70-Year-Old Songs: (We’re Gonna) Rock Around the Clock

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Going back 70 years, before I was born (and before many of you were born), we reach another point in the countdown where the reverberations from 1954 are still being felt today. Here’s another song that’s now 70 years old…and still significant. (We’re Gonna) Rock Around the Clock - Bill Haley & His Comets Bill Haley was one of the unsung heroes of early rock and roll. Earlier this month I used Big Joe Turner’s original recording of “Shake, Rattle and Roll,” and listening to the difference in that and Haley’s rendition tells you of the impact that “rockabilly” or mixing country with R&B was having. This was Haley’s follow-up to his cover of “Shake, Rattle and Roll.” It was an instant hit. It became legendary over time, thanks to its use in American Graffiti, the theme to Happy Days, and even a reference in Elton John’s “Crocodile Rock” (“while the other kids were rockin’ ‘round the clock we were hoppin’ and boppin’ to the crocodile rock”). As I’ve also mentioned before, Haley never thought he got the credit he deserved, which made him bitter and reliant on alcohol. He died at 55, way too young and long before he saw his contributions to rock and roll acknowledged. This is one of the starting points for the music we know and love as rock and roll. (We’re Gonna) Rock Around the Clock Written by Max Freedman and Jimmy DeKnight Recorded by Bill Haley and His Comets Released as a single, 1954 If the band slows down we’ll yell for more: