The Heart of Rock and Soul by Dave Marsh

63 GOOD ROCKIN' TONIGHT, Elvis Presley Produced by Sam Phillips; written by Roy Brown Sun 210 1954 Did not make pop charts

"That's All Right, Mama, " Elvis's first single, might have been a fluke. But "Good Rockin' Tonight" was more of the same, and better, establishing that all concerned - Scotty Moore, Bill Black, Sam Phillips, but especially Elvis himself - knew exactly what they were up to and. indeed, had alreadv created a new and improved model. Thirty years later. "Good Rockin' Tonight" still sounds like what's about to happen. Elvis wrote no songs, and none of his Sun Records material was written for him. In fact, the best of his Sun songs had already been hits for others. Of them all, only "Good Rockin' Tonight" was already great, having been done superbly in the late forties both by author Brown and by Wynonie Harris, the most famous blues shouter of the period. If you're sufficiently familiar with Brown's style, you'll easily spot his influence. But it's still hard to believe that this is the same song, not because Elvis's version is particularly country and God knows, not because he rocks harder - try rocking harder than Wynonie Harris and you'll rupture something. Some of the differences are in the arrangement, with Bill Black's rubbery bass and Scotty Moore's stinging guitar replacing the original, horn-based jump blues patterns. But the difference that counts is Elvis, This was only his second single, but he'd already established his weird mixture of ferocious self-confidence and complete easefulness, and he sings "Good Rockin' Tonight" as if he's inventing it. Which for all practical purposes he is. By the time he gets to the repetitions of "rock" which close out the record, Elvis has crossed over into glory.

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