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.
Forty Cups of Coffee
Bill Haley Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I drink a cup of coffee and start pulling out my hair
I'm drinking forty cups of coffee
Forty cups of coffee
Forty cups of coffee, waiting for you to come home
A quarter to twelve and you're still not in
The way you run around is a doggone sin
Forty cups of coffee
Forty cups of coffee, waiting for you to come home
A quarter to three, I start watching the clock
The phone won't ring, so I'm waiting for your knock
I'm drinking forty cups of coffee
Forty cups of coffee
Forty cups of coffee, waiting for you to come home
Quarter to four, you ain't got home yet
I try to be cool and smoke a cigarette
I'm drinking forty cups of coffee
Forty cups of coffee
Forty cups of coffee, waiting for you to come home
You knock on the door about a quarter to five
I wanna hug you and kiss you, say thank heaven you're alive
I drank forty cups of coffee
Forty cups of coffee
Forty cups of coffee, but I'm glad you finally came home
The song "Forty Cups of Coffee" by Bill Haley tells the story of a man waiting anxiously for his significant other to come home. He pacing the floor and drinking coffee like crazy, counting each cup, as he tries to stay awake while waiting. He's nervous, and he can't help but pull out his hair while waiting for his lover. The song is a representation of how we become anxious when we are waiting for someone we love.
The first verse shows the singer pacing the floor, pulling out his hair, and trying to stay awake with coffee, which is a common theme for those struggling to stay up all night. The second verse shows his anger and frustration at his lover for not coming home. The third verse shows the singer's desperation to wait for his lover, and he's losing hope as he watches the clock. In the fourth verse, the singer tries to stay calm by smoking a cigarette. The fifth and final verse shows his joy of seeing his lover return and how his worries and anxieties are relieved.
Overall, the song represents the idea of how love can make us anxious and wait like crazy for our loved ones. The melody of the song is upbeat, making it feel more like a fun dance tune than a song about anxiety and worry.
Line by Line Meaning
Pace the floor, stop and stare
I am anxious and can't sit still
I drink a cup of coffee and start pulling out my hair
To cope with my anxiety, I drink coffee and become restless
I'm drinking forty cups of coffee
I am consuming a large amount of coffee throughout the day
Forty cups of coffee
Emphasizing how much coffee I am consuming
Forty cups of coffee, waiting for you to come home
I am waiting for someone to arrive, and drinking coffee to cope with anxiety and tension of waiting
A quarter to twelve and you're still not in
It's almost midnight and the person I am waiting for hasn't arrived yet
The way you run around is a doggone sin
The person I am waiting for is not being responsible
A quarter to three, I start watching the clock
It's almost 3 am and I am constantly checking the time
The phone won't ring, so I'm waiting for your knock
I have not received a call from the person, so I am waiting for them to arrive and knock on my door
Quarter to four, you ain't got home yet
It's almost 4 am and the person still hasn't arrived home
I try to be cool and smoke a cigarette
To relieve anxiety, I try to stay calm and smoke a cigarette
You knock on the door about a quarter to five
Finally, the person I was waiting for arrives at my door at nearly 5 am
I wanna hug you and kiss you, say thank heaven you're alive
I am overwhelmed with relief and happiness that the person has finally arrived
I drank forty cups of coffee
I had consumed 40 cups of coffee while waiting for this person
Forty cups of coffee, but I'm glad you finally came home
Despite the anxiety and stress, I am glad that the person arrived
Lyrics ยฉ BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Written by: DANNY OVERBEA
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@TomElvisSmith
Oh man, I love this! Bill Haley was only on the Ed Sullivan show twice. I've seen the "Rock Around the Clock" performance many times, but this one I've never seen before. I'm so glad you posted this rare footage! Thank you so much! I love early rock and roll music, and Bill Haley was great!
@anhanh8724
Fats Domino performed two times too..!
@traviswillams5739
the greatest rocker ever, go bill haley go
@AndresManosalvas
I love rock n roll in Ed Sullivan show. We want more and more of this.
@Diego_Aracena_Kovacevic
Great band Bill Halley & His Comets :)
@vangillis
The birth of Rock and ROLL
@kennethreed2186
Like
Kool
Man
Crazy man CrAZY๐๐๐ธ๐ท๐๐
Rip
My Friend
@spyderlogan4992
Look at those Gibson guitars~! Wow~! And Coffee is A LOT stronger now...40 cups today would put you in the hospital.
@john111257
i do 10 ish
@bodensick
One of rock ORIGINALS! He should have gone into the Hall of Fame with the initial first class. He was doing this before Elvis, Little Richard or Chuck Berry.