performing R&B material on a New York. Originally issued on Just leave it to me, Don't ever he ashamed; local radio station. Haley landed Herald 416. Just give me a chance, a recording contract with Essex, Joe Morris (1922-l958) was a I'll take care of everything. changed the name of his group trumpeter who had worked with from the Saddlemen to the (born 1914) Your troubles I'll share, Comets, and exchanged his cow- Let me know and I'll be there; 5 boy boots and sideburns for a Don't you know you cramp my style.” but which he celebrated with tuxedo and a spit curl. knowing empathy and benign When I thought of what she told me, Sam Phillips is frequently cred- nearly made me lose my head, wit. He was an inspired band- ited as the first producer to seek (Repeat) leader who could turn a rhythm a white boy who could sing But the next time that I saw her, remind- section into a rocking monolith, black R&B, but Milt Gabler of ed her of what she said. and the most influential guitarist Decca had the same idea. Decca (Refrain) of rock's first decade. He had an had been recording the highly She said,“I'm sorry, pretty daddy, you original vocal style—articulate, popular Louis Jordan (1908- know my love is just for you. shorn of melismatic blues con- 1975) for more than a decade (Repeat) ventions, and entirely appropri- when Gabler got the chance to Won't you say that you'll forgive me, and ate to his material: no one sings say your love for me is true?” sign Haley as a white counter- or plays a Chuck Berry song as part. Haley recorded “Rock I said,“Uh-wait a minute, 'gator, I know well as Chuck Berry. Around the Clock” at his first ses- you mean it just for play. In those days of cross-cultural sion for Decca. It did less well Don't you know you really hurt me, and musical borrowings—between than his cover of “Shake, Rattle this is what I have to say: blues and country, blues and (Refrain) and Roll.” Then the movie gospel, gospel and country, coun- Blackboard Jungle came out, “See ya later, alligator, after while, croco- try and pop, pop and blues— with “Clock” dubbed over the dile. Berry was sometimes thought to credits; the song was identified So long, that's all, goodbye.” be white, just as Presley was with teenage rebellion and occasionally thought to be black. Copyright © 1955 by Arc Music Corp. Used became the first international by permission. Berry wrote songs that any rock-'n'-roll hit. It has sold almost teenager caught in the throes of twenty-three million copies. Band 6 rock fandom could identify with The Comets had a raucous, (“Sweet Little Sixteen”), sur- jumping dance-beat style but Maybellene veyed the country with a gener- were in no way outstanding. Rudy (Chuck Berry, Russ Fratto, and ous ear for its rhythms and Pompelli, the band's musical Alan Freed) names (“All Aboard,”“Back in the director, played honking tenor, Chuck Berry, vocal and guitar; U.S.A.”), and dismissed high-art and Haley's articulate shouting Johnny Johnson, piano; Willie orthodoxies with unperturbed had a brusque, defiant quality Dixon, bass; Jasper Thomas, high spirits (“Roll Over, quite contrary to his conservative drums; Jerome Green, maracas. Beethoven”). He was a bluesman personality. Haley was simply at Recorded 1955 in Chicago. who had grown up with the the right place at the right time; Originally issued on Chess country music of the South but he trimmed the blues of eroti- 1604. caine to admire the smooth stars cism, complications, and esoteric of pop-jazz. In this he was not black metaphor, popularizing If there was genius at the cen- unique—the same brew of influ- instead the pop jive lingo of the ter of rock 'n' roll, it radiated ences operated in the music of day, as in “Crazy, Man, Crazy” or from the remarkable Charles the Beale Streeters, especially B. “See You Later, Alligator,” the lat- Edward Berry (born 1931 in St. B. King. What Berry did with ter his second-biggest hit. By the Louis). Of the best R&R song- them was unique. late fifties he had fallen out of writers—Berry, Jerry Leiber and He joined (born favor, though he managed to Mike Stoller, Otis Blackwell, Fats 1915) briefly in 1955 and at retain a following in Europe. His Domino and Waters' suggestion auditioned for recordings have greater sociologi- —Berry wrote the largest num- Chess Records in Chicago. cal than musical interest. ber of memorable and genuinely “Maybellene” (originally called diverse songs; moreover, he inno- “Ida Red”), made at the first ses- Well, I saw my baby walkin' with anoth- sion, was given a countryish feel- er man today. (Repeat) vated variations and stylings on When I asked her what's the matter, this the twelve-bar blues framework, ing over Berry's halfhearted is what I heard her say: of which the variously spelled opposition. Two disc jockeys “Maybellene” is a good example. wrangled composer credits in Refrain He was the music's one great exchange for playing the record. It “See ya later, alligator, after while, croco- sold over a million copies, despite dile. (Repeat) lyricist, a versifier for a genera- Cain't you see you're in my way now, tion ten years removed from him limited play on white country sta- 6 tions. Berry has said,“It's obvious (Refrain) when was that Presley’s road was free and looking for a singer in the style The Cadillac pulled up to a hundred and mine had to be paved.” It's certain- four, of . He wrote ly true that his records never The Ford got hot and wouldn't do no “Clawdy,”and it was produced by received promotion equal to their more. Dave Bartholomew, with Domino influence on such subsequent It then got cloudy and started to rain, on piano. Price made several pop stars as the Beatles, the Beach I tooted my horn for a passin' lane. other records for Specialty, The rainwater blowin' all under my Boys, , and the Rolling hood, including “Mailman Blues,” his Stones. In 1962 Berry was convict- I know that was doin' my motor good. response to getting drafted.After ed on a probably trumped-up (Refrain twice) being released from the army in Mann Act charge and served two 1956, he recorded the ballad The motor cooled down, the heat went years in jail. His career has blos- down, “Just Because,” which has some somed intermittently since then, And that's when I heard that highway of the Creole feeling of his early but less as a composer than as an sound, work, and sold the demo to ABC. ageless performer of his already The Cadillac settin' like a ton of lead, In 1959 he had the number-one . These include A hundred and ten half a mile ahead. record with “Stagger Lee.” In Cadillac look like it's settin' still, “School Days,”“Too Much Monkey And I caught Maybellene at the top of addition to recording new mater- Business,”“Memphis,”“Johnny B. the hill. ial, usually saturated with vocal Goode,”“Go, Go, Go,”“Nadine,” (Refrain) choirs and the like, he made new “ Music,”“Brown- versions of his earlier hits. The Eyed Handsome Man,”“Thirty Copyright © 1955 by Arc Music Corp. Used “Mailman Blues” here is the by permission. Days,”“Wee Wee Hours,” and “The remake and is far more exciting Man with the Donkey,”an odd har- Band 7 than the original. binger of reggae. The first eight bars of the intro “Maybellene,” a hot-rod-and-sex Mailman Blues use a Charlie Parker lick from opus in the tradition of Hank “Now's the Time” that subse- () Williams' “Hey, Good Lookin',” is quently because an R&B stan- played with a heady accent on dard, ''.'' Lloyd Price, vocal; other per- the backbeats, underscored by Otherwise the performance fol- sonnel unknown. Recorded 1958 the constant alternating of aug- lows the routine of the Specialty in New York. Reissued on ABC mented chords. The rural flavor version—even the tenor-sax solo AC-30006. of the piece is complemented by is the same. But Price is far more Berry's accent—the slightly vigorous, and the hooting riffs Lloyd Price (born 1933) was a Creole inflections and the long from the band help pilot this natural shouter, his declamatory “a” in “can'tcha.” Essentially slightly Kafkaesque 1-A blues. voice ululating with the craggy “Maybellene”is a blues, but with a cry of a tenor sax. Given an envi- difference.The refrain is in typical Well, the night before last the mailman ronment in which his un- knocked at my door. (Repeat) AAB form, but the verses, though cluttered and convincing phras- He said,“Get ready, brother, this time still confined to the twelve-bar ing could have matured by its you got to go. frame, are chanted without sub- own logic, he might have dominant and dominant modula- O mailman, mailman, tell me whatcha become a kind of rumba-tinged tions. Berry plays two characteris- got for me. (Repeat) New Orleans counterpart to Joe He said,“A long letter, brother, we need tic choruses on guitar. Turner. Instead he crossed over you across the sea.” to the white teen market with Refrain Well, all day long it's a one, two, three, Maybellene, why can'tcha be true? songs like “Personality” and “I'm and four. (Repeat) Oh, Maybellene, why can'tcha be true? Gonna Get Married.” He achieved You know I'll so unhappy I can't see You done started doin' the things you great success, but the New m’baby no more. used to do. Orleans qualities were rinsed out No great big city, just a little old raggedy As I was motivatin' over the hill, of his music. This is ironic, town. (Repeat) I saw Maybellene in a coupe de ville, because his two biggest success- Well, this army boogie, I believe I'll put A Cadillac a-rollin' on the open road. es—“Lawdy, Miss Clawdy” and it down. Nothin' outrun my V-eight Ford. “Stagger Lee”—were among his ©Copyright 1952 by Venice Music, Inc., The Cadillac doin' 'bout ninety-five, Hollywood, CA, 90069. All rights reserved. She's bumper to bumper, rollin' side by most authentic records. Printed with permission of Venice Music, Inc. side. Price was discovered in l95, 7 Band 8 played a large part in his success. Together they turned out dozens I can't sleep day or night, 'Cause I know you're not doin' me right. I Can't Go On of variations on the blues, modi- Please come back, try to stay, (Fats Domino and Dave fying the Domino style only Can't go on this a-way. Bartholomew) slightly to accomodate the com- Rosalie, come back to me, ing of rock 'n' roll. Domino's laid- I'm reelin' and I'm rockin' like a willow back moaning style and velvet tree. Fats Domino, vocal and piano; (Repeat first and second stanzas) Clarence Ford, alto saxophone; voice could seemingly adapt any and Herb Hardesty, tenor song, and he recorded such ©1955 Unart Music Corporation. All rights saxophones; Ernest McLean, gui- unlikely material as “Easter reserved. Used by permission. tar; , bass; Cornelius Parade” and “Blueberry Hill,” the Coleman, drums. Recorded 1955 latter of which became his Band 9 in New Orleans.Originally issued biggest record. His many origi- on Imperial 5369. nals include “Let the Four Winds Every Hour Blow,”“I'm Walkin',”“My Girl (Richard Penniman) New Orleans, long thought of Josephine,”“Goin' Home,”“Ain't It as the birthplace of jazz, was a Shame,”“I'm Gonna Be a Wheel Little Richard, vocal; Willie again in the country's musical Someday,”“The Big Beat,” and Mays, trumpet; A.Dobbins, alto consciousness in the forties. “Walking to New Orleans,” which saxophone; Fred Jackson, tenor Bunk Johnson (1879-1949), a made effective use of strings. His saxophone; J. Hudson, baritone much mythologized cornetist, lyrics are simple, colloquial, and saxophone; Julius Wimby, piano; had been rediscovered, given a direct, and the consistency of his Charles Holloway, bass; Donald new set of teeth and a horn, and output is astonishing. Clark, drums. Recorded 1951 in made the focal point of a “New “I Can't Go On” was not a hit Atlanta. Originally issued on Orleans revival.” The revivalists' and is included partly for that Victor 20/50-5025. motives were not altogether reason—to show how consistent altruistic—they were represent- the Imperial recordings were. Little Richard (born Richard ing Johnson as a symbol of the The rhythm is typical of Domino Penniman in 1932), of Macon, real jazz as opposed to the spuri- but unusual in that the accents Georgia, was the most exhilarat- ous modernism of bop and even are on the first and third beats of ing, explosive, unpredictable per- swing. In retrospect we can see the measure, as they would be in former in rock 'a' roll. If Elvis that even if jazz had long since a march.The form is basically the Presley (1935-1977) stylized R&B calcified in New Orleans, a new blues, but there is a middle sec- for whites, Richard embodied its music was being born: a lyric, tion—”I can't sleep day or night” raw viscera. Leaping around buoyant kind of rhythm and —built on one chord, not unlike stage in a loose-fitting suit, sport- blues built on piano-stomping the verses in “Maybellene.” Also, ing a six-inch pompadour and a triplets, Creole melodies, Spanish though the rest of the vocal con- pencil-thin mustache, he prof- rhythms, and low-keyed blues sists of twelve-bar blues chorus- fered a seeming chaos that was wailing. (Roy es, the melodic tenor-sax solo effective precisely because it Byrd, born 1919) popularized consists of two sixteen-bar blues was so totally and brilliantly con- the style locally, but Antoine choruses. Domino's free-spirited trolled. And if Presley achieved “Fats” Domino (born 1928) took approach to rhythm is shown by the rockabilly synthesis with it around the world. the varying number of beats “That's All Right,” Richard's “A Between 1949 and 1962 between each chorus—he wop bop alu bop, a lop bom Domino recorded more than two comes in when he likes, and the boom,” chanted at the outset of hundred sides for Imperial (the rhythm section is always there to his 1955 Specialty debut, “Tutti first was the million-selling “Fat accommodate him. Frutti,” most vitally proclaimed a Man”), of which nearly a third new musical sensibility, much as made the record charts. He Rosalie, come back to me, (Repeat) Louis Armstrong's “West End I'll reelin' and I'm rockin' like a willow Blues” cadenza is said to have remains the best-selling interna- tree. tional record artist, after Presley heralded the arrival of jazz. and the Beatles. Dave Rosalie, come back home, Richard is arguably rock 'n' roll's Bartholomew, his trumpeter, Rosalie-he, come back home, greatest interpreter, and his mer- music director, and collaborator, I might as well confess, I'm blue and all curial phrasing even influenced alone. 8 members of the jazz avant-garde had not yet found his own style, been a staple in popular music in the sixties. and his borrowings from Roy since the thirties, when the Ink Richard's best records were Brown (born 1925) and Wynonie Spots and made for Specialty between Harris (1915-1969) are obvious. became international successes. 1955 and 1958 and fall into two (It's significant that the Specialty The Mills Brothers were groups, the punishing R&R recordings were made in New renowned for their close harmo- shouters like “Slippin' and Orleans with some of the finest nization (the Boswell Sisters pro- Slidin,” “Jenny Jenny,” “Good session men in that city.) “Every vided a white female counter- Golly, Miss Molly,” and “Long Tall Hour,” however, shows that the part) and their imitations of Sally” and the insinuating ballads Little Richard style was forming instruments; the Ink Spots' trade- like “Lonesome and Blue,” even in the beginning. His float- mark was a high tenor lead and a “Directly from My Heart,” ing use of melisma is readily somber talking bass.Though they “Wonderin',” and “I'm Just a apparent, as is the cutting timbre were essentially “sweet” groups, Lonely Guy.” These weren't of his later work. The song is a they combined influences from released until after Richard gave twelve-bar blues with insub- gospel, vaudeville, and jazz. By up rock 'n' roll for gospel in stantial band riffs and a piano the early fifties there were hun- 1958 (the fine Mercury album accompaniment that barely goes dreds—some say thousands—of It’s Real was a notable result of beyond tremelos. It makes an urban street-corner vocal groups his conversion), at which time it interesting comparison with his specializing in tricky harmonies became clear that his producers mature blues of 1957, “All Night and rhythmic scat syllables (the were augmenting his sessions Long.” do-wop sound) that replaced with voices to make the records instrumental accompaniment. more accessible to the white Every hour, every hour in the day, They became known as bird market. It didn't much matter; if (Repeat) groups because several of them Well, you know I miss you, baby, ever anything, the voices seemed to since you went away. used bird names, like the Orioles spur him on to ever more fanci- (see NW 261). ful flights of melisma. One exam- Well, I'm cryin' have mercy, please have The Dominoes (Side One, Band ple is “Shake a Hand” (Side One, mercy on me. (Repeat) 3) are an example of a group Band 4), which in some respects Well, you know I love you, baby, can't using its gospel training to enliv- you see what you're doin' to me? is his masterpiece.All his expres- Well, I love you, pretty baby, and I loved en rhythm and blues. The sive techniques are primed for you from the start. (Repeat) Silhouettes, originally from Phila- its medium uptempo, and the Well, you took all my money, and you delphia, took the do-wop style to force he gives to the word “be” 'wanna break my heart. a giddy—but not frivolous— after a lugubrious tenor-sax solo Well, come back, baby, baby, please don't extreme. For while the lead is breathtaking. In the sixties leave me alone. (Repeat) vocalist seems unintelligible at Specialty released a compilation Well, I'm just a friendless boy, and I first hearing, he's singing about (Well Alright!) that substituted haven't got no home. the unexpectedly relevant prob- alternate takes for the originals lems of joblessness and his wife's Copyright © 1951 Richard Penniman. All (without always pointing this rights Reseved. relentless nagging. “Get a Job” out). Though the alternates are was the number-one record early inferior, they do show the extent Side Two Band 1 in 1958, but the Silhouettes to which Richard improvised in never repeated their success.The the studio (compare his two ver- Get a Job record was distributed by Al sions of “Kansas City”). The (The Silhouettes) Silver's Herald/Ember company, “Shake a Hand” alternate was which in 1956 had recorded the made with a band arrangement The Silhouettes, vocals: Earl best-known do-wop ballad, the instead of the “shat 'n dat wo ho” Beal, Raymond Edwards, Billy Five Satins' “In the Still of the vocal accompaniment of the Horton, and Richard Lewis; ac- Night.” original. companiment unknown. Rec- The form of “Get a Job” is var- Because the Specialty cata- orded 1957 in Philadelphia. ied in an odd way: the “sha da da logue was not available to us, Originally issued on Ember da” refrain is a twelve-bar blues, we've chosen a cut from 1029. as is the fairly decent tenor-sax Richard's first session, made for solo; the first verse is eight bars, RCA when he was eighteen. He The black male vocal group has and the second verse is divided 9 into two parts—a nine-and-a-half- and : times that it seemed the record measure melody followed by a Buddy Holly, vocal and guitar; was speeded up. And he made six-measure voice-and-drums , guitar; Larry hiccupping part of his style, break (which prefigures Bobby Welborn, bass; , something a New Orleans R&B Bland's 1961 blues, “Turn On drums. Recorded 1957 in New performer, Tommy Ridgley, had Your Love Light”). There has Mexico. Originally issued on introduced with his 1953 been much discussion over Brunswick 55009. “Looped.” Holly was not a consis- whether the main scat figure is tent performer—he sometimes “sha da da da” or “sha na na na”: Buddy Holly was born Charles rushed the tempo—but his best actually, the singers use both, Hardin Holley in Lubbock,Texas, records are beguiling. These sometimes simultaneously. in 1936, and in a tragically brief include “,”“Peggy Sue career—he was killed in a plane Got Married,”“You're So Square,” Yip yip yip yip crash at the age of twenty-two— “Oh Boy,”“Tell Me How” (which Yip yip yeah exerted considerable influence reflects the influence of the Refrain on pop music. As a teenager he Mexican music he heard as a Sha da da da formed a “western-bop” band kid), and his first record, “That'll Sha da da da da (ba-dum) and worked largely within the Be the Day.”The last is based on (Repeat twice) country idiom. It was as the an eight-bar blues form (though Sha da da da Sha da da da da opening act for a Bill Haley con- the cliché-ridden guitar solo is Ah, yip yip yip yip cert that he was heard by a twelve bars) and builds with tan- Yip yip yip yip- Decca representative and talizing tension, thanks to the Mum mum mum mum mum mum, encouraged to make some breathless repetition of the Get a job. Sha da da da demonstration records in refrain and Holly's expert phras- Sha da da da da. Nashville.They were not success- ing. He concludes with a modest ful, but a year later he and drum- rhythmic twist by placing the Every mornin' about this time, mer Jerry Allison and producer “hoo hoo” on the third and She gets me out of my bed, wrote “That'll Be fourth beats. A-cryin',“Get a job.” After breakfast every day, the Day,” which was released by Refrain She throws the want ads right my way Brunswick and became a big hit Well, that'll be the day, when you say And never fails to say, for the Crickets. It was followed goodbye. “Get a job.” by “Oh Boy,”“Not Fade Away,” and Yes, that'll be the day when you make (Refrain) “Peggy Sue,” which was issued me cry-hy. You say you're gonna leave, you know Woah, Lord, and when I get the paper under Holly's name (“It's the it's a lie, I read it through and through, same group, but it's out under 'Cause that'll be the day-ay-ay when I die. And my girl never fails to see my name,” Holly said. “I don't If there is any work for me. know why they did it that way”). Well, you give me all your lovin' And when I go back to the house, And your t-urtle dovin', Hear the woman's mouth Several months later Holly broke A-all your hugs and kisses, and your Preachin' and a-cryin', up with the Crickets and moved money too. Tells me that I'm lyin' to New York. At the time of his We-hell, you know you love me, baby, About a job that I never could find. death his popularity seemed to Sti-hill you tell me, maybe, (Refrain) be waning, but his musical self- That some day, well, I'll be blue. (Refrain) Uh oh, ba-dum assurance was growing. Sha da da da Holly was unusual among the Well, when Cupid shot his dart, Sha da da da da southern white rock stars who He shot it at your heart. (Repeat) combined rhythm and blues So if we ever part, then I'll leave you. Uh oh. with country and western in that You sit and hold me, he wrote much of his best ma- And you tell me boldly Copyright ©1957 Dandelion Music Co. and That someday, well, I'll be blue. Wildcat Music, Inc.All rights reserved. International terial and used aggressively per- (Refrain) copyright secured.Used by permission. cussive rhythm. But his chief contribution was the way he Well, that'll be the day, hoo hoo, Band 2 used his voice. He could sound That'll be the day, hoo hoo, adolescent one moment and That'll be the day, hoo hoo, That'll Be the Day That'll be the day. strangely mature the next; his (Jerry Allison, Norman Petty, voice quivered so rapidly at © Copyright 1957 by MPL Communi- and Buddy Holly) cations, Inc. Used by permission. 10 Band 3 and, above all, a masterful vocal ball. technique. None of the other When you rockin' and you rollin', you can' hear your ma-ma-mama call. Good Golly Miss Molly rockabilly singers was as versa- Yeah. (Robert A. Blackwell and John tile or sure in handling R&B Marascalco) numbers; Lewis had an excellent Woah, good golly, Miss Molly, you sure sense of time and the elusive do like to ball, quality of authenticity. His first Yeah, good golly, Miss Molly, mama, you , vocal and sure do like to throw a ball. piano; other personnel unknown. big record was “Whole Lotta When you rockin' and you rollin', you Recorded 1962 in Memphis. Shakin' Goin' On,” an immense can't hear your mama call. Originally issued on Sun 485. hit in 1957; he was accompanied only by his piano, a drummer, Well now, mama, papa told me,“Son, now don't you buy that diamond The rockabilly style—an amal- and a technical trick known as ring gamation of honky-tonk, country, flutter echo. He followed it with Because that huggin' and a-kissin' makes blues, gospel, and boogie-woogie two rather gimmicky but equally you tinga-ling-a-ling.” jackhammered by white south- popular songs by Otis Blackwell Good golly, Miss Molly, ooooh, you sure (born 1931),“” like to ball. ern performers—was largely the When you rockin' and a-rollin', you can't creation of Sun Records, operat- and “Breathless.” Lewis' career hear your mama call. ed by Sam Phillips.The company came to an abrupt halt in 1958 had been recording traditional when it was learned that he had Woah, good golly, Miss Molly, married his thirteen-year-old Good golly, Miss Molly, (Repeat 3 times) blues performers until 1954, Oh, honey, you sure like to ball. Ho! when nineteen-year-old Elvis cousin. He made a comeback of Presley came in and stomped out sorts in the early sixties with © 1957, 1964 Argosy Venture. All rights an electrifying version of “That's often imaginative versions of reserved. Used by permission. All Right,” a blues by the black rock hits but achieved a real singer-guitarist Arthur Crudup commercial breakthrough only Band 4 (1905-1973). Each Presley record after committing himself to a that followed had a rhythm num- country repertoire. (Tyran Carlo and Barry Gordy, Jr.) ber on one side and a country Lewis was a gifted bluesman; ballad on the other. Phillips had his phrasing was loose and sav- Jackie Wilson, vocal; Dick been looking for a white per- age in a way that Presley and the Jacobs, arranger; probably former who could sing black, other white rockers rarely , drums; other and once he found the combina- achieved. “Good Golly Miss personnel unknown. Recorded tion he encouraged others to Molly” is taken at a fast tempo 1957 in New York. Originally record in a similar style. Sun also with a whiplash backbeat, like a issued on Brunswick 55024. recorded , Roy train rhythm. There is a time Orbison, Johnny Cash, and Jerry suspension at the outset of the Between 1957 and 1961 Jackie Lee Lewis, the most musically second chorus, where he plays a Wilson was one of the finest accomplished of them all. chord only on the first beat of entertainers in the country. Lewis was born in Louisiana in the first three measures. His Always impeccably coiffed and 1935 and started playing locally voice and piano are in perfect dressed (he seemed never to in his early teens. He once listed accord with the fine drumming, wear the same tuxedo twice), he his favorite perfomers as: 1) Al and he almost always varies the was a consummate performer— Jolson, 2) Jimmie Rodgers, 3) refrain. tearing off his tie, twirling his , and 4) Jerry Lee jacket overhead, strutting on his Lewis. His admiration for Jolson Good golly, Miss Molly, you sure like to knees, leaping into the air and ball (ooooh), descending for a perfect split. underscores his obsession with Good golly, Miss Molly, honey, you sure being the kind of entertainer like to ball. And the range of his voice, with who could keep an audience Uh-when you rockin' and you rollin', its histrionic cry and its high enthralled.This he did with wild you can't hear your mama call. notes like trumpet blasts, is stage antics that mimicked Little unmatched in rock 'n' roll. In a Now from the early early mornin' to the sense,Wilson was an atavism; at a Richard, a percussive ersatz boo- early early night, gie piano style, a studied arro- You can hear Miss Molly comin', and time when rock performers like gance that defied the audience she's runnin' for her life. Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis to find him less than compelling, Good golly, Miss Molly, you sure like to cultivated the maniacal, Wilson's 11 vocal trickery was traceable section, and the sheer number of (Refrain) directly to early-twentieth-centu- people involved—all, let us R-r-r-r-reet Petite, ry performers like Al Jolson, to remember in this day of over- The finest girl ya ever wanna meet. whom he paid homage with an dubbing, in the studio at the (Repeat) early album (You Ain't Heard same time—make his perfor- Nothin' Yet), and John Charles mance a tour de force; he Copyright © 1957 Tyran Carlo and Barry Thomas. Like Clyde McPhatter, tongues the “r” in reet,” articu- Gordy, Jr. All rights reserved. whom he replaced as lead singer lates every word, groans at the with the Dominoes,Wilson had a right places, stutters, and closes Band 5 gospel background; but unlike with a falsetto flourish.The title, McPhatter or any other contem- incidentally, comes from an all- I Met Him on a Sunday porary, he trilled consonants, per- black 1947 movie starring Louis ( The Shirelles ) fected large vocal leaps, sang trite Jordan (see NW 261) called Reet, ballads as though they were Petite and Gone. The Shirelles, vocals: Shirley operatic arias, and turned rocking Alston, Beverly Lee,Addie Harris, chants—of a type that came to Well, look about, look about, look about, and Doris Kenner; Budd Johnson, look about, oooooweeee, be associated with him (like “Talk tenor saxophone; unknown Look about, look about, look about, look rhythm section. Recorded 1958 That Talk,”“Am I the Man?”“I'll Be about, oooooweeee, Satisfied,” and “That's Why”)— Ooh ah ooh ah ooooowee. in New York. Originally issued into lavish production numbers on Decca 25506. with voices, piccolos, organ, Well, she's so fine, fine, fine, She's so fine, f-f-fine, There were some fine female strings, and timpani. She's so fi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yine, Wilson was born in 1934 in She's so fine, fine, fine, she's really sweet, solo singers in the years when Detroit, where he auditioned for The finest girl ya ever wanna meet. rhythm and blues was being the Dominoes. He achieved his honky-tonked into rock 'n' roll, Refrain first success as a solo act with but the biggest impact made by Oh oh oh oh, women at that time was in all- the 1957 “Reet Petite” and was at Uh-oh oh oh oh, the peak of his popularity in R-r-r-r-reet Petite, girl groups.The first of these was 1961, when he was shot in the The finest girl ya ever wanna meet. the Chantels, but the most stomach while aborting a famous and prolific was the Well, have you ever seen a girl for whom Shirelles, who had a dozen woman's suicide attempt. His your soul you'd give, voice was never the same, For whom you'd fight for, die for, pray to records in the Top 40. They although there were a couple of God you live? began singing in high school in subsequent hits. While most of Cause she's so fine, she's so fine, she's New Jersey. A friend made them really sweet, audition for her mother, Florence his recordings from the late The finest girl ya ever wanna meet. fifties were overarranged, Wilson Greenberg, the founder of frequently transcended the mate- Well, she really fills the clothes from her Scepter Records, who recorded rial with the hypnotic energy of head to toe. their “I Met Him on a Sunday.” his singing. (He was almost I want the world to know I love her, The disc was sold to Decca to love her so. get better exposure, and it took always aided in this regard by She's all right, she's all right, she's all superior rhythm sections.) right, off.The girls returned to Scepter, Similarly, his emotional wallop She loves me both a-day and night. where they made such romantic, and incredible range could turn (Refrain) occasionally sentimental classics Well, she's like honey from a bee, like pap ballads like “To Be Loved” as “Tonight's the Night,” peaches from a tree. “Dedicated to the One I Love,” into effective vehicles. I love her, need her, she means so much “Reet Petite” is Wilson at his to me. “Will You Love Me Tomorrow? best, in a typically large setting, She's all right, she's got what it takes, “Boys,” and a bathetic but curi- with a choir, an orchestra (the She's got what it takes, and with me she ously effective waltz,“Tonight at really rates. trombone section is conspicu- the Prom.” ous), and complicated material. Well now, she's my cutie, my tutti-frutti, The group was also capable of a The piece is a twelve-bar blues My heart, my love, my bathin' beauty. tough, rhythmic sound, despite with an eight-bar refrain, but the She's all right, she's got just what it lead singer Shirley Alston's seem- takes, difficult lyrics, taken at a ingly willful off-key singing. Their She's got what it takes, and with me she more declamatory performances demanding tempo, a stop-time a-really rates. 12 influenced several later develop- Band 6 compositions. Many of his records ments, including the dense “wall- suffered from overripe arrange- of-sound” approach of Phil At My Front Door ments, white-sounding choirs, and Spector (born 1940), who pro- (John C. Moore and Ewart G. corny instrumental touches but duced the Crystals, the Ronettes, Abner, Jr.) usually had superior honking and the riffing, high-decibel U. S. tenor-sax solos, good rhythm sec- Bonds. Dee Clark, vocal; other person- tions, and full band riffs. Clark's The engaging refrain in “I Met nel unknown. Recorded 1960 in own songs include “Just like a Him on a Sunday”—“do ronde” Chicago. Originally issued on Fool,” “Little Red Riding Hood,” —is appropriate to the “La Abner LP-2002. “Your Friends Gloria,”“When I Ronde”-type lyric. (Vindictive Call on You,” and “Raindrop’s At rejection is a sentiment we Clyde McPhatter's success My Front Door” is a twelve-bar already encountered in “See You paved the way for several high- blues arranged for full orchestra, Later, Alligator,” Side One, Band voiced male singers, including with a rhythm that combines jazz 5.) The form is highly unortho- Bobby Day (“Rockin' Robin”), and rock.There is a fulsome vocal dox: the refrain is eight measures Marv Johnson (“You've Got What choir and simplistic touch at the the first time we hear it but is It Takes”), and Jimmy Jones end of the riffing out-chorus but stretched out to twelve measures (“Handy Man”).The most original Clark's phrasing, his use of melis- the second time by the repeated was Delectus Clark (born 1938), ma and falsetto, and the call-and- instrumental riff. The one-chord whose family moved from response episode between him chanting section, which lists the Blytheville, Arkansas, to Chicago and the choir are effective. week's events, consists of two- when he was a child. At the age measure vocal lines followed by of fourteen, he was singing with Knock knock, knock knock, (Repeat) Knock. three-measure instrumental the Hambone Kids on an R&B responses. In 1959 the Shirelles hit, “Hambone,” by veteran Crazy little mama comes a-knockin', used a similar structure for the Chicago drummer Red Saunders. knockin' at my front door. propulsive “Doin' the Rondie,” in Clark signed with a subsidiary of Crazy little mama comes a-knockin', which they celebrate a Jamaican Vee Jay in 1955, at which time he knockin' at my front door. dance of their own invention. Crazy little mama come a-knock-knock- fluctuated between sounding like knockin', Just like she did before. McPhatter and Little Richard. Met him on a Sunday (Repeat twice) When Richard switched to Verse gospel, Clark took over his band If you got a little mama and you want to Refrain keep her neat, Do ronde ronde ronde, papa, (Repeat and had a minor success in the Keep your mama off my street. twice) Little Richard mode with Same thing'll happen like it did before, Do ooh ooh ooh ooh. “Kangaroo Hop.” In 1958 he She'll come a-knock-knock-knockin' at recorded the first of several orig- my door. And I missed him on Monday, inals, “Nobody but You,” and Crazy little mama come a knock- And I phoned him on Tuesday, knockin', And I dated him on Wednesday, revealed a singing and songwrit- Just like she did before. And I kissed him on Thursday, ing style of his own. He followed (Repeat) And he didn't come Friday, it with two Otis Blackwell songs, But he showed up Saturday. “Just Keep It Up” and the rollick- Ooooh, she come a-knockin' (Repeat) I said,“Bye bye, baby.” That crazy little mama, she comes back ing “Hey, Little Girl.” knockin', (Refrain) Dee Clark's records were hand- Knockin' at my front door. Do ronde ronde ronde ronde, papa, somely but excessively produced (Repeat twice) by Calvin Carter of Vee Jay. They Copyright © 1955 by Conrad Music. Used by Do ooh ooh ooh ooh. reflect the Chicago sound in their permission. (Repeat from“And I kissed him on swing rhythms and jazz-styled Band 7 Thursday.”) orchestrations. Few singers of the period were as versatile as Clark; I'm Movin' On TRO—© Copyright 1958 Ludlow Music, his second album, for example, Inc., New York, N.Y. Used by Permission. included pop hits, blues, jazz stan- (Hank Snow) dards, a duet with soul singer Ray Charles, vocal and piano; the Jerry Butler (born 1939), a rock- Raelets, vocal. Marcus Belgrave 'n'-roll parody, and a few original and John Hunt, trumpets; David 13 Newman, tenor saxophone; Hank tals that helped to reintroduce across like Jackie Wilson in tripli- Crawford, baritone saxophone; an element of earthiness into cate; and , whose Edgar Willis, bass; Teagle jazz. His biggest hit for Atlantic material was usually comedic Flemming, drums. Recorded 1959 was the two-part “What I Say,” a and frequently satiric (as rhythm in New York. Originally issued on highly secularized church mini- and-bluesman Louis Jordan's had Atlantic 2043. service that substituted the joy- been).The Coasters were largely ful moans of the sex act for the the creation of two white song- Ray Charles was born in shouts of religious ecstasy.A few writer-producers, Jerry Leiber Albany, Georgia, in 1932 and has mouths later he signed with ABC and Mike Stoller, who provided been blind since the age of six. Paramount and began applying them with some of the most He is the only figure in American his style almost exclusively to memorable songs of the era and music who has been prominent popular material from Tin Pan functional, tasteful arrangements. in rock 'n' roll, jazz, rhythm and Alley and Nashville. His first Leiber and Stoller, who had also blues, country, and pop. One of rock-styled interpretation of a produced for the Drifters, Elvis the few types of music he hasn't country-music standard had Presley, Sammy Turner, Ben E. sung is gospel, which is ironic attracted little attention when King, and many others, originally when one remembers that first issued; it was Hank Snow's signed a group called the Robins. Charles, more than anyone else, “I'm Movin' On,” and it exempli- When they became independent was responsible for the dissemi- fied all Charles' strengths in producers for Atlantic, they con- nation of gospel techniques in adapting unlikely material to his vinced two members of the popular music. He wasn't the own vision. Robins to start the Coasters. first to exploit the syncretic ties This blues performance begins No other group sounded quite between religious and secular with a simulated train whistle like them, though there were black music (see the Dominoes, and a shuffle rhythm, maintains a imitators.Their ensemble singing Side One, Band 3), but he was furious tempo, and employs both had a loose, rowdy feeling, and the most brilliant and influential. a steel-guitar sound (borrowed each of the solo voices was Vocal groups like the Dominoes, from country music) and a vocal notably different from the oth- and later the Drifters, sanded trio, the Raelets, that echoes ers: Gunter was a flamboyant down the gospel inflections; Charles' phrases with gospel- tenor who sounded like the they had more in common with style responses. great jazz singer Dinah the formal tradition of gospel The lyrics to this song are Washington (1924-1963); Jones singing—from the nineteenth- available from the publisher. was the best bass singer in the century Fisk Jubilee Singers to business since Orville Jones (no the Golden Gate Quartet of the Band 8 relation) of the original Ink forties—than with the exhilarat- Spots; Guy was the soulful, ing services of the southern What About Us? growling baritone lead; and Baptist church. Charles retained ( Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller) Gardner was the more erotic, the whooping and shouting, the cleaner-voiced lead tenor. Each freewheeling call-and-response The Coasters, vocals: , was too eccentric to make it as a invocations, the holy-roller fer- , , and solo, but together their blend vor. In the early years his music Will “Dub” Jones; King Curtis, was irresistible. In addition, they was often attacked as a sacrilege, tenor saxophone; other person- had excellent guitar support— but no other singer has had as nel unknown. Recorded 1959 in usually from , far-reaching an effect on the pre- New York. Originally issued on George Barnes, or Mickey sent shape of popular music. Atlantic 6153. Baker—and King Curtis' famous Charles' first trio was frankly tenor-sax breaks, which set stan- modeled after one led by Nat As the fifties came to a close dards for sixteen-bar solos in King Cole (1919-1965), but after the three most important male rock-'n'-roll records. The subject signing with in vocal groups were the Drifters, matter of their songs included a 1952 he began recording R&B- who sang relatively straight Mexican brothel (“Down in converted spirituals while material, often with Latinate Mexico”), parental tyranny exploiting the rougher edges of accompaniment; the Isley (“”), television west- his voice. At the same time, he Brothers, who in both their erns (“Along Came Jones”), the recorded several jazz instrumen- singing and stage style came high-school cutup (“Charley

14 Brown”), detective stories Band 9 crackling electricity. Bonds had a (“Searchin' “), and rock 'n' roll cry in his voice and managed to itself (“That Is Rock and Roll”), New Orleans convey the vibrancy, rawness, and as well as “Poison Ivy,”“Little (Frank Guida and Joseph F. jubilation of rock 'n' roll. Egypt,” and “Shoppin' for Royster) “New Orleans” has an unusual Clothes.” form. The refrain is eight mea- “What About Us?” was not a hit, Gary U. S. Bonds, vocal; other sures, but while the chant sec- primarily because of the subject; personnel unknown. Recorded tions follow the harmonic pat- it is a humorous treatment of 1960 in Virginia. Originally tern of the traditional twelve-bar class consciousness and, by issued on Legrand 1003. blues, they are stretched out to extension, racism. It received a twenty bars by the instrumental little air play when first released, By 1960 rock 'n' roll appeared riffs. Rhythmic suspension is but soon the jocks turned it over to be fatally whitewashed. Elvis used to heighten the excitement. and played the reverse side, Presley was in the army and “Run, Red, Run,” a trite song Refrain about to undergo a softening of I said a-hey hey hey yeah. (I said a-hey about a gambler and his monkey. image; Chuck Berry and Jerry hey hey yeah.) Whether or not “What About Lee Lewis were temporarily I said hey a-hey hey yeah. (I said hey a- Us?” was rock's first protest destroyed by scandals; Little hey hey yeah.) song, its poetic form can be Richard retired into the church; traced back to slave days. Well, c'mon, everybody, take a trip with Buddy Holly was dead. The air- me, Frederick Douglass, for instance, waves had been given over to Well, down the Mississippi down to preserved this lyric from the white teen idols who reduced New Orleans, antebellum South: the symbols of the music to Where the honeysuckle's bloomin' on the honeysuckle vine, absurd posturing and the music And the love is a-bloomin' there all the We raise de wheat, itself to a childish parody of its time. Dey gib us de corn; You know every southern belle is a We bake de bread, original energies. Until the 1964 Mississippi queen, Dey gib us de crust; invasion of British groups who Down the Mississippi down in New We sif de meal, had been shaped by the early Orleans. Dey give us de huss. R&R stars, it seemed as though (Refrain) the music business, which at first Leiber and Stoller adapted this had resisted rock, had succeeded Well, c'mon, take a stroll down to Basin idea with contemporary comic in co-opting it. Still, there were Street references, which the Coasters And listen to the music with the occasional bursts of the real milked in their usual style. The Dixieland beat, thing, including a handful of song is a thirty-two bar AABA A-where the magnolia blossoms fill the records by U.S. Bonds made from air, form with a refrain attached to 1960 to 1962. Yeah, and you ain't been to heaven if each A part. Bonds was born Gary Anderson you ain't been there. They got rich moss hangin' from a big in 1939 in Jacksonville, Florida, The lyrics to this song are available from oak tree, the publisher. but grew up in Norfolk, Virginia, Down the Mississippi down in New where he met producer Frank Orleans. (Refrain) Guida of Legrand Records. He (Repeat first verse) sang ballads in the Johnny Ace manner, but he won acclaim with (Refrain) wildly spluttering rhythmic Well, I said a-hey hey hey yeah. chants. A few saxophones played I said a-look out, child, yay yay yeah. strident figures, the rhythm was Copyright © 1960. Rockmasters, Inc. Used by augmented by hand clapping, and permission. All rights reserved. the empty spaces were filled with

15 SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY

Anthology of Rhythm and Blues, Vol.1. Columbia CS-9802. Berry, Chuck. Golden Decade. Chess 1514D. Charles, Ray. Live. Atlantic SD2-503. The Very Best of Fats Domino. United Artists UA-La380-E. Dominoes. All Their Hits. King 5005X. Fourteen Golden Recordings from the Historic Vaults of Duke/. ABC X-784. History of Rhythm and Blues: Rock & Roll 1956-57. Atlantic SD-8163. History of Rhythm and Blues:The Big Beat 1958-60. Atlantic SD-8164. Holly, Buddy. A Rock & Roll Collection. MCA2-4009. Lewis, Jerry Lee.The Original. Charlie 30111. Little Richard. Grooviest 17 Original Hits. Specialty SPS-2113. Presley, Elvis. The Sun Sessions. RCA APM1-1675. Price, Lloyd. Original Hits. Specialty SNTF-5007. Spector, Phil. Greatest Hits. Warner Brothers 2SP-9104. Turner, Joe. His Greatest Recordings. Atco SD-33-376. Wilson, Jackie. My Golden Favorites. Decca BL-754058.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Christgau, Robert. Any Old Way You Choose It. Baltimore: Penguin, 1973. Escott, Colin, and Hawkins, Martin. Catalyst:The Sun Records Story. London:Aquarius, 1975. Gillett, Charlie. Making Tracks. New York: Dutton, 1974. ____. Sound of the City:The Rise of Rock & Roll. New York: Dell, 1972. Groia, Philip. They All Sang on the Corner: 's Rhythm and Blues Vocal Groups of the 1950s. Setauket, N.Y.: Edmund, 1973. Guralnick, Peter. Feel Like Going Home. New York: Outerbridge & Dienstfrey, 1971. Hardy, Phil, and Laing, David. The Age of Rock 'n' Roll (The Encyclopedia of Rock, Vol.1). London: Panther, 1976. Keil, Charles. Urban Blues. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1966. Levine, Lawrence W. Black Culture and Black Consciousness. New York: Oxford University Press, 1977. Marcus, Greil. Mystery Train. New York: Dutton, 1976. Miller, Jim (ed.). The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll. New York: Random House, 1977. Murray, Albert. Stomping the Blues. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1976. Nite, Norm N. Rock On:The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock 'n' Roll. New York: Crowell, 1974. Shaw, Arnold. The Rockin’ ‘50s. New York: Hawthorne, 1975. Stearns, Marshall W. The Story of Jazz. New York: Oxford University Press, 1956.

Side One Total time 24:54

1 Shake, Rattle and Roll (Charles E. Calhoun [Jesse Stone]) ...... 2:59 (publ. Unichappell Music, Inc.) Joe Turner, vocal

2 The Clock (David J. Mattis) ...... 2:55 (publ. Lion Music Publishing Co., Inc.) Johnny Ace, vocal and piano; the Beale Streeters, vocals

3 Have Mercy, Baby (Billy Ward) ...... 2:23 (publ. Billy Ward Music Co.) Billy Ward and His Dominoes

4 Shake a Hand (Joe Morris) ...... 2:29 (publ. Merrimac Music Corp.) Faye Adams, vocal; Joe Morris and His Orchestra 16 5 See You Later,Alligator (Robert Guidry) ...... 2:44 (publ. Arc Music Corp.) Bill Haley and the Comets

6 Maybellene (Chuck Berry, Russ Fratto, and Alan Freed) ...... 2:16 (publ.Arc. Music Corp.) Chuck Berry, vocal and guitar

7 Mailman Blues (Lloyd Price) ...... 2:09 (publ.Venice Music, Inc.) Lloyd Price, vocal

8 I Can’t Go On (Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew) ...... 2:12 (publ. Unart Music Corp.) Fats Domino, vocal and piano

9 Every Hour (Richard Penniman) ...... 2:55 (Copyright held by composer) Little Richard, vocal

Side Two Total time 22:32

1 Get a Job (The Silhouettes) ...... 2:43 (publ. Dandelion Music Co.) The Silhouettes, vocals

2 That’ll Be The Day (Jerry Allison, Norman Petty, and Buddy Holly) ...... 2:16 (publ. M P L Communications, Inc.) Buddy Holly and the Crickets

3 Good Golly Miss Molly (Robert A. Blackwell and ) ...... 2:17 (publ. Jondora Music) Jerry Lee Lewis, vocal and piano

4 Reet Petite (Tyran Carlo and Barry Gordy, Jr.) ...... 2:44 (Copyright held by composers) Jackie Wilson, vocal

5 I Met Him On A Sunday (The Shirelles) ...... 2:19 (publ. Ludlow Music, Inc.) The Shirelles, vocals

6 At My Front Door (John C. Moore and Ewart G.Abner, Jr.) ...... 1:49 (publ. Conrad Music) Dee Clark, vocal

7 I’m Movin’ On (Hank Snow) ...... 2:17 (publ. Hill & Range Songs, Inc.) Ray Charles, vocal and piano; the Raelets, vocals

8 What About Us? (Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller) ...... 2:48 (publ. Chappell Music Co.) The Coasters, vocals

9 New Orleans (Frank Guida and Joseph F. Royster) ...... 2:47 (publ. Rockmasters, Inc.) Gary U. S. Bonds, vocal

Full discographic information and a list of the performers for each selection may be found within the individual discussions of the works in the liner notes.

17 Acknowledgements Our thanks to Atlantic Records for “Shake, Rattle and Roll”;“I’m Movin’ On”; and “What About Us?”; to ABC Records for “The Clock”;“Mailman Blues”; and “At My Front Door”; to CBS Records for “Have Mercy, Baby”; to MCA Records for “See You Later,Alligator”;“That’ll Be the Day”; and “I Met Him on a Sunday”; to Platinum Record Co., Inc. for “Maybellene”; to RCA Records for “Every Hour”and to Rockmasters, Inc. for “New Orleans.”“Good Golly Miss Molly” appears courtesy of Sun International Corporation.“New Orleans”was originally produced by Frank Guida. Our thanks to Robert Altshuler for making his record collection available to us and to Sam Parkins for his invaluable help.

Program consultant: Gary Giddins Rerecording engineer: Art Shifrin Mastering: Lee Hulko, Sterling Sound Cover art: Nicholas Krushenick,“Godzilla.” Acrylic on canvas. Private collection. Cover design: Elaine Sherer Cox Library of Congress Card No. 78-750037

LINER NOTES © Recorded Anthology of American Music, Inc. q 1978 © 1978 Recorded Anthology of American Music, Inc. All rights reserved.

For additional information and a catalogue, please contact:

New World Records 701 Seventh Avenue, New York, New York 10036 (212) 302-0460 • (212) 944-1922 fax email: [email protected]

www.newworldrecords.org

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