Tuesday, March 31, 2009  What is the first rock and roll song?
Once and for all, that's my answer.   sausages said...  I
realize that the term is being used some years earlier, but my
money's on "Maybellene" -- once the focus shifts from horns to
guitars, that's when (I think) we really have rock n' roll.  baj
salchert said...  Then there was a song that was not a rock n'
roll song but served as a transition song: "Rock n' Roll Waltz"
douglang said...  "Less than crucial?" What do you mean by that?
Hi Mark. First answer:  My vote would go to "Mama's Black Baby
Boy" by the the Unique Quartette, recorded in 1893 and included
in the 9 CD set American Pop: An Audio History, where it was the
lead off track. It sounds like rock'n' roll to me. It was also
included in the more recent Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of
the Recording Industry, 1891-1922, a terrific double CD set.
I've always thought of all American music as one entity in which
English/Irish/Scots/European music was combined with elements