Date: Sat, 13 Jun 1998 21:28:19 EDT
From: "Barry A. Popik"
Subject: Rock and Roll (continued)
This continues the previous postings on the origin of the phrase "rock and
roll," for the next volume of RHHDAS or DARE or whatever.
Chancey Olcott was popular around the turn of the century for "Too-ra-
loo-ra-looral (that's an Irish lullaby)" and "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling."
MY SONNY BOY (ROCKING, ROCKING) (1903)
by Chancey Olcott ("to my mother")
...
Rocking, rocking
Close your eyes Sonny boy
Rocking, rocking
You're old Nana's joy
Rocking, rocking
Nothing shall you annoy
While you do sleep
Alone watch I keep
O'er my own little Sonny boy.
ROCKIN' IN RHYTHM (1931)
by Duke Ellington, Irving Mills, and Harry Carney
(no lyrics)
ROCKIN' IN RHYTHM (from Earl Carroll's VANITIES)(1932)
by Harold Arlen
...
Feet in Manhattn
Keep beatn' and pattin
'Till break of dawn
Rockin' in Rhythm
ROCKING HORSE PARADE (1934)
by E. P. La Freniere
Oh can't you hear that rum-tum-tum?
The troops are marching here they come
Across the play-ground they're riding hard
Rocking to the rolling of the drum (close enough--ed.)
Just see the prancing cavalry
As proud as they can be
The Captain gay, he leads the way (no jokes, please--ed.)
They'll follow him to victory
See that little Rocking Horse Parade
Ev'ryone is riding unafraid
They are gallant troops one and all
When that final bugle call is played
Calling to the riders wh'have strayd (sic)
They'll go prancing into slumberland
That little Rocking Horse Parade.
Baby is rocking, rocking all day long
Just playing soldier while I sing this song
Sandman a creeping
And the silvery moon is peeping
While baby's dreaming of the Rocking Horse Parade.
ROCKIN' CHAIR SWING (1937)
by Mary Schaeffer and Vincent Lopez
Rockin' chairs and apron strings
Bring me back old fashioned things
A lullaby, the hushed baby's cry
Those tender hands that brushed
The tear drops from my eye.
I've got the ROCKIN' CHAIR SWING
It's rockin' right in my head
I hear the melody my mammy sang to me
When she put me to bed.
I've got the ROCKIN' CHAIR SWING
It's swinging right in my heart
It seems that I can feel
The turn of ev'ry wheel
On that old baby cart...
ROCK, ROCK, ROCK! (from the Michael Todd musical production AS THE GIRLS
GO)(1948)
by Harold Adamson and Jimmy McHugh
ROCK, ROCK, ROCK, it started in Kansas City
It played a one night stand and landed in Tennessee
The people yelled hoo-raw who heard it in Doo-waw-ditty ("Detroit"--and not in
RHHDAS--ed.)
And all the cats had fun in Washington, D.C.
It made a zig-zag turn and headed for Minnesota
>From Minneap'lis it jumped over to old St. Paul
And then it sallied forth to South and North Dakota
And when it hit New York the customers had a ball
They had the Frim-fram sauce, the Jersey bounce
The Jimmy Jam jive, the Shim-Sham too
But now they've got a rhythm that's strictly new (or is it?)
It's just a knocked out thing that started in Kansas City
And when you ROCK, ROCK, ROCK, you'll really be knocked out too.
ROCK, ROCK, ROCK, get out and rock it
Put that jive right in your pocket
If you don't like it, don't knock it
Rockin' is the thing to do.
It's just a new Re-bop that's rockin' the population
It's just a new Re-bop that's gonna be rockin' you.
I didn't have the chance to see these "rocking" citations:
ROCKAWAY BABY (1920s?) by Sammy Stept from the Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic (I ran
out of time today)
ROCKIN' CHAIR (1935?) by Hoagy Carmichael (page was torn out of SONG HITS that
was on microfilm, but it's available elsewhere)
THE ROCKING CHAIR WAS ROCKING (1935) by J. Russel Robinson (I didn't find it
on the 1935 hit songs reel)
ROCKIN' AT MIDNIGHT (1948) by Roy Brown (I didn't find it on the 1948 hit
songs reel).