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Copyright © 2002-2004
by James P. Hauser except where otherwise noted.  All rights reserved.

The Blues Connections of

Bill Haley & His Comets

Bill Haley was the first white musician who became a star by playing rock and roll. If you followed his career during the first half of the1950s (before he became a big star), you were lucky enough to witness the transformation of rhythm 'n' blues and country music into rock and roll. At the start of the decade, he fronted a country and western band called Bill Haley and the Saddlemen whose styles included western swing and hillbilly. According to Haley, by 1950 he was already playing a combination of country, R&B, and Dixieland jazz. In 1951, he recorded a remake of the number 1 R&B smash "Rocket 88". (The original hit version of the song was done by Jackie Brenston with backing from Ike Turner's band, and it is considered by many rock historians to be the first rock 'n' roll record.) Haley's version of "Rocket 88" didn't exactly make a star out of him, but it did set him on a path along which he would eventually prove that he could get some mighty nice flavors by adding a good helping of tasty R&B to his swingin' brand of country cookin'.

In 1952, Haley covered "Rock the Joint", another piece of classic rhythm and blues which was originally recorded by Jimmy Preston and His Prestonians. The cover was a minor hit, and this encouraged Haley to fully commit his band to an R&B style. He added a honking saxophone--a trademark of R&B bands of that time--to his sound, and changed the name of his band to The Comets. In 1954, he recorded "(We're Gonna) Rock Around the Clock". It became a #1 pop hit and went to #3 on the R&B charts. "Rock Around the Clock" was similar to his earlier recording "Rock the Joint". Not only that, but guitarist Danny Cedrone's famous solo on "Rock Around the Clock" is almost an exact copy of the solo he played on "Rock the Joint".

Haley's records made the Top Forty over 10 times in the 1950s including his covers of Joe Turner's R&B classic "Shake, Rattle and Roll" and the jumpin' 12-bar blues "(See Ya) Later Alligator". But the hits stopped coming after Elvis came onto the scene in the second half of the decade. He faded from the public eye in the United States, but remained very popular in Britain and Europe. Haley died of a heart attack in 1981 after being in poor health throughout the seventies. He died broke and was only 51 years old. Worst of all, he died feeling that he was unappreciated by Americans for his contributions to rock 'n' roll.

Haley might have become a bigger star, but he was handicapped by his age (he was about 30 when "Rock Around the Clock" made him a star) and by his physical appearance. He didn't come close to having Elvis Presley's good looks, youth, and sex appeal, and--even in the early days when he and his band wore cowboy boots and western wear--he certainly wasn't the rugged Dash Riprock type either. He was chubby and kind of homely; "Rock Around the Clock" sounded real hip, but the man himself looked about as square as four corners can do ya.

For more of Bill Haley's blues connections, continue reading on below. Before you're done you'll understand that while Bill was rockin' around the clock, it was some rhythm and the blues that he used to trick the talk!

More of Bill Haley's blues connections:

More rhythm and blues songs covered by Bill Haley and His Comets are listed below. They are arranged alphabetically by the name of the blues artist who composed, originally recorded, or popularized the song.

Bo Carter (also Leadbelly): Corinne, Corinna

Ray Charles: I Got a Woman

Louis Jordan: Choo Choo Ch'Boogie

Little Richard: Rip It Up

Joe Turner: Shake, Rattle and Roll; Flip, Flop and Fly

Notes:

Later for ya Baby: The Guitar Slim Connection

Bill Haley's hit "(See You) Later Alligator" has some interesting blues connections. It was written and originally recorded by Bobby Charles, a great songwriter from Louisiana. Based on an audition which took place over the telephone when he was just 15 years old, Charles became the first white musician to sign with the great Chicago blues label Chess Records. He used the melody from Guitar Slim's "Later for You Baby" to write "Later Alligator".

Guitar Slim (a/k/a Eddie Jones) was also from Louisiana. Slim, a great blues guitarist and a very soulful vocalist, is best remembered for his hit "The Things I Used To Do". He was a wild, acrobatic performer whose onstage stunts sometimes resulted in personal injury and the loss of a fancy set of duds to blood stains. But little distractions like a busted up head didn't normally stop the show. His life offstage was just as crazy; he was a big drinker and a non-stop carouser who claimed to pack two days of livin' into every single day. Slim was simply one awesome wildman.

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Bill Haley died believing that his music didn't receive the recognition it deserved for its role in the birth and early development of rock 'n' roll. You don't have to go far to find evidence to support his complaint. He and his music are barely mentioned in the 700 page third edition of the Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll (in earlier editions of this history, his name doesn't even appear in the extensive index). And "Rock Around the Clock" is not among the records named in two books by respected rock critics about the best rock and roll singles in history--Rock and Roll: The 100 Best Singles by Paul Williams and The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made by Dave Marsh (to be fair, it was most likely an oversight by Marsh). Anyways, I think you get the idea; Haley must have thought that he was the Rodney Dangerfield of rock and roll--he just didn't get any respect. Maybe it had something to do with his image of being a square? He was plain looking, he loved to yodel, and he even had an accordion player in his band. And the fringe-covered western wear sported by Haley and his early band, The Saddlemen, does kind of conjure up a corny Howdy Doody image.

Or maybe the lack of respect for his music has more to do with the fact that he was not part of the pioneering group of early white southern rock 'n' rollers--Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins--who recorded for Sam Phillips's Sun Records? Rock and roll is a music whose origins are in the south--places like Memphis, New Orleans, and Mississippi. But Bill Haley was from the north; his home base was Chester, Pennsylvania, a town near Philadelphia. This might make his rock & roll seem less authentic to rock historians. To them it would make much more sense for the first white rock & roller to be a poor southern boy who grew up being exposed to all the blues being played by his black neighbors (a description that possibly best fits Carl Perkins). This description certainly doesn't fit Bill Haley, and his place in the rock history books has suffered for it.

Haley wasn't part of the first group of musicians to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But the second group, which was inducted in 1987 (six years after his death), included his name. He was also honored by the Hall of Fame when "Rock Around the Clock" was selected as one of the 500 songs that shaped rock and roll. No matter what it looks like or where it came from, if it's got that sound it's still rock and roll.

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