Although first recorded by Italian-American band
Sonny Dae and His Knights on March 20, 1954, the more famous version by
Bill Haley & His Comets
is not, strictly speaking, a cover version. Myers claimed the song had
been written specifically for Haley but, for various reasons, Haley was
unable to record it himself until
April 12, 1954.
The original full title of the song was
We're Gonna Rock Around the Clock Tonight!. This was later shortened to
(We're Gonna) Rock Around the Clock,
though this form is generally only used on releases of the 1954 Bill
Haley Decca Records recording; most other recordings of this song by
Haley and others (including Sonny Dae) shorten this title further to
Rock Around the Clock. Sources indicate
Rock Around the Clock was written in 1953, but documents uncovered by historian
Jim Dawson
indicate it was in fact written in late 1952.
The song was credited to Myers (as "Jimmy DeKnight") and
Max C. Freedman,
although its exact authorship is disputed, with many speculating that
Freedman wrote the song on his own. There were several earlier songs of
the title
Rock Around the Clock (by
Hal Singer and
Wally Mercer),
but they are unrelated to the Freedman/Myers song. In addition, it is
sometimes erroneously stated that
Rock Around the Clock is copied from
a late-1940s
Big Joe Turner
recording,
Around the Clock Blues. Aside from title similarity,
however, the two songs bear little resemblance. There are many
blues songs with the theme of partying or making love "round the clock", with various actions specified at various hours. The song also uses
phrases from
Red Wagon, by
Count Basie, first recorded in 1939.
According to the Haley biographies
Bill Haley by
John Swenson and
Rock Around the Clock by Dawson, the song was offered to Haley in the wake of his first national success
Crazy Man, Crazy in 1953, after being copyrighted with the U.S. Library of Congress on March 31. Haley and his Comets began performing the song on stage (Comets bass player
Marshall Lytle and drummer
Dick Richards say the first performances were in
Wildwood, New Jersey at Phil and Eddie's Surf Club), but
Dave Miller, his producer, refused to allow Haley to record it for his
Essex Records label (Swenson suggests a feud existed between Myers and Miller).
Haley himself claimed to have taken the sheet music into the
recording studio at least twice, with Miller ripping up the music each
time. Nonetheless, rumors of a 1953 demo recording by Haley persist to
this day, although surviving members of the Comets deny this, as did
Haley himself (quoted in the Swenson biography); a late-1960s
bootleg
single of the Decca Records version of
Rock Around the Clock, with
Crazy Man, Crazy on the B-side and carrying the Essex label,
occasionally turns up for sale with the claim that it is the demo
version.
Myers next offered the song to
Sonny Dae and His Knights, a novelty all-white musical group led by Italian-American
Paschal Vennitti. The group's subsequent recording, on the
Arcade Records label (owned by Haley's manager,
Jack Howard), was a regional success, although it sounded very different from what Haley would later record.
In tribute to the influence of the song and the movie that launched its
popularity, the March 29, 2005 50th anniversary of the opening of
Blackboard Jungle was marked by several large celebrations in the United States organized by promoter
Martin Lewis under the blanket title "Rock Is Fifty".
musicians on the Decca recording are :
Net links:
Rock on, Bill!
Styrous® ~ Wednesday, April 12, 2017
