Rock Around the Clock
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"A sarcastic deconstruction of "Rock Around the Clock" by Telex. I say pop a valium and leave the tempo knob where it is." --deadvolvo1 via [1] |
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"Rock Around the Clock" is a 12-bar-blues-based song from 1952, written by Max C. Freedman and James E. Myers (the latter under the pseudonym "Jimmy De Knight").
Although it was probably not the first rock and roll record, nor was it the first successful record of the genre (Haley had American chart success with "Crazy Man, Crazy" in 1953 and "Shake, Rattle and Roll" in 1954, a year before "Rock Around the Clock" became a success), it is considered by many to be the song that put rock and roll on the map in America and around the world. With lyrics such as
- "Put your glad rags on, join me, Hon
- We'll have some fun when the clock strikes one"
and
- "When the clock strikes two, three and four
- If the band slows down we'll yell for more"
Although first recorded by Italian-American band Sonny Dae and His Knights,[2] [3] 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 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".
