Song of the Day 4/6: Bill Haley and His Comets, “Shake, Rattle and Roll”

The battle outside is ragin’, but that’s not what shook your windows and rattled your walls yesterday. It was a 4.8-magnitude earthquake centered in northern New Jersey. It came just six and a half years after the big Dover shaker of 2017, clear evidence that we’re living in the end times.

Though 1955 is often given as the year rock ‘n’ roll was born, Bill Haley cut his version of this tune the year before, the same week that the original by Big Joe Turner hit No. 1 on Billboard’s R&B chart. Haley took it to No. 7 on the magazine’s singles chart during its six-month stay in the Top 40.

Haley’s version wasn’t a straight-up cover. Turner’s version, which made it to No. 17 on the Billboard singles chart, delivers three verses before getting around to the titular chorus. It was written for him by Jesse Stone, the architect of the early sound of rock ‘n’ roll.

Haley kept the tune in his band’s repertoire until the end of his career, though the tempo increased over the years. Notice how much faster it is 1969.