First mention of the word ROCK in a song?

[Joseph]

I have been enjoying a DCC Jazz title called Hot Creole Jazz-1953 by George Lewis and his Ragtime Band (previously called Jazz Funeral In New Orleans).

I was surprise to hear in a song called "Ice Cream" these lyrics:

You scream, I scream, everybody wants ice cream
Rock, rock my baby rock.

Has anybody know of an earlier mention of the word "ROCK" in a song?

[Bob Lovely]

Originally posted by Tangent
I have been enjoying a DCC Jazz title called Hot Creole Jazz-1953 by George Lewis and his Ragtime Band (previously called Jazz Funeral In New Orleans).

I was surprise to hear in a song called "Ice Cream" these lyrics:

You scream, I scream, everybody wants ice cream
Rock, rock my baby rock.

Has anybody know of an earlier mention of the word "ROCK" in a song?

Tangent,

I am not surprised.

To the best of my knowledge, the term "Rock n' Roll" came out of R & B music in the late 40's and very early 50's that preceded early Rock n' Roll. Check out Sixty Minute Man by the Billy Ward and the Dominoes from 1951. In R & B music, the term Rock n' Roll was used commonly in lyrics as a reference to making love, hence the phrase "Rock n' Roll all night long". I would not be surprised to learn that the actual origins of the term were even earlier from Jazz and Bebop.

Bob :)

[Joseph]

Bob,

Very interesting insight into what rock'n'roll meant.

Maybe that's why my parents always said that rock'n'roll was lewd!:D

[Bob Lovely]

Originally posted by Tangent
Bob,

Very interesting insight into what rock'n'roll meant.

Maybe that's why my parents always said that rock'n'roll was lewd!:D

Tangent,

Very true historically. The exact line from the song I referenced is "I rock n' roll 'em all night long, I'm a sixty minute man". There were many other R & B songs that referenced Rock n' Roll this way in lryics.

Bob :D

[aashton]

A little surfin' and I have come across Roy Brown with "Good Rocking Tonight," which he wrote in 1946 and recorded in 1947.

Alles bestes - Andrew

[Tullman]

How about Rock of Ages:D

[sgb]

Originally posted by Tullman
How about Rock of Ages:D

Well, The Band didn't exist until the latter part of the Sixties;)

That was a good album title, though:D

[mcow1]

Originally posted by sgb


Well, The Band didn't exist until the latter part of the Sixties;)

That was a good album title, though:D

I think he may have been referencing the old hymn/gospel song:)

[sgb]

Originally posted by mcow1


I think he may have been referencing the old hymn/gospel song:)

Yeah, I think so too. I guess the;) wasn't enough of a clue.

[mcow1]

Originally posted by sgb


Yeah, I think so too. I guess the;) wasn't enough of a clue.
It should have been ,had I been observant enough.:D

[CM Wolff]

Often Trixie Smith is credited to having used "rock" and "roll" in a song title first---"My Man Rocks Me (With One Steady Roll)" from 1922. I know there are a ton of blues songs from the 20's or 30's that have the words/title/concept of Rock or Roll in them, usually in reference to, well, you know. The terms were probably used in oral/vernacular slang well before they made it into the blues, so you are probably looking at the turn of the century for its real origins. (Good luck pinning it down any more precisely). :)

[Bob Lovely]

Originally posted by CM Wolff
Often Trixie Smith is credited to having used "rock" and "roll" in a song title first---"My Man Rocks Me (With One Steady Roll)" from 1922. I know there are a ton of blues songs from the 20's or 30's that have the words/title/concept of Rock or Roll in them, usually in reference to, well, you know. The terms were probably used in oral/vernacular slang well before they made it into the blues, so you are probably looking at the turn of the century for its real origins. (Good luck pinning it down any more precisely). :)

Thanks! I have often expected that origins were much older than references in R & B songs from the late 40's and early 50's.

Bob

:)

[RDK]

Now that that's settled, how about the term "jelly roll" ? ;)

When I was just a young, inexperienced pup, I never knew quite what Van Morrison meant when he sang it....

[Gary]

Jelly Roll Morton? He was around when Robert Johnson was playing! :D

[RDK]

Hey, Gary, the term "jelly roll" predates Jelly Roll Morton by a longshot. Hope this isn't too graphic for the forum, but i believe it's "educational" enough...

from http://www.apassion4jazz.net/eoj.html

'jelly roll' is black slang from the nineteenth century for the vulva, with various related meanings, i.e. sexual intercourse, a loving woman, a man obsessed with finding same. "What you want?" she asked softly. "Jelly roll?'" (Thomas Wolfe, Look Homeward Angel 1929). The term probably derives from 'jelly' meaning semen: "Give her cold jelly to take up her belly, And once a day swinge her again" (John Fletcher, The Begger's Bush 1622). Related expressions include 'jelly bag,' referring both to the scrotum and the female genitals; 'jerk [one's] jelly,' to masturbate; and 'jelly,' a good-looking woman. 'Jelly roll' appears in many blues songs, such as "I Ain't Gonna Give Nobody None o' My Jelly Roll," "Nobody in Town Can Bake a Jelly Roll Like Mine," and "Jelly Roll Blues," the last by Ferdinand Joseph La Menthe "Jelly Roll" Morton (1885-1941).

Ray

[Grant]

I guess some of us will never look at another jelly roll dessert in quite the same way again!:D

[guy incognito]

The rain quit, and the wind got high
And a black ol' dust storm filled the sky
And I swapped my farm for a Ford machine
And I poured it full of this gas-eye-line
And I started
Rockin' and rollin'
Over the mountains, out towards the ol' peach bowl.

- Woody Guthrie, "Talkin' Dust Bowl Blues" (1940)

[aashton]

Just popping out to the shops to get me a plate of jelly rolls :D

Any other "alternative foods" related to music I should be looking out for ?


Andrew

[Grant]

Originally posted by aashton
Just popping out to the shops to get me a plate of jelly rolls :D

Any other "alternative foods" related to music I should be looking out for ?


Andrew
Cherry pie
Hot Dogs
French roll
sticky buns

I'd better stop before this gets deleted!:D

[RDK]

The site i pulled the "jelly roll" slang from ...

http://www.apassion4jazz.net/eoj.html

has some other eye-opening definitions as well. Interesting...

[Jimbo]

Originally posted by aashton


Any other "alternative foods" related to music I should be looking out for ?




Whatever you do, DON'T EAT YELLOW SNOW!