Answers
1. The first coupling of the words "rock" and "roll" on
record came in 1916, in a recording of a spiritual, "The Camp Meeting
Jubilee", by an unnamed vocal "quartette" issued by Little Wonder
Records. The lyrics include "We've been rocking and rolling in your arms
/ Rocking and rolling in your arms / In the arms of Moses".
2. In 1922, blues singer Trixie Smith recorded "My Man Rocks Me (with
One Steady Roll)", first featuring the two words in a secular context.
3. The Boswell Sisters had a hit with "Rock and Roll" (1934).
4. For many years and probably centuries previously, the term "rocking
and rolling" had been used as a nautical term to denote the side-to-side
and forward-and-backward motion of ships on the ocean. This meaning was used
metaphorically in such records as Buddy Jones' "Rockin' Rollin' Mama"
(1939) - "Waves on the ocean, waves in the sea/ But that gal of mine
rolls just right for me/ Rockin' rollin' mama, I love the way you rock and
roll".
5. Rocking was a term also used by gospel singers in the American
South to mean something akin to spiritual rapture.
6. A double, ironic, meaning came to popular awareness in 1947 in blues
artist Roy Brown's song "Good Rocking Tonight" (also covered the next
year by Wynonie Harris in an even wilder version), in which "rocking"
was ostensibly about dancing but was in fact a thinly-veiled allusion to sex.
Such double-entendres were nothing new in blues music (which was mostly limited
in exposure to jukeboxes and clubs) but were new to the radio airwaves.
7. After the success of "Good Rocking Tonight" many other R&B
artists used similar titles through the late 1940s including a song called
"Rock and Roll" recorded by Wild Bill Moore in 1949. These songs were
relegated to "race music" (the music industry code name for R&B)
outlets and were barely known by mainstream white audiences.
8. In 1951, Cleveland, Ohio disc jockey Alan Freed would begin playing this
type of music for his white audience, and it is Freed who is credited with
coining the phrase "rock and roll" to describe the rollicking R&B
music that he brought to the airwaves. The term, with its simultaneous allusions
to dancing, sex, and the sound of the music itself, stuck even with those who
didn't absorb all the meanings.
9. Originally Freed used the name Moondog for himself and any concerts or
promotions he put on. This arose from the fact he used a piece of music called
"Moondog Symphony" by the street musician Moondog as his repeated
opening music for his radio show. Moondog subsequently sued Freed on grounds
that he was stealing his name. Since Freed was no longer allowed to use the term
Moondog he needed a new catch phrase. After a night of heavy drinking he and his
friends came up with the name "The Rock and Roll Party" since he was
already using the phrase "Rock and Roll Session" to describe the music
he was playing on his radio show. Since his show was extremely popular, the term
caught on and the subsequent public used it to describe a certain form of music.
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Rock
and roll emerged as a defined musical style in America in the 1950s,
though elements of rock and roll can be seen in rhythm and blues
(R&B) records as far back as the 1920s. Early rock and roll combined
elements of R&B, blues, boogie woogie and jazz, and is also
influenced by traditional folk music, gospel music, and country and
western.