To those worth selections I add my own terrifying trio of early R&B & rockabilly anthems:
Johnny Burnette's take-no-prisoners cover of the rockabilly classic The Train Kept A Rollin':
Johnny Otis' funky R&B masterpiece Wilie and the Hand Jive:
And Freddy Slack's laid back rendition of Down the Road Apiece with his own countrified brand of boogie woogie. Some rock historian believe that Down the Road Apiece is the first rock and roll song. More on that topic follows:
There's been a long standing debate among rock and roll historians as to what the first rock & roll song really was. Among the most frequently mentioned songs on the short list are:
- Down the Road Apiece by Freddy Slack & the Will Bradley Trio (1940)
- The Honeydripper by Joe Liggins (1945)
- I Can't Be Satisfied by Muddy Waters (1947)
- Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee by Stick McGhee (1949)
- The Fat Man by Fats Domino (1949)
- Sixty Minute Man by the Dominoes (1950)
- Rocket 88 by Jackie Brenston (aka Ike Turner) and His Delta Cats (1951)
- Hound Dog by Big Mama Thorton & the Johnny Otis Band (1952)
- Shake, Rattle and Roll by Big Joe Turner (1954)
- Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley and the Comets (1954)
- That's All Right Mama by Elvis Presley (1954)
- I Got A Woman by Ray Charles (1954)
- Bo Diddley by Bo Diddley (1955)
- Maybellene by Chuck Berry (1955)
- Blue Suede Shoes by Carl Perkins (1955)
- Tutti Frutti by Little Richard (1955)
Early on, both country music and R&B artists were doing their own version of of boogie woogie music but the first rock and roll song depends on your own perspective of when the boogie woogie swing music ended and the real rock and roll began. By 1956, rock and roll was here to stay as a separate and distinct genre with a fan base and market all of it's own.