Elvis Presley is often called the King of Rock and Roll. However, was he the sole musician responsible for creating the 1950s styled music which eventually became Rock and Roll? To say Elvis was the sole musician responsible for creating the 50s style music of Rock and Roll would be an unjust statement. This statement would discredit the several other talented musicians in that music era whose influence also contributed to the 50s music style of Rock and Roll. Such musicians like Little Richard, Howlin’ Wolf, Big Mama Thornton and Buddy Holly could also be credited with contributing to the Rock and Roll music style. This statement is evident by comparing, contrasting and evaluating two songs from this musical era. One of these songs is an Elvis Presley cover version called “That’s All Right (Mama)” (1954) and the other song is an original song called “That’s All Right” (1946) by Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup. By just listening to these two songs alone one can tell Elvis Presley was not Rock and Roll’s sole musician influence.
In Elvis Presley’s cover version of the song “That’s All Right (Mama)” (1954), there are several musical influences which can contribute towards the 50s musical style of Rock and Roll. For example, in the beginning of the song’s few lines there is an example of the traditional Blues musical genre within the song. This is because Elvis sings, " Well, that's all right, mama that's all right for you. That's all right mama, just anyway you do. That's all right, that's all right. That's all right now mama, anyway you do.” These lyrics follow the lyrical format of the Blues genre. This is since the first two lines are the same and the third line is set at a different rhythm since it is the song’s bridge. However, the musical rhythm in the fourth line is similar that in the first two lines. In addition, the entire song had an interesting usage of instrumentation. This is because the song’s background had a consistent acoustic base beat, accompanied by an acoustic guitar and an electric guitar to keep the tempo consistent. I also found the lead vocals of Elvis to be interesting in their tone. This is because his voice is gradually getting higher pitched at the end of the last “That’s all right” where before it is a lower and softer pitch. This placement of higher pitch emphasis on the last “That’s all right” means Elvis is about to do a transition to the upcoming verse. I believe Elvis did this on purpose because he wants the listener to know he is about to start a new verse within the song since its lyrics form is repetitive. Several older Blues songs had similar pitch outcomes near the ends of each of the verses, but the way Elvis elongates the words “you” and "do" is what makes his style of the song stand out. I enjoyed listening to the acoustic guitar towards the end of the song in addition to Elvis singing nonsense words (de de de). This is because it made me feel more connected to the Blues influenced song rhythm. Plus, by Elvis singing nonsense words to close out the last song verse it made the song less repetitive. This lets the listeners of the song know it is the end of the song since the previous parts Elvis sang were very predictable due to the amount of repetition they had.
The next song I listened to was the original song called “That’s All Right” (1946) by Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup. This version of the song has more of a Big Band feel in it compared to what listeners were used to hearing in many of the later 50s era music of Rock and Roll. However, because this was one of the first influences of what later would become known as Rock and Roll. Therefore, the first thing that stands out to me is how the use of the drum overpowers the usage of the acoustic guitar in the verse containing “Well, my mama she done tol' me Papa tol' me, too.” Another area that surprised me were the singer’s vocals. This is because Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup has the same high pitch throughout the song. He does not choose to put emphasis on certain words to make them stand out more but stays consistent.Last in this song Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup seems to do a lot of improving in the final verse. This is a huge element that was very popular in many Blues songs to engage the listener. It also added a change to the repetition of the song’s repetitive lyric lines.This makes Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup sound very creative with the use of his lyrical improve skills since he is making up nonsense words (de be de be de) which connect to the song’s energetic rhythm and form. These connections in the song helped the song’s tempo have a lively feel which would be simple for listeners to dance to. This use of an upbeat tempo eventually found its way into several of the other 50s styled Rock and Roll songs and continued to influence music in the decades that followed.
Each of these two songs have qualities from the Blues musical genre which would contribute towards the 50s music later known as Rock and Roll. However, while I was listening to each of these two songs and learned more about the various other 50s musical era musicians, I can conclude Elvis Presley is not the only sole musician responsible for the creation of Rock and Roll. Therefore, Elvis should not be the sole musician to get credit for creating songs for this music style. Elvis was not even a songwriter and he covered many songs which were originally written by African American musicians. Many of these 50s era African American musicians would do an original song but their version would later be out listed competitively by a cover version of the same song which was typically sung by white musicians. This common situation in the 50s era of music business gave Elvis Presley an advantage so this is why he received the title of “King of Rock and Roll”. According to Sam Philips, a music producer at Sun Records, Elvis was ‘the white man who had the Negro sound and the Negro feel” and he was able to start “bridging the racial music gap’ together.” But some listeners were just not ready in the 50s to listen to any musician sing lyrics which were considered risky and risqué to so many of the older whites who were used to listening to more conservative musical genres. Although, many of the younger whites liked listening to Elvis’s cover songs because he would clean them up yet make his songs sound brand new. Thus, it is not just to say Elvis is the only musician who created Rock and Roll when other talented musicians were also creating similar music that is now considered Rock and Roll Overall, the formation of Rock and Roll should be viewed as a musical movement where 50s era musicians each contributed their own musical style towards what would later become known as Rock and Roll.
Further Reading/Listening:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/That's_All_Right
