Life Before Rock 'n' Roll, Part 2--"Rock Around the Clock"

As I mentioned in Part 1, rock and roll's birth date was really 1956, not 1954. Why? Because Elvis, the inventor of rock and roll, didn't begin to reach the wider audience until his first RCA hit in early 1956. I'm taking the Rolling Stone/NPR/PBS/NYT story about Elvis creating rock at Sun Studios (an event referred to by Bono as "rock & roll's big bang") to its logical limits. Or illogical limits, perhaps, in this case.

If Elvis was the bearer of rock and roll, then we have to start the history of the music with Elvis' first appearance on the pop charts--early 1956. So, guess what? 2006 is the 50th anniversary of rock and roll!! Break out the party hats!!!

Anyhow, in Part 2 of our series, we're going to take a close look at one of the biggest pre-rock-'n'-roll r&r hits--a twelve-bar blues song called Rock Around the Clock (if you don't count the intro). Tons of words have been written about this song, but the reality comes down to this: RATC was a remake of the 1949 R&B hit Rock the Joint. How do we know that?

I can cite a number of reasons, but it comes down to the simple fact that Bill Haley's 1952 version of Rock the Joint is little different from his 1954 version of Rock Around the Clock. I say "version," in the latter case, because Haley changed the song considerably from the way it was written. I know this from having played the sheet music and having wondered, "Is this the same song??" And/or "Am I playing the right notes?"

And I happen to have a 1970 version of the song as originally written. Here's Al Caiola and The Living Guitars (probably the same difference) playing from the sheet music. And adding solos and stuff, of course, but nonetheless sticking to the original strains:

Rock Around the Clock--The Living Guitars, 1970. From RCA Camden LP.

It was weird. I found that LP at a thrift store, not expecting a version that followed the sheet music. When I realized what I had, I wrote to an on-line Bill Haley historian who forwarded the news of my find to a musician in charge of music for an upcoming Bill Haley special on BBC Radio 2 (hosted by Suzi Quatro). I ended up donating an mp3 of the track, and a few months later I was listening to Suzi and the music coordinator chat about the song's history as my thrift file played away in the background. It was cosmic.

Weirder still--prior to that, I hadn't even known who Suzi Quatro was. I guess I stopped watching Happy Days after the first few years.

RATC was written in 1952, but Haley didn't get the chance to record it until after he left Essex and moved to Decca. Haley changed the song into something much more like rock and roll/R&B. This is one r&r recording I'll never tire of hearing:

Rock Around the Clock, 1954. From Decca V.A. LP.

And here's the model for Haley's version of RATC--the same artist's 1952 version of Rock the Joint. It boasts the same famous guitar solo played by the same guitarist (Danny Cedrone):

Rock the Joint, Billy Haley with Haley's Comets, 1952. (That's how the credits read on the Essex 45 I have.)

Granted, RTJ sounds considerably more country than RATC, but that has a lot to do with Decca's desire for a Louis Jordan sound from Haley. Which is to say, Haley's Decca stuff more directly imitates the R&B of the day than did his earlier, more "hillbilly" material.

Am I suggesting that Haley's Decca sound was nothing new? Yes, precisely. Audio proof follows:

There's No Other Way, Jackson Brothers Orch., 1952.
From RCA Victor 45.

Flat Foot Boogie, Jackson Brothers Orch., 1952. From RCA Victor 45.

There are a number of other tracks I could put up to illustrate my point (that Haley was following a trend, not making it), but I think these two examples suffice. That, plus I don't have the other stuff downloaded. Possibly, the latter has more to do with it....

And uploading is going slowly, still. I'm reduced to one track at a time. I heard back from Box in regard to my problem, and I let them talk me, once again, into trying their ridiculous Drag and Drop feature. And--surprise, surprise--it was a study in frustration. Maybe other folks find it convenient--I, however, find it cumbersome and awkward. On a good day. During my attempt to upload two files, somehow nine uploads got started. Nine. Of which two made it to Box.net.

What gives? I know--I'll ask the cats. Cats are wise. They know all.


Lee

Box.net not allowing uploads

I wrote to Box.net asking why my uploads are freezing in mid-transfer. I can't even get two mp3s to go. Problems with uploads have been occurring for a couple of weeks now, and I hope there's an explanation for it.




Lee

Twistin' Friday at MY(P)WHAE!

Welcome to the first-ever MY(P)WHAE Twistin' Friday! And, as the name suggests, we're going to Watusi the morning away.

I mean, Twist the morning away. I received a request for Ray Anthony's Bunny Hop Twist, and I'm only too happy to present this track, plus three others, from Anthony's 1962 Capitol LP The Twist. I've grown to like this album a little more--it's really not bad at all, especially considering the fact it was likely thrown together on short notice. We always read about the watering-down of rock and roll by older-generation musicians like Anthony, yet these tracks don't sound all that different from the teen pop of the day:

Bunny Hop Twist (Ray Anthony-Leonard Auletti), 1962. From Capitol LP The Twist.

Twist Around Mister (Ray Anthony-Don Simpson), 1962.

Tequila with a Twist (Chuck Rio), 1962.

Mexican Hat Twist (Arr. by Anthony and Simpson), 1962.

No Twist survey would be complete without this 1961 Billy Vaughn classic--one my favorite novelties, ever:

Everybody's Twisting Down in Mexico (Killen-Kennedy), Billy Vaughn and His Orchestra, 1961. From Dot 45.

And I need to get a paper sleeve for the thing--it's been living in a stack, protected by other (sleeved) 45s. There. Done.

It's now officially a member of my 45 family.

Here are a couple of 1962 tracks of note I've been wanting to repost. The first track is a great example of the sort of R&B that was labeled "surf" when played by white folks:

Rock and Roll Uprising, The Adventurers, 1962. From Columbia LP.

My Mama Done Tole Me, The Adventurers, 1962. Same LP.


Lee

Take the "Stairway to Polka" with Big Lee!!

"Everybody polka!!"--Big Lee

Let others bow to rock's most overrated recording. I prefer to polka!!

Join me! C'mon! Hup, hup, hup....

Stairway to Polka (Hartsfeld), Lee Hartsfeld, by way of Noteworthy Composer®, July 4, 2006.



"Give me polkas, or give me obereks."--Unknown.



Lee

More FOJ music!

Liberty Bell March (Sousa), Pride of the '48 Band. From vinyl.

Stairway to Liberty (Hartsfeld), Piano and organ combined, 2006.

Yankee Doodle Boy (Cohan), George M. Cohan, Jr., 1948. From RCA Camden LP.

You're a Grand Old Flag (Cohan), George M. Cohan, Jr., 1948. From RCA Camden LP.

On to the Lawrence Welk Singers, from 1976, with two patriotic numbers penned in 1940--one famous (the second), one not so (the Berlin). Wikipedia describes This Is My Country as "an American folk song." Ohhhhhh-kay :

This Is a Great Country (Irving Berlin), The Lawrence Welk Orch. and Singers, 1976. From Ranwood LP.

This Is My Country (D. Raye-A. Jacobs), The Lawrence Welk Orch. and Singers, 1976.

We close our concert with Sigmund Romberg's 1927 flag-waver, Your Land and My Land:

Your Land and My Land (S. Romberg-D. Donnelly), The Lawrence Welk Orch. and Singers, 1976.


Lee

"God of Our Fathers" & "America--Our Heritage"

We begin with a superb performance of a great hymn--in lousy sound quality. Nothing against the Longines Symphonette label, but there's never a good excuse for fake stereo. Never. I hope to find this one in mono someday. Until then, here are the words the singers are singing:

God of our fathers, whose almighty hand
Leads forth in beauty all the starry band
Of shining worlds in splendor through the skies,
Our grateful songs before thy throne arise.

From war's alarms, from deadly pestilence,
Be thy strong arm our ever sure defense;
Thy true religion in our hearts increase,
Thy bounteous goodness nourish us in peace.

Thy love divine hath led us in the past,
In this free land by thee our lot is cast;
Be thou our ruler, guardian, guide, and stay,
Thy word our law, thy paths our chosen way.

God of Our Fathers (W: Daniel Crane Roberts, M: George Warren), Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians, arranged by Livingston Gearhart, 1953. From vinyl.

The Cyberhymnal reports that Daniel C. Roberts' 1876 words were written for a Centennial Fourth of July celebration--far out.

I don't know much about this second selection, save that I like it. Helen Steele wrote the words and music:

America--Our Heritage (Helen Steele), Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians, arranged by Hawley Ades, 1954. From same not-so-good vinyl source.

What--you were expecting a hip Fourth of July celebration? From this place?

You're kidding, I hope....


Lee

Musical fireworks from Ferde Grofe

As a July 2 Columbus Dispatch piece points out, "Not only is Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Festival Overture, better known as the 1812 Overture, not American, but it’s also not about the War of 1812, our final belligerent encounter with the Brits." Yet the piece is an Independence Day standard. Why? Explains the article, "The overture offers something that doesn’t exist in the standard repertoire of patriotic American music: musical fireworks."

Well, then I suggest that the Power of Niagara movement from Ferde Grofe's 1961 Niagara Falls Suite become a patriotic standard, pronto. It has fireworks to spare. And it's an American work by an American composer. Plus, as a patriotic subject, Niagara Falls is closer to home than Russia's defeat of Napoleon. If we had to choose one theme over the other.

But don't take my word for it. Take the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra's, as conducted by William T. Stromberg in 1998:

The Power of Niagara (Ferde Grofe, 1961), from Naxos CD, rec. in 1998.

Awesome. The CD is still available, and for only $7.00 or so. Lee says, buy it. In addition to the Niagara Falls Suite, you get Grofe's much better-known Grand Canyon and Mississippi suites. If my copy were a vinyl LP, I'd have worn the grooves away by now....

More 07/04/06 sounds coming up.


Lee

Fourth of July weekend

Our central Ohio Fourth of July weekend can be best described in one word: wet and rainy.

Actually, that's three words, of course. But because "wet and rainy" is redundant, I count the phrase as a single word. Besides, it's my blog.

I wonder if the Big City fireworks will be rained out? It's never happened, but that doesn't mean it can't. Happen, I mean. We'll be watching the local ka-boom festival. Out here in the country, we have a decently black sky. On a good night, we can see stars.

In other news, Stairway to Polka is half-done, and the percussion is working out just fine. As is my transformation of the melody. I always try for the mildest transformation possible. Which is why I never work during a completely full moon.

Got a new book--Capturing Sound: How Technology Has Changed Music, by Mark Katz. It should be right up my alley, to say the least. What weirds me out is that the writer is a musicologist. A book about music by a musicologist!! Is that allowed? Whatever happened to the good old American tradition of books on music by rock journalists with zero musical education? I thought that, if you can find Middle C on the piano, you're automatically knocked out of the "expert" category.

Take that, Rolling Stone.

And now it's time to get the van serviced. Whether it wants to be or not.

(Spell Check doesn't recognize "musicologist" in its singular form. I'll bet Rolling Stone is behind this....)



Lee

Give me liberty, or give me drums!

Liberty being in short supply in this year of 6 B.E. (Bush Era), I guess it'll have to be drums. And I just discovered where my Noteworthy Composer® software was hiding the things--on Channel 10, that's where.

I remember MIDI channel 10 from the days that I hooked up my ancient Performer® program to the MIDI input of my ancient Macintosh 512K. So, I'm an old hand at assigning MIDI channels. However, the Help screen for my present software says nothing about drums. Or percussion. Either word in the Search box yields zilch. And no drums are listed on the MIDI-patch menus. So, I assumed there weren't any. Just call me too logical.

But they're there. I discovered how to access the little bastards by going to the Noteworthy Composer® site. Actually, I found a vague hint to that effect--I had to poke around the menus a little bit. I felt like I was in a Charlie Chan movie. "Look! Another piece of the puzzle!" Anyway, now I have drums. The final piece of the drum puzzle was the channel-assigning menu. Page. Whatever.

So, I have drums. Bam, bam, crash, boom, clang, ding! Am I changed? Have I become a new person?

Don't know. I'll get back to you on that.

Meanwhile, let's celebrate my find with the percussion-redone edition of my latest Stairway, which I call Stairway to Mystery. And which we've already heard in two other versions. This one is the keeper. Or, the bomb. The cat's meow:

Stairway to Mystery (percussion redone), Lee Hartsfeld, 2006.

Of course, the mystery is over, now that I've found the damn drums. They were there, all the time. Hiding on me.