Guest post by Nathan Arizona
It’s probably impossible to name the first rock ’n’ roll song, but that hasn’t stopped people from trying.
The candidates we hear about most come from the 1940s era of jump blues or the early ‘50s rhythm & blues period it led to. In other words, songs that preceded what we normally think of as the rock ’n’ roll era but feel like rock ’n’ roll and showed the way directly to it.
The leaders appear to be “Rocket 88″ (Ike Turner/Jackie Brenston, 1951), “Good Rocking Tonight” (Roy Brown, 1947), “Saturday Night Fish Fry” (Louis Jordan, 1949) and maybe “Sixty Minute Man” (Billy Ward and the Dominos, 1951) and “Shake, Rattle and Roll” (Big Joe Turner, 1954). Turner’s R&B song was covered almost immediately and somewhat altered by the first big star of the official rock ’n’ roll era, Bill Haley. Haley also covered “Rocket 88” and “Rock The Joint” (Jimmy Preston, 1949, yet another candidate).
I’m going with Louis Jordan, king of jump blues, AKA king of the jukebox. “Saturday Night Fish Fry” has been aptly described as “loud, danceable and exciting,” which is at least halfway to rock ’n’ roll right there. Chuck Berry said Jordan was “the first that I heard that played rock and roll.”
It has a revved-up singer fronting a small group of musicians (jump blues grew from the late swing era when large bands became too expensive), some electric guitar, snappy rhythm with a back beat, lyrics about having a raucous good time where the place was “rockin’” (till the cops showed up), appealing to both black and white audiences.
Haley programmed music in the 1940s at a radio station in Chester, Pa., not far from where he was raised in Boothwyn just over the Delaware line. He played a lot of Louis Jordan as well as country songs and later cited him as an important influence. Berry said, “I identify myself with Louis Jordan more than any other artist.” Little Richard said Jordan’s “Caldonia” was the first song he learned that wasn’t gospel.
Here’s Louis Jordan with “Saturday Night Fish Fry.” Some critics think it might be a forerunner of rap as well.
“Rocket 88” gets the most support as first rock ’n’ roll song, but some think its reputation was boosted by constant plugging from the producer, Sam Phillips, who did a lot of that sort of thing. It’s about a car (Oldsmobile), a classic rock ’n’ roll subject. The buzzy electric guitar sound came about after the amplifier got banged up falling from a car and was repaired by using wadded-up newspaper to keep the cone stable. Jackie Brenston was part of Ike Turner’s operation. Co-starring in the video: cars.
The best version of “Good Rocking Tonight” was likely this one by Wynonie Harris, a hugely popular R&B singer whose on-stage flair was part of his appeal. Elvis Presley covered it at Phillips’ Sun Records early in his career. “Rocking” became “Rockin’” in the title of Harris’ version. The white kids were down with it.
“Sixty Minute Man” is about sexual prowess, a subject not unknown in rock ’n’ roll. It’s a reminder that “rock and roll” was slang for having sex before becoming a more general term for having a good time (not on this one, though). Like Jordan’s songs, “Sixty Minute Man” hit the upper regions of the pop charts as well as the R&B list.
Jump blues is now, and has always been, irresistible.