Good Rocking Tonight
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| "Good Rockin' Tonight" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Template:Infobox song/link by Roy Brown | ||||
| B-side | "Lolly Pop Mama" | |||
| Released | 1947 | |||
| Recorded | 1947 | |||
| Studio | J&M (New Orleans, Louisiana)[1] | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | Script error: No such module "hms". | |||
| Label | De Luxe | |||
| [[Songwriter|SongwriterTemplate:Pluralize from text]] | Roy Brown | |||
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"Good Rocking Tonight" is a jump blues song originally released in 1947 by its writer, Roy Brown[2] and was covered by many recording artists (sometimes as Good Rockin' Tonight). The song includes the memorable refrain, "Well I heard the news, there's good rocking tonight!" The song anticipated elements of rock and roll music.[3]
Some reviewers state that Brown's version, or Wynonie Harris' (depending on the source),[4] is one of the contenders for the title of "first rock'n'roll record".[5] The label of the 45 RPM record by Brown included the words "Rocking blues".[6] In 2022, Brown's recording was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in the 'Classics of Blues Recording – Singles' category.[7]
Original song
Roy Brown had first offered his song to Wynonie Harris, who turned it down. He then approached Cecil Gant later that night, but after hearing Brown sing, Gant made a 2:30 AM phone call to Jules Braun, the president of De Luxe Records. After Brown sang his song over the phone, Braun asked Brown to sing it a second time. He then told Gant, "Give him fifty dollars and don't let him out of your sight."[8] According to the Paul McCartney Project, "Harris’s version was even more energetic than Brown’s original version, featuring black gospel style handclapping".[9]
Five weeks later, Brown recorded the song for De Luxe Records. Only after Brown's record had gained traction in New Orleans did Harris decide to cover it. Harris' more energetic version may have contributed to the composition's greater success on the national R&B chart. Brown's original recording hit No. 13 of the Billboard R&B chart, but Harris' record became a No. 1 R&B hit and remained on the chart for half a year.[10] Brown's single would re-enter the chart in 1949, peaking at No. 11. Harris had a reputation for carousing, and sometimes forgot lyrics. His "Good Rockin'" recording session largely followed Brown's original lyrics, but by the end, he replaced the last section with a series of raucous "hoy hoy hoy!" interjections, a commonly used expression in jump blues tunes of the time, going back to 1945's "The Honeydripper" by Joe Liggins.[11]
The song is a primer of sorts on the popular black music of the era, making lyrical reference to Sweet Lorraine, Sioux City Sue, Sweet Georgia Brown, Caldonia, Elder Brown, and Deacon Jones. All of these characters had figured prominently in previous hit songs. The song has also been credited with being the most successful record to that point to use the word "rock" not as a euphemism for sex, but as a descriptive for the musical style, a connection which would become even clearer in 1954 when a version of "Good Rockin' Tonight" became Elvis Presley's second-ever single.
While Brown missed out on the biggest hit version of his song, its success kicked off his own career, which included two No. 1 R&B hits. In 1949, he released "Rockin' at Midnight", a sequel to "Good Rockin' Tonight." It reached No. 2 on the R&B chart, where it remained for a month.[12]
Elvis Presley version
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| "Good Rockin' Tonight" | ||||
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| B-side | "I Don't Care If the Sun Don't Shine" | |||
| Released | Script error: No such module "Date time".[13] | |||
| Recorded | September 10, 1954[14] | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | Script error: No such module "hms". | |||
| Label | Sun | |||
| [[Songwriter|SongwriterTemplate:Pluralize from text]] | Roy Brown | |||
| [[Record producer|ProducerTemplate:Pluralize from text]] | Sam Phillips | |||
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In 1954, "Good Rockin' Tonight" was the second Sun Records release by Elvis Presley, along with "I Don't Care if the Sun Don't Shine" on the flip side.[16][17] Presley and his bandmates' version is an almost word-for-word cover of Harris' version but omitted the lyrics' by-then-dated roster of names in favor of a simpler, more energetic "We're gonna rock, rock, rock!" Despite its later importance, the single did not sell well when it was released.[18]
Similar to Wynonie Harris' 1948 version, Presley added even greater "exuberance and drive" to the "rockabilly" song, but the 1954 version did not prove to be as successful.[19]
The song was used for the 2005 biographical miniseries Elvis, which starred Jonathan Rhys-Meyers as Presley; it was used for a montage sequence where he is performing at the Louisiana Hayride in 1954.
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United States (RIAA)[20] | Gold | 500,000 |
|
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
Personnel
- Elvis Presley – lead vocals, acoustic rhythm guitar
- Scotty Moore – electric lead guitar (Gibson ES-295)
- Bill Black – double bass
Other renditions
- Pat Boone's version rose to number 49 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1959.[21]
- Jerry Lee Lewis recorded the song twice at Sun in March 1958 and in June 1962.
- The Doors (without Jim Morrison) recorded a cover version titled "Good Rockin'" for their 1972 studio album Full Circle.
- Montrose created a hard rock version of the song on its 1973 debut album Montrose.
- The song was a setlist staple during Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's 1978 Darkness Tour.[22] A recording of the performance in at the Capitol Theater in Passaic, New Jersey, on September 20, 1978, is included on the official live audio recording of that concert.[23] The song occasionally featured in subsequent Springsteen concerts, with the most recent rendition taking place at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 2, 2012 during the Wrecking Ball World Tour.[24]
- When Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant recorded an EP with some friends in 1984, calling the band the Honeydrippers, he focused on a "roots of rock" sound. The EP The Honeydrippers: Volume One featured the renamed "Rockin' at Midnight" as its first single, with a strong boogie woogie feel. It reached number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100.[25]
References
Page Template:Reflist/styles.css has no content.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.King, Roger; Schumacher, Craig (March 2004). "Cosimo Matassa: Little Richard, Fats Domino, Professor Longhair". Tape Op. Retrieved August 19, 2024.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Tosches, Nick (1996). Country: The Twisted Roots of Rock 'n' Roll. Boston, Massachusetts: Da Capo Press. p. 51. ISBN 9780786750986.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Morgan Wright's HoyHoy.com: The Dawn of Rock 'n Roll". Hoyhoy.com. May 2, 1954. Archived from the original on June 24, 2011. Retrieved March 4, 2012.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."5 Candidates for the First Rock 'n' Roll Song". Mentalfloss.com. March 23, 2012. Retrieved June 17, 2023.[dead link]
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."The first rock'n'roll record is released". The Guardian. June 12, 2011. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
the first rock record. In fact, that title is hotly disputed, with contenders including Sister Rosetta Tharpe's Strange Things Happening Every Day (1944) and
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."1st Recording of: Good Rockin' Tonight - Roy Brown (1947)". Youtube. July 6, 2019. Archived from the original on December 19, 2021.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Blues Hall of Fame – About/Inductions". Blues.org. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Lauterbach, Preston (2012). The Chitlin' Circuit and the Road to Rock N Roll. New York City: W.W. Norton. pp. 142–143. ISBN 978-0393342949.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Good Rockin' Tonight (song)". The-paulmccartney-project.com. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942–2004. Record Research. p. 246.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942–2004. Record Research. p. 349.
- ^ Roy Brown's "Good Rockin' Tonight", Musicvf.com, Retrieved July 2, 2012.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.DeWitt, Howard A. (1993). Elvis, the Sun Years: The Story of Elvis Presley in the Fifties. Popular Culture. p. 164. ISBN 9781560750208.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Jorgensen, Ernst (July 1998). Elvis Presley: A Life in Music. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-18572-3. OCLC 38168234.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Stanley, Bob (September 13, 2013). Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Story of Modern Pop. Faber & Faber. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-571-28198-5.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Presley, Elvis (RCS Artist Discography)". Retrieved July 22, 2012.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Dowell, Gary; Evans, Isaiah; Halperin, James L.; Jones, Kim (2006). Heritage Music and Entertainment Dallas Signature Auction Catalog #634. Dallas, Texas: Heritage Capital Corporation. p. 167. ISBN 978-1599670812.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Burke, Ken; Griffin, Dan (2006). The Blue Moon Boys – The Story of Elvis Presley's Band. Chicago, Illinois: Chicago Review Press. pp. 45–46. ISBN 1-55652-614-8.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Good Rockin Tonight". Elvis, The Music. October 20, 2019. Retrieved December 25, 2022.
- ^ Script error: No such module "cite".
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Pat Boone". Billboard.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Good Rockin' Tonight". Brucebase.wikidot.com.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Bruce Springsteen - September 20, 1978 Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ". Live.brucespringsteen.net.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."2012-09-02 Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, PA". Brucebase.wikidot.com.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Whitburn, Joel (2013). Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles, 14th Edition: 1955-2012. Record Research. p. 392.
External links
- Good Rocking Tonight at Discogs (list of releases) Roy Brown version
- Good Rockin' Tonight at Discogs (list of releases) Elvis Presley version
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