"R-O-C-K" is a 1956 rock and roll song recorded and co-written by

Bill Haley William John Clifton Haley (; July 6, 1925 – February 9, 1981) was an American rock and roll musician. He is credited by many with first popularizing this form of music in the early 1950s with his group Bill Haley & His Comets and million-sel ...

and released as a

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label * Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label * Decca Studios, a recording facility in W ...

single. The song appeared in the 1956

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

movie ''

Rock Around the Clock "Rock Around the Clock" is a rock and roll song in the 12-bar blues format written by Max C. Freedman and James E. Myers (the latter being under the pseudonym "Jimmy De Knight") in 1952. The best-known and most successful rendition was record ...

''.

Background

"R-O-C-K" was written by Bill Haley, Arrett "Rusty" Keefer, and Ruth Keefer and published by Valley Brook Publications, Inc., Chester, Pennsylvania and by Cinephonic Music in the UK. The song was recorded on September 22, 1955 at the Pythian Temple studios in New York City. The song was released as a Decca 45 single, 9-29870, backed with "The Saints Rock 'n Roll" on March 26, 1956 in the U.S. The single reached #16 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' pop singles chart, #15 on the ''Billboard'' R&B chart, and #21 on Cash Box. The song was also recorded on January 5–13, 1956, for the Columbia Pictures film, ''Rock Around the Clock''. The song was also released as a single in Australia on Festival Records as FS-919, in Belgium, on Omega as 61.055, in Germany, on Brunswick as 12 065, in Canada, Norway, Ireland, and in Italy on Fonit as 2092. The Comets performed "R-O-C-K" in the 1956 film ''

''. The recording was also released as a 45 single in the UK on

Brunswick Records Brunswick Records is an American record label founded in 1916. History From 1916 Records under the Brunswick label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, a company based in Dubuque, Iowa which had been manufacturing produ ...

as 45-05565. The song appeared on the 1972 Decca and MCA career retrospective album ''Golden Hits'' and on the 1985

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 wit ...

compilation album ''From the Original Master Tapes''. An eponymous LP album was released by the Swedish

Sonet Records Sonet Records was a jazz, pop and rock record label operating as an imprint of Universal Music Sweden. It was founded in Sweden in 1956. Sonet Records was established by Sven Lindholm and Gunnar Bergström, who managed the label into the 1980s ...

label in 1976 and on

Sun Records Sun Records is an American independent record label founded by producer Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee in February 1952. Sun was the first label to record Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny C ...

in 1979. The Original Comets, credited as The Original Band, featuring

Marshall Lytle Marshall Edward Lytle (September 1, 1933 – May 25, 2013) was an American rock and roll bassist, best known for his work with the groups Bill Haley & His Comets and The Jodimars in the 1950s. He played upright slap bass on the iconic 1950s rock ...

, Joey Ambrose, Dick Richards,

Johnny Grande John Andrew Grande (January 14, 1930 – June 3, 2006) was a member of Bill Haley's backing band, The Comets. Life and career Born in South Philadelphia, Grande played piano and accordion with Bill Haley and the Saddlemen, later known as Bill H ...

, and

Franny Beecher Francis Eugene Beecher (September 29, 1921 – February 24, 2014) was the lead guitarist for Bill Haley & His Comets from 1954 to 1962, and is best remembered for his innovative guitar solos combining elements of country music and jazz. He co ...

, recorded the song in 1999 for Rollin' Rock Records and released it on the ''Still Rockin' Around the Clock'' CD album. The theme of the song is the emergence of rock and roll as a new musical genre with Bill Haley and the Comets at the forefront of establishing the new musical idiom. A line from the song noted that

Johann Strauss Johann Baptist Strauss II (25 October 1825 – 3 June 1899), also known as Johann Strauss Jr., the Younger or the Son (german: links=no, Sohn), was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed ove ...

had "discovered waltzes",

W.C. Handy William Christopher Handy (November 16, 1873 – March 28, 1958) was an American composer and musician who referred to himself as the Father of the Blues. Handy was one of the most influential songwriters in the United States. One of many musici ...

had "found the blues", while Bill Haley "came along with a rockin' song, '

Crazy Man, Crazy "Crazy Man, Crazy" was the title of an early rock and roll song written by, and first recorded by Bill Haley & His Comets in April 1953. It is notable as the first recognized rock and roll recording to appear on the national American musical chart ...

', crazy news!" The song was released after the phenomenal and revolutionary success of "

" and celebrated rock and roll, which musically would define the era.

Personnel (original 1955 studio recording)

*Bill Haley – vocals, rhythm guitar *Rudy Pompilli - tenor saxophone *Franny Beecher – lead guitar *Billy Williamson – steel guitar *Johnny Grande – piano *Al Rex – double bass *Cliff Leeman – drums

Other versions

The song has been recorded on December 7th, 1956 by Mr. Roll and His Rocks, the first rock and roll band of Argentina. The recording session was directed by

Lalo Schifrin Boris Claudio "Lalo" Schifrin (born June 21, 1932) is an Argentine-American pianist, composer, arranger and conductor. He is best known for his large body of film and TV scores since the 1950s, incorporating jazz and Latin American musical elemen ...

and the band leader was the singer/trombonist

Eddie Pequenino Eddie Pequenino (1928–2000) was an Argentine film actor.Cowie & Elley p.25 Widely considered the father and founder of Argentine Rock. In 1956 he formed the first rock and roll band in Argentina and made the first recordings of that genre in the ...

. This version was released as a B side in January, 1957. The record was edited in Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil. Finnish singer Esa Pakarinen recorded a version of the song in Finnish which appeared on the 1976 album ''Pakarock 2''. Melvis and His Gentlemen recorded the song in 1989, Johnny Earle in 1998, Rockin Pete Anderson in 2008, and Rockin' the Joint in 2009.

References

Sources

*Dawson, Jim. ''Rock Around the Clock: The Record that Started the Rock Revolution'' (Backbeat Books, 2005. *John W. Haley and John von Hoëlle, ''Sound and Glory'' (Wilmington, DE: Dyne-American, 1990) *John Swenson, ''Bill Haley'' (London: W.H. Allen, 1982) {{Bill Haley & His Comets Songs about rock music 1956 songs Bill Haley songs Songs written by Bill Haley Decca Records singles Festival Records singles