Talk:Rock It for Me

Confirming the song's composer(s)
I'm seeing conflicting info on who wrote this song. This site indicates it was Harry Warren and Johnny Mercer: http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858900035/ Yobbo14 (talk) 16:39, 25 March 2013 (UTC)
 * Interesting. The original label here, the ASCAP directory here, and Elijah Wald here, all list Kay and Sue Werner.  I suggest they may be more authoritative than www.songmeanings.net.   Ghmyrtle (talk) 16:51, 25 March 2013 (UTC)

Cool. Thanks for updating! Yobbo14 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 20:25, 25 March 2013 (UTC)

Uses of the term not uncommon?
Wanted to request clarification on the first sentence in the third paragraph. It was modified to read "... uses of the term were not uncommon in various blues and jazz recordings from the 1920s onward."

I'm willing to believe that folks may have been throwing the Rock & Roll term around prior to the documented item in 1942 - but I'm unaware of any specific use of the term "Rock & Roll" in recordings prior to the Ella Fitzgerald song. Can any citations be provided? Thanks! Yobbo14 (talk) 17:04, 7 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Try this, from 1933. Much more info at the article on Origins of rock and roll. Ghmyrtle (talk) 20:41, 7 June 2013 (UTC)

Good Stuff :) Thanks!  However, in the context of the Boswell Sisters' song, it appears "Rock & Roll" was referring more to the motion of the sea. Unless I missed something in the lyrics, I'm not sure it was identifying an up-and-coming music genre.  I've read thru the Origins of Rock and Roll article before. It seems to discuss more about key songs from which Rock & Roll developed.  What I'm wondering (based on the added sentence "... uses of the term were not uncommon in various blues and jazz recordings from the 1920s onward."), are there any other songs that specifically mention "Rock & Roll", and define it as specifically as Rock It For Me? Yobbo14 (talk) 16:28, 10 June 2013 (UTC)
 * But the line in "Rock It For Me" - "won’t you satisfy my soul with the rock and roll?" - does not "identify.. an up-and-coming music genre". "Rocking and rolling" originally referred to the motion of a ship at sea, and then was used to refer to the motion of a babe in arms ("Rockin' and rolling in your arms/ In the arms of Moses", 1904) - and to sex ("My Man Rocks Me (With One Steady Roll)", 1922).  The phrase became widely used - essentially to describe a form of motion, which could be used to refer to a dance step, with allusions to sex ("If Satan starts to hound you, commence to rock and roll / Get rhythm in your feet...", 1935).  The first apparent overt reference to "rocking" as a style of music seems to have been in 1938 ("Lullaby in Rhythm" really rocks.").  It may seem in hindsight that "Rock It For Me" specifically alluded to a genre of music called "rock and roll", but there's no evidence that it was seen that way at the time - it was just a fairly common and "hip" phrase, with a variety of different meanings depending on context.  Ghmyrtle (talk) 17:08, 10 June 2013 (UTC)

Thanks again for the info. You're correct that "won't you satisfy my soul with the rock and roll" from Rock It For Me isn't quite revealing, but the line "...I heard it came to town, a new kind of rhythm" is. I totally get what you're saying, that the term rock and roll was a hipster term in those early years, and used in songs here and there. However, reading the lyrics to Rock It For Me, it simply strikes me as particularly unique - even compared to the songs you listed. If you (or others) do not see it that way, I'm fine with that. I doubt I'll lose any sleep over this :) Yobbo14 (talk) 15:45, 13 June 2013 (UTC)