"Shake, Rattle and Roll" is a song written in 1954 by Jesse Stone (usually credited as "''Charles Calhoun''", his songwriting name) and first recorded that year by

Big Joe Turner Joseph Vernon "Big Joe" Turner Jr. (May 18, 1911 – November 24, 1985) was an American blues shouter from Kansas City, Missouri. According to songwriter Doc Pomus, "Rock and roll would have never happened without him". Turner's greatest fa ...

, whose version ranked No. 127 on the ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' magazine list of

The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" is a recurring song ranking compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and industry figures. The first list was published in December 2 ...

Background

In early 1954,

Ahmet Ertegun Ahmet Ertegun ( ; , ; July 31, 1923 – December 14, 2006) was a Turkish-American businessman, songwriter, record executive and philanthropist. Ertegun was the co-founder and president of Atlantic Records. He discovered and championed many lead ...

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

suggested to Jesse Stone that he write an up-tempo blues for

, a blues shouter whose career had begun in

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

before World War II. Stone played around with various phrases before coming up with "shake, rattle and roll".

Nick Tosches Nicholas P. Tosches (; October 23, 1949 – October 20, 2019) was an American journalist, novelist, biographer, and poet. His 1982 biography of Jerry Lee Lewis, ''Hellfire (Nick Tosches book), Hellfire'', was praised by ''Rolling Stone'' magazi ...

, ''Unsung Heroes of Rock 'n' Roll'' (2nd ed. 1991), page 12-21. (Stone used his real name for

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadc ...

songs, while using the pseudonym "Charles Calhoun" for BMI-registered songs, such as "Shake, Rattle and Roll"). However, the phrase had been used in earlier songs. In 1910,

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

performer Baby Franklin Seals published "You Got to Shake, Rattle and Roll", a

ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that had its peak from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its Syncopation, syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers ...

tune about gambling with dice, in New Orleans; in 1919, Al Bernard recorded a version of the song.

Joe Turner original

Turner recorded "Shake, Rattle and Roll" in New York City on February 15, 1954. Atlantic released it as a single in April 1954, that reached number one on the U.S. ''

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 advertis ...

R&B chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

and number 22 on the ''Billboard'' singles chart.

Bill Haley version

Bill Haley & His Comets Bill Haley & His Comets were an American rock and roll band formed in 1947 and continuing until Haley's death in 1981. The band was also known as Bill Haley and the Comets and Bill Haley's Comets. From late 1954 to late 1956, the group record ...

recorded a cover version of the song on June 7, 1954,Dawson, Jim. ''Rock Around the Clock : The Record that Started the Rock Revolution'' (Backbeat Books, 2005, pp. 95–96), . the same week Turner's version first topped the R&B chart. The Comets provided the instrumental accompaniment: Johnny Grande on piano, Billy Williamson on rhythm guitar, Marshall Lytle on bass, and Joey Ambrose on saxophone. Haley's version was released in August and reached number seven on the ''

'' singles chart, spending a total of twenty-seven weeks in the Top 40. In the UK, it peaked at number four.

Elvis Presley versions

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

recorded the song twice in a studio setting: a demo recorded at radio station KDAV in Lubbock, Texas in January 1955 while under contract with

Sun Records Sun Records is an American independent record label founded by producer Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee on February 1, 1952. Sun was the first label to record Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Jo ...

(this recording was not released until the 1990s) and as a 1956 single for

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...

. Introduced by Cleveland disc jockey Bill Randle, rhythm guitar Presley, guitarist

Scotty Moore Winfield Scott Moore III (December 27, 1931 – June 28, 2016) was an American guitarist who formed The Blue Moon Boys in 1954, Elvis Presley's backing band. He was studio and touring guitarist for Presley between 1954 and 1968. Rock critic ...

, bassist

Bill Black William Patton Black Jr. (September 17, 1926 – October 21, 1965) was an American musician and bandleader who is noted as one of the pioneers of rock and roll. He played in Elvis Presley's early trio, The Blue Moon Boys. Black later formed Bill ...

, and drummer

D. J. Fontana Dominic Joseph Fontana (March 15, 1931 – June 13, 2018) was an American musician best known as the drummer for Elvis Presley for 14 years. In 1955, he was hired to play drums for Presley, which marked the beginning of a 15-year relationshi ...

performed the song in medley with the similar "

Flip, Flop and Fly "Flip, Flop and Fly" is a song recorded by Big Joe Turner in 1955. Called a "prototypical rocker", it was recorded by several early rock and roll performers. In 1973, a version by the Downchild Blues Band reached the record singles chart in Canad ...

" on the January 28, 1956, broadcast of the Dorsey Brothers ''Stage Show'' (Haley's "kitchen" opening verse was sung).Roger Lee Hall, ''Shake, Rattle and Roll: Electric Elvis and Bill Randle'' PineTree Press, 2010, pages 7-9

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shake, Rattle And Roll 1954 songs 1954 singles Big Joe Turner songs Bill Haley songs Elvis Presley songs Songs written by Jesse Stone Atlantic Records singles Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients Songs about dancing Songs about rock music

Background

Joe Turner original

Bill Haley version

Elvis Presley versions

See also

References