Date: Tue, 16 Jun 1998 03:04:18 EDT
From: "Barry A. Popik"
Subject: Rock and Roll (1907 songs & 1920s-1930s lullabies)
This continues the study of "rock and roll," working backwards from Alan
Freed (1950s), the Rock-ola juke boxes (1940s), and the first citations of
"rock and roll" (1930s).
The year 1907 was notable for both "rock" and "roll" in song titles.
"Rock-Rock-Rock" is a phrase that would be used in the 1940s and 1950s; its
"rocking chair" would become a popular song image in the 1930s. Three "roll"
songs mention the rolling of roller skates or ocean waves. It's the latter
image that was in 1934's "Rock and Roll."
Various "rock-a-bye" lullabies from the 1920s and 1930s follow.
ROCK-ROCK-ROCK
(LET ME ROCK IN MY OLD ROCKING CHAIR)(1907)
by George Spink
When summer comes 'round and the boats on the Sound
Are hurrying here and there
I like to retreat from downtown in the street
And get to the good old sea air
I shake all my trouble then order my bubble
And after to drinks I've been blown
Get under the tap and put on my blue cap
And imagine the oceans I own
Rock rock rock
Let me rock in my old rocking chair
If I have a drink and a good cigar
The rest of the game, I can spare
Let those who prefer it a real sailor be
I know that it doesn't look lucky to me
I'd rather get Soused by myself than the sea
And rock in my old rocking chair. (...)
ROLL AROUND (1907)
by Harry B. Smith and Max Hoffman
Life is made up of fads and of folly
Like a lot of big children are we
And of all games there's none half so jolly
As the present revival we see
For oh, it is fun to be flying
With never a care for the fates
Like a bird on the wing
You can swing 'round the ring
With the girl that you love on skates, So
Roll A-round, A-round, a-round
To the music of the band
Slide a-way and glide a-way
There's nothing half so grand. (...)
THE ROLLER RINK FOR MINE (1907)
by Phelps Brown
...
The roller rink for mine
Oh, that's the place for a time
No auto or airship can compare
With the poetry of motion I find there
And so I skate with charming Kate till late quite late
The band begins to play
Ev'ry care is driven a-way
And so I say both night and day
The roller rink for mine. (...)
ROLL ON, THOU DEEP AND DARK BLUE OCEAN (1907)
by H. B. Dale and H. W. Petrie
...
Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean
Roll on, throwing thy billows high
Gone are the foes who dared to brave thee
Down in the deep they lie
Roll on, roll on, roll on, roll on
Thou deep blue sea
Roll on, roll on!
ROCK-A-BYE YOUR BABY WITH A DIXIE MELODY (1918)
by Sam M. Lewis and Jean Schwartz
(A huge hit for Al Jolson. You know the words--ed.)
ROCKAWAY BABY (1920)
by Alex Rogers and C. Luckeyth Roberts
(A hit for Fanny Brice at the Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic, but the lyrics are
pedestrian--ed.)
ROCK-A-BYE LULLABYE MAMMY (1920)
by Grant Clarke and Walter Donaldson
HARLEM LULLABY (1932)
by Margot Millham and Willard Robison
Out on Sugar Hill at the close of day
Mammy's singin' her roundelay
Not the cradle songs you have heard before
Just a plaintive song of Harlem lore
Folks livin' up on Striver's Row
Don't sing rock-a-bys no mo
They chant hi-de-hi-de-ho (predates Calloway, not in RHHDAS--ed.), sweet and
low
Now ev'ry little coal black rose
'For he's very old he knows
A Harlem lullaby. (...)
ROCKIN' ALONE (IN AN OLD ROCKING CHAIR)(1932)
by Bob Miller
Sitting alone in an old rockin' chair
I saw an old mother with silvery hair
She seem'd so neglected by those who should care
Rockin' Alone in an old rockin' chair. (...)
ROCK-A-BYE RIVER (from the SHOWBOAT REVUE of 1933, 2nd edition)
by Mitchell Parish and Frank Perkins
...
Rock me to sleep, Rock-a-bye River
Tell the story you have always told me
Let your lazy rhythm hold me
My love is deep, Rock-a-bye River. (...)
AN OLD LULLABY (1934)
by Walter Hirsch, Al Goering, and Ben Bernie
...
Rock-a-bye, rock-a-bye, baby
I can hear in memory
Go to sleep, go to sleep baby
It's the song of songs for me. (...)
RHYTHM LULLABY (1936)
by Andy Razaf and Paul Denniker
...
Oh rock-a-bye baby
Precious little sugar pie
Come close that other eye
Soon he will stop his winkin'
You'll hear a peaceful sign
And his slumber will be deep
As he tumbles off to sleep
To the magic of a rhythm lullaby.
SWING ME A LULLABY (1936)
by Don Raye, Hughie Prince, and Tom Waring
Rock a bye, my baby
My mama sings to me
In the tree-tops goin' sleepy bye
But I'd rather have a hot band
Rock my cradle and swing me a lullaby. (...)
THE KING OF SWING IS HAVIN' A DREAM (1936)
by Sammy Cahn and Saul Chaplin
...
A hundred saxes wail away
The rhythm they've got, makes them play
One clarinet starts to scream
The King of Swing is havin' a dream!
Rockin' in his rockin' chair he's hittin' high "c"
Tryin' new tricks, fancy clarinet licks
The kind musicians think are heavenly. (...)
There's still more, but our Lincoln Center Library time ran out today.