Haley was blinded in his left eye as a child due to a botched operation. According to biographer John Swenson, Haley later adopted his distinctive spit-curl hairstyle to distract attention from his blind eye. The spit-curl caught on as a 50's style signature, although Haley and others had worn the hairstyle much earlier.
In 1946, Haley joined his first professional group, a Pennsylvania-based western swing band called The Down Homers run by Kenny Roberts. It has often been reported in musical reference works that Haley's first professional recordings were made with the Down Homers on a pair of singles released in 1946 by Vogue Records. This was later debunked by Roberts and others, stating Haley had already left the group by the time the singles were made. In the early 2000s, however, a set of 1946 radio recordings by the Down Homers were discovered and Haley is definitely present as he is identified by name and sings a solo number "She Taught Me to Yodel"; these recordings were commercially released for the first time in 2006.
After gaining experience with the Down Homers, Haley set out on his own, forming several groups such as the Range Drifters and the Four Aces of Western Swing. With the Four Aces, he made a number of regionally successful country music singles in the late 1940s for Cowboy Records while working as a touring musician and later a radio DJ at WPWA. (Many of Haley's early recordings from this period would not be released until after his death.) After disbanding the Four Aces and briefly trying a solo career using the names Jack Haley and Johnny Clifton (as chronicled in the biography Sound and Glory), Haley formed a new group called The Saddlemen in either 1949 or 1950 (sources vary as to the exact year); this new group recorded for several labels, including one single for Atlantic Records, Haley's first exposure to a major national record company. In 1951, Haley was signed to Dave Miller's Philadelphia-based Holiday Records and began to change musical styles, recording cover versions of "Rocket "88"" (previously recorded by Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats), and in, 1952, "Rock the Joint", previously recorded by several bands including Jimmy Preston and His Prestonians. (By the time of "Rock the Joint", Haley had graduated from Holiday Records to Miller's larger Essex label.) The relative success of these recordings (both sold in the 75,000-100,000 copy range in the Pennsylvania-New England region) convinced Haley that his new and as-yet officially unnamed hybrid of country and rhythm and blues could be a commercial success.and some of his family lives in oklahoma and there is a road named after his family.
Birth of the Boogie
Bill Haley Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The boogie-woogie-woogie beat
Down in Africa, many years ago
There lived a little fella named Zulu Joe
He took his tom-tom, a great big stick
And that was the birth of the boogie lick
Birth of the boogie, birth of the boogie
Birth of the boogie, the boogie-woogie-woogie beat
Then Joe got hip and he started to sing
The animals flipped and began to swing
Monkey, elephant, kangaroo
They all picked up on the boogie too
Birth of the boogie, birth of the boogie
Birth of the boogie, birth of the boogie
Birth of the boogie, the boogie-woogie-woogie beat
Well, the animals a-boogied all over the place
The rabbit spit in the bulldog's face
Joe kept a-beatin' 'til the early morn
And that's when the boogie-woogie was born
Birth of the boogie, birth of the boogie
Birth of the boogie, birth of the boogie
Birth of the boogie, the boogie-woogie-woogie beat
The lyrics of Bill Haley's song Birth of the Boogie tell a story about the origins of the boogie-woogie-woogie beat. The song talks about a little fella named Zulu Joe who lived in Africa many years ago. He played the tom-tom with a great big stick, and that was the beginning of the boogie lick. Joe got hip and started to sing, and the animals around him began to swing too. They all picked up on the boogie-woogie-woogie beat and started dancing.
The animals a-boogied all over the place, and even the rabbit spat on the bulldog's face. Joe kept beating the tom-tom until the early morning, and that's when the boogie-woogie was officially born. The lyrics of the song paint a playful story that seems to be set in an imaginary world where animals can dance and participate in the birth of music genres.
Line by Line Meaning
Boogie, boogie woogie
This line simply refers to the name of the song and the type of music it represents
The boogie-woogie-woogie beat
The type of music referred to in this song, which is characterized with an eight-to-the-bar rhythm
Down in Africa, many years ago
This line sets the stage for the story that the song tells, which happened a long time ago in Africa
There lived a little fella named Zulu Joe
The character in the story who is credited with creating the boogie lick
He took his tom-tom, a great big stick
The instrument that Zulu Joe used to create the beat
And that was the birth of the boogie lick
This set of actions was the beginning of the type of sound that would come to be known as boogie-woogie
Then Joe got hip and he started to sing
Joe began to incorporate vocals into his music
The animals flipped and began to swing
The animals in the story began to dance and enjoy the music
Monkey, elephant, kangaroo
Examples of the types of animals in the story that were dancing to the boogie-woogie music
They all picked up on the boogie too
Even though animals typically do not dance to music, they were all inspired to dance to this unique rhythm
Well, the animals a-boogied all over the place
As the music spread, the animals danced everywhere
The rabbit spit in the bulldog's face
This line is intended to be humorous and to imply that even animals who are typically enemies got caught up in the music
Joe kept a-beatin' 'til the early morn
Zulu Joe continued playing the music all night long
And that's when the boogie-woogie was born
At the end of the night, the music had evolved into a distinct style that is known to this day as boogie-woogie
Birth of the boogie, birth of the boogie
Repetition of the title of the song as a reminder of the story being told
Birth of the boogie, the boogie-woogie-woogie beat
The song is about the creation of boogie-woogie music, and this line reinforces that idea
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: BILL HALEY, BILL WILLIAMSON, JOHNNY GRANDE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@neerajkorde2072
Boogie, boogie-woogie
The boogie-woogie-woogie beat
Down in Africa, many years ago
There lived a little fella named Zulu Joe
He took his tom-tom, a great big stick
And that was the birth of the boogie lick
Birth of the boogie, birth of the boogie
Birth of the boogie, birth of the boogie
Birth of the boogie, the boogie-woogie-woogie beat
Then Joe got hip and he started to sing
The animals flipped and began to swing
Monkey, elephant, kangaroo
They all picked up on the boogie too
Birth of the boogie, birth of the boogie
Birth of the boogie, birth of the boogie
Birth of the boogie, the boogie-woogie-woogie beat
Well, the animals a-boogied all over the place
The rabbit spit in the bulldog's face
Joe kept a-beatin' 'til the early morn
And that's when the boogie-woogie was born
Birth of the boogie, birth of the boogie
Birth of the boogie, birth of the boogie
Birth of the boogie, the boogie-woogie-woogie beat
@satomisuperblack
The Comets are pretty unbelievable
@CrossOfBayonne
Although this music was unfortunately controversial, When Rock and Roll emerged in the mid half of the 50s it caused a lot of people especially parents of youth to get very worried about the genre, In some places it was actually banned from radio play
@lauragilio3733
True@@CrossOfBayonne
@cuthbertjolly4859
My dad owned this 78. I remember dancing wildly to this tune with my brother and cousin around 60 years ago. May they rest in peace.
@kaliboo60
I have this single..my Aunt had it. Omg woke up with this song on my mind. Can't believe I found it.
@wendigo53
Before drumsets were standardized! This video has no goat. So, here is a goat.
@ginger1959able
Play loud and often!
@jussix48
Just keep on rocking...! 🎼🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶
@m44E74
My childhood soundtrack!
@whitefalcon64
My Bill Haley fave