Good Rockin' Tonight

All right. Been a few days, but here we are. Lots of modern music news but right now,I am stuck in a time warp and couldn't be happier. So, the first truly rocking r&b hit was today's song, "Good Rockin' Tonight" originally written and recorded by Roy Brown in 1947. Later that year Wynonie Harris recorded a version that was off the hook! you decide which one you really like better, it's a hard choice. What you have in this song is Roy Brown being the first popular blues singer to really emphasize his gospel roots. Later, Elvis recorded a great version of this too. There was no one moment of course, or one song, or even one style that was born in the early, mid-fifties but, (like Robert Palmer has said)it was a bunch of rocking music from across the U.S. that got put under one name, plus the technology of amplification and last, the marketing and realization that there was money to be made in packaging this previously non-commercial (meaning not for all races) music to all races. To my mind, this is give or take, 1955. Is it a coincidence that the civil rights movement is considered to have begun around this time too?

In this first version, you can hear the heavy jazz influence in the trumpet. The saxophone plays what later becomes the guitar's territory. The vocals are pretty smooth and are, honestly the most dated sounding thing (aside from the lyrics) on the song to my mind. Pretty fun tune though
This one is the best of the three to my mind. The gospel soul claps, the hopping, pulsing rhythm section, and the better recording quality all combined with the much hipper, powerful vocals of Wynonie. Dig how he changes the part from the first one to the good old call and response move, "Hoy Hoy Hoy Hoy"!, on the fadeout.

This is my runnerup for best of the three. Elvis definitely had something special. Although the rest of the band is really tight and has a really good sound, I feel like they definitely don't swing and bounce like the previous versions.

And if you are a fan of cheesy, tv miniseries' about rock n roll legends than here you go...:)




More to come soon. Including the battle for the "first" proper Rock N Roll song. Tune in next time!

Alberto