Comments on: Rock And Roll Music

By: EchoNov

EchoNov — Wed, 05 Dec 2018 17:23:43 +0000

Personally I find the Beatles’ version greater and much more rocking than Chuck Berry’s original version. I like the combination of cover versions of older hits from the 1950’s and early 60’s and original Beatle songs we find on many of the early Beatle records, and I think it contributed to the Beatles’ huge success. The songs of Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins and Buddy Holly were songs which were familiar for many people.

By: Anthony

Anthony — Sat, 01 Sep 2018 21:45:02 +0000

John is clearly singing “black beat” throughout the song.

By: Pilcher of the Yard

Pilcher of the Yard — Fri, 20 Jul 2018 20:53:02 +0000

The alliteration of ‘black’ beat and ‘blues’ beat is typical Lennon lyrical genius. That’s him all right.

By: John Keller

John Keller — Sun, 18 Mar 2018 04:40:56 +0000

Not to take anything away from Chuck Berry, but the Beatles version of rock ‘n’ roll music is clearly superior to Berry’s.
The track roars with excitement and John Lennon’s vocal is fantastic, maybe his best.
The piano parts, evidently played by John, Paul and George Martin is powerful.
One of The Beatles finest recordings.

By: mr678mr678

mr678mr678 — Sun, 03 Dec 2017 11:43:51 +0000

Only just noticed it. BTW it is the 4th chorus

By: Teddy Salad

Teddy Salad — Thu, 20 Jul 2017 17:06:11 +0000

Not likely that Berry would have written it as black beat, though I have no doubt John sang it that way live and possibly even on this recording. That said, even though I knew the right lyrics as a kid, I sang it as “It’s got a black beat you can’t blues it.” Still do sometimes. I’m not a musician, but I always figured backbeat meant a different beat than jazz or the other styles that rock and roll grew out of.

By: Boudin

Boudin — Thu, 20 Jul 2017 16:36:40 +0000

As George H said in the Anthology documentary, they always had a right-handed bass lying around the studio.

By: steve Chang

steve Chang — Wed, 22 Mar 2017 20:08:11 +0000

One of the best Lennon Vocals ever

By: manteau

manteau — Tue, 19 Jul 2016 06:01:39 +0000

I’ve always found “rock’n’roll music” electrifying, it used to boost me when I was 13, I went totally nuts everytime I heard the intro and John’s voice, frantic!

By: jennifur Sun

jennifur Sun — Thu, 24 Dec 2015 23:53:00 +0000

could have been two pianos at once. Wrecking Crew did it all the time

By: jennifur Sun

jennifur Sun — Thu, 24 Dec 2015 23:51:47 +0000

have heard and read the same thing. the piano is my fav part of the song.

By: Hans

Hans — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 18:06:01 +0000

I just read this. What I wonder is this: George being a right-hander would have had to play the Hofner upside down. Don’t think he would manage that. Ian MacDonald credits the piano to George Martin.

By: Graham Paterson

Graham Paterson — Wed, 22 Jul 2015 11:20:24 +0000

My apologies Bobbytee. I do know what penultimate means, but in my enthusiasm read the article and posted a response in a bit of a hurry. Thanks for the correction. ” Words of Love ” , a lovely song, that they in fact did finish.

By: The Picker

The Picker — Tue, 21 Jul 2015 02:51:50 +0000

I’m liking the discussion here. I have a couple favourite parts of this song. First, it totally fits the Beatles’ idea that the beat/percussion is in the guitars. Really chugs it along — like the BBC’s Sweet Little Sixteen. Second, Ringo’s tango cymbals after that verse blow me away. Masterful.

By: Bobbytee

Bobbytee — Mon, 20 Jul 2015 22:01:24 +0000

Graham- Joe did not say that “Rock n Roll Music” was the LAST song recorded in that session, he said it was the penultimate song recorded. That is to say, it was the NEXT to last. If his list is in order, that means it was recorded before “Words of Love”, which was the last of the day. Cheers

By: Graham Paterson

Graham Paterson — Mon, 20 Jul 2015 09:22:02 +0000

” Rock n Roll Music ” is a great song and one of my favorites off ” Beatles For Sale”. As Joe said in his insightful editorial, this was the last song recorded in a marathon session. All the songs recorded are beauties. As you said John Lennon’s vocals on this are great and I just love the opening guitar riff, in fact it is iconic. Just as they did with ” Twist and Shout ” on the ” Please Please Me ” sessions, this was a great way to finish . John Lennon’s vocals deserve special mention and on two of the other covers in this session there are stand out vocals. Paul McCartney’s on ” Kansas City”/ ” Hey-Hey-Hey ” and George Harrison’s on ” Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby”,are brilliant as well. The spirit of the Cavern Club lives on in these three songs.

By: Tony

Tony — Sat, 27 Jun 2015 22:43:42 +0000

I’ve noticed if you search the net for lyrics, half of them include “back beat” the other half “black beat”. This holds true whether you search on Beatles or Chuck Berry. To be honest I don’t now what either of those mean. Any discussions on which is correct?

By: Oscar

Oscar — Wed, 04 Feb 2015 02:52:58 +0000

According to Mark Lewisohn in “The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions” it was done live in one take with George Martin on piano. He specifically says “No overdubs”

By: Tim Jones

Tim Jones — Sat, 16 Aug 2014 10:48:43 +0000

I’ve read all your posts. I thought I was a Beatles fan of nearly 50 years standing but you people – wow. I’m still on the starting line!

By: Rumblekat

Rumblekat — Wed, 05 Mar 2014 14:45:05 +0000

I’ve been trying to figure out exactly what John’s singing for some of the lines in this song. I think you are right on that verse with the exception of the last line. To me it sounds more like:
“The folks a-dancin’ there got all shook up”.

On the verse just before that one I see most of the lyrics on the ‘net showing it as:
“I took my love on over ‘cross the tracks
And she began, her man a wailin’ sax”

However, in the first line I don’t think John sings the word “over”, but rather “out” as in:
“I took my love on out across the tracks”.

On the next line it sounds like John has flubbed the word “began”. I’ve tried slowing this down on the computer and it sounds like he starts the word with the letter “d” and the consonant “g” sound is sung as “p”. It’s like he’s saying the word “depend”, which of course, makes no sense at all. But, it may have been that the entire take was so good that they didn’t want to even try to re-do the flubbed words, thinking that no one’s going to pay much attention to them anyway.