Haley was born William John Clifton Haley (some sources append "Junior" to … Read Full Bio ↴Haley was born William John Clifton Haley (some sources append "Junior" to his name, but his eldest son states that this is erroneous) in Highland Park, Michigan and raised in Pennsylvania. Many sources (almost universally predating his death in 1981) state that Haley was born in 1927, which is due to Haley knocking two years off his age for publicity purposes in the 1950s. A few recent sources erroneously give a birth year of 1924.

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.

Lawdy Miss Clawdy
Bill Haley Lyrics

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Well lawdy, lawdy, lawdy Miss Clawdy
Girl you sure look good to me
But please don't excite me baby
I know it can't be me

Well, I give you all my money
Yeah, but you just won't treat me right
You like to ball every morning

Don't come home till late at night

Oh gonna tell, tell my mama
Lord, I swear girl what you been to me
I'm gonna tell everybody that I'm down in misery

So bye, bye, bye, baby
Girl, I won't be comin' no more
Goodbye little darlin' down the road I'll go

So, bye, bye, bye baby

Girl, I won't be comin' no more
Goodbye little darlin' down the road I'll go

Overall Meaning

In "Lawdy Miss Clawdy," Bill Haley expresses his admiration for a woman named Miss Clawdy, who he finds incredibly attractive. He acknowledges that she looks good but doesn't want her to excite him because he knows nothing can come of it. Haley continues to talk about how he gives Miss Clawdy all his money, but she won't treat him right. She prefers to go out partying every morning and comes home late at night, leaving him feeling miserable. In the end, Haley decides to move on from this unhappy situation and bids farewell to Miss Clawdy, stating that he won't be coming back anymore.

The song's message is about a toxic relationship where one person is constantly giving while the other is only taking. It's also about making the decision to remove oneself from a negative situation and start anew. Haley's use of "Lawdy" in the title is a reference to the African American vernacular and emphasizes the song's bluesy character.

Line by Line Meaning

Well lawdy, lawdy, lawdy Miss Clawdy
Oh my, oh my, oh my Miss Clawdy

Girl you sure look good to me
You are a beautiful woman

But please don't excite me baby
But please don't arouse me, my darling

I know it can't be me
I know that I cannot have you

Well, I give you all my money
I have given you all of my money

Yeah, but you just won't treat me right
But you do not treat me well

You like to ball every morning
You enjoy socializing every morning

Don't come home till late at night
You do not come home until very late at night

Oh gonna tell, tell my mama
I am going to tell my mother

Lord, I swear girl what you been to me
I swear, girl, that you have been causing me pain

I'm gonna tell everybody that I'm down in misery
I am going to tell the world that I am depressed and unhappy