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.

The Wild Side Of Life
Bill Haley Lyrics

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Well, you wouldn't read my letters if I wrote you
You asked me not to call you on the phone
There's something I've been waiting for to tell you
So I wrote it in the words of this song

You never knew there were honky tonk angels
Or you might have known I'd never make a wife
You walked out on the only one who ever loved you

So I went back to the wild side of life

Now the glamor of the good life always lead me
To the places where the wild liquor flows
I tried to be your one and only angel
But I'm not that kind of angel, heaven knows

I cried so hard the day you went and left me
'Cause some things you said, they cut me like a knife
What you wanted was another kind of angel
And you should be back to the wild side of life

No, well, I guess I'm just a honky tonk angel
I might have known I'd never make a wife
Well, you left the only one who ever loved you
And I'm back here on the wild side of life

I'm only a honky tonk angel
I might have known I'd never make a wife

You walked out on the only one who ever loved you
And you left me here on the wild side of life

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Bill Haley's song "Wild Side of Life" follows the story of a man who has tried to change himself for his lover, but she ultimately leaves him for someone else. He is hurt by her actions and realizes that he is not the kind of person she was looking for. The man confesses through the words of his song that he had always been drawn to the wild life, to the places where the alcohol flows freely, and he had tried to become her angel but he was not the angel she wanted. He had tried to be domesticated and be the husband she was looking for, but his wild side was too strong, and she left him for someone else. The man is left alone to return to the wild life he has always known.

The lyrics use vivid imagery to convey the emotions of the man who has been left behind. The references to honky tonk angels and the wild side of life create a clear sense of the type of environment the man is in. The man's voice is full of regret as he acknowledges that he was not the kind of angel that she wanted. He feels rejected and abandoned and is left to return to the life he always knew - the one that was considered wild and free.

Overall, the lyrics of "Wild Side of Life" is a classic country song that tells a familiar story of love and loss. It's about the struggle of trying to be someone that you're not and the eventual acceptance that comes with realizing that you can't change who you are.

The Wild Side Of LifeBill Haley Lyrics

The Wild Side Of Life
Bill Haley Lyrics