The bawdy origins of rock and roll
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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You probably do not doubt that the origins of rock and roll are bawdy in nature. You've read Gershon Legman and his fellow travelers to take note. You know why Scheherazade was not killed by the king.
Yet you don't know American record label Federal Records and their 1951 "Sixty Minute Man"[1], on which a male singer boasts of being able to satisfy his girls with fifteen minutes each of "kissin'" "teasin'" and "squeezin'", before "blowin'" his "top." The single reached #1[2] on the R&B chart in May 1951 and stayed there for a 14 weeks.
"Work with Me, Annie?"[3] is a equally a mystery. A single that was immediately opposed by the the regulator of the American airwaves but went on to be an enormous hit. The double entendres in the "Annie" lyrics, Hank Ballard's baritone and excited squeals backed by the group's 'ah-oom' were accompanied by a boogie piano, a driving electric guitar and a booming electric bass. "Work With Me, Annie" defined what was to become rock and roll which has always been about wine, women and song.
--Sholem Stein, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1998.
