The Influence of Rhythm and Blues on Rock and Roll 1
One of the nascent by-products of the sociological changes brought about by World War II was a booming post-war economy that, within a decade of the war's end, had served to prolong adolescence and in the process created the category of "the teenager." This phenomenon naturally led to the first age-specific popular music, rock and roll. Rock and roll appeared in the 1950s as the high-energy, electrically amplified music of young dancers and listeners, first in the United States and then worldwide. It was not a single kind of music, and historians disagree about when it began and which artists or records to include in its canon. For some, it was never more than a marketing rubric to sell Black rhythm and blues to White teenagers; for others, it was the most exciting musical style of the twentieth century.
To rock, and sometimes to roll, were standard terms for dance moves by the turn of the twentieth century (while to roll, and sometimes to rock, were common euphemisms for sexual intercourse long before that). Still, sometime in the late 1930s, they first came together to create a rhythmically powerful style of music when a song called "Rock It for Me" (1938) (here recorded by Ella Fitzgerald) included the lines, "I'm all through with symphony … won't you satisfy my soul with that rock and roll" (stated at 02:38). By the late 1940s, the words were being used in dance music lyrics, both together and separately, especially those by blues-based, heavily rhythmic African American performers such as Paul Bascomb and Wild Bill Moore, who recorded different songs titled "Rock and Roll" in 1947 and 1948. Listen to Bascomb's recording (in 1947) and Moore's recording (in 1948) that follows.
Paul Bascomb - Rock & Roll (1947) [ 00:00-00:00 ]
Wild Bill Moore - Rock and Roll (1948) [ 00:00-00:00 ]
Seen as the first woman to have recorded a song with rhythm and blues sound that uses the phrase "rock and roll," Erline "Rock And Roll" Harris performed " Rock and Roll Blues " in 1949.
Erline ''Rock & Roll'' Harris - Rock And Roll Blues [ 00:00-00:00 ]
It's important to note that these artists built on the hard-driving swing beat of earlier dance bands such as Count Basie's and Lionel Hampton's groups. However, musicians such as Louis Jordan and Amos Milburn, stripped down the sound to fit a smaller, electrically amplified combo format and blended it with the "down home" Southern blues (and, to some extent, gospel) of artists such as Louis Jordan, T-Bone Walker, and Dinah Washington.
Sh-Boom
Oh, life could be a dream
(Sh-boom)
If I could take you up in paradise up above
(Sh-boom)
If you would tell me I'm the only one that you love
Life could be a dream, sweetheart
Sweet Lorraine
Just found joy
I'm as happy as a baby boy,
baby boy
With another brand new
choo-choo choy
When I met my sweet Lorraine, Lorraine, Lorraine