The original version of the 12-bar blues song was credited to "Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats", but that band did not actually exist. The song was put together by Ike Turner and his band in rehearsals at the Riverside Hotel in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and recorded by Ike Turner & The Kings of Rhythm. Jackie Brenston (1930-1979), who was a saxophonist with Turner, also sang the vocal on "Rocket 88", a hymn of praise to the joys of the Oldsmobile "Rocket 88", which had recently been introduced. Although Brenston was given writing credit rather than Turner, it is now agreed Brenston's contribution was overstated for financial reasons.
The song was based on the 1947 song "Cadillac Boogie" by Jimmy Liggins. It was also preceded and influenced by Pete Johnson's "Rocket Boogie “88”", an instrumental, originally recorded for the Los Angeles-based Swing Time Records label in 1949.
Working from the raw material of jump blues and swing combo music, Turner made it even rawer, starting with a strongly stated back beat by drummer Willie Sims, and superimposing Brenston's enthusiastic vocals, his own piano, and tenor saxophone solos by 17 year old Raymond Hill (later to be the father of Tina Turner's first child, before she married Ike). The song also features one of the first examples of distortion, or fuzz guitar, ever recorded, played by the band's guitarist Willie Kizart.
The legend of how the sound came about says that Kizart's amplifier was damaged on Highway 61 when the band was driving from Mississippi to Memphis, Tennessee, but Phillips liked the sound and used it. Robert Palmer has written that the amplifier "had fallen from the top of the car", and attributes this information to Sam Phillips. However, in a recorded interview at the Experience Music Project in Seattle, Washington, Ike Turner stated that the amplifier was in the trunk of the car and that rain may have caused the damage; he is certain that it did not fall from the roof of the car. Link Wray had a similar story.
It was the second-biggest rhythm and blues single of 1951, reaching #1 in June for five weeks and much more influential than some other "first" claimants. Ike Turner's piano intro to the song was later used note-for-note by Little Richard in "Good Golly Miss Molly".
Rocket "88"
Jackie Brenston Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You heard the noise they make
Let me introduce you to my Rocket '88
Yes, it's great, just won't wait
Everybody likes my Rocket '88
Baby, we'll will ride in style movin' all along
V-8 motor and this modern design
Sportin' with me, ridin' all around town for joy
Blow your horn, rocket, blow your horn
Step in my rocket and don't be late
We're pullin' out about a half past eight
Goin' on the corner and havin' some fun
Takin' my rocket on a long, hot run
Ooh, goin' out, oozin' and cruisin' and havin' fun
Now that you've ridden in my Rocket '88
I'll be around every night about eight
You know it's great, don't be late
Everybody likes my Rocket '88
Girls will ride in style movin' all along
In Jackie Brenston's song "Rocket '88," the singer proudly introduces listeners to his impressive automobile -- a Rocket '88. He boasts about the car's V-8 motor, modern design, and black convertible top, which the girls love. The singer invites a woman to ride with him, promising to take her on a long, hot run through town. He even suggests blowing the car horn to announce their arrival. The final lines of the song reveal that the singer will continue to drive his Rocket '88 around town at night and invites the listener to join him.
Line by Line Meaning
You woman have heard of jalopies
Ladies, I assume you've heard of beat-up cars
You heard the noise they make
You're probably aware of how loud they can be
Let me introduce you to my Rocket '88
Allow me to present my new and impressive car, the Rocket '88
Yes, it's great, just won't wait
It's awesome and really fast
Everybody likes my Rocket '88
Everyone loves my car
Baby, we'll will ride in style movin' all along
We'll be driving around like royalty
V-8 motor and this modern design
It has a powerful V-8 engine and a stylish, contemporary look
Black convertible top and the girls don't mind
The top is convertible and the ladies love it
Sportin' with me, ridin' all around town for joy
Riding around with me is a pleasure and we'll go all over town
Blow your horn, rocket, blow your horn
Honk the horn and show off your power, Rocket '88'
Step in my rocket and don't be late
Get in my car and don't be tardy
We're pullin' out about a half past eight
We're leaving at 8:30 PM
Goin' on the corner and havin' some fun
We're heading to the street corner to enjoy ourselves
Takin' my rocket on a long, hot run
Taking my car for a long, exciting trip
Ooh, goin' out, oozin' and cruisin' and havin' fun
We're going out, driving slowly and enjoying ourselves
Now that you've ridden in my Rocket '88
Now that you've experienced the power of my car
I'll be around every night about eight
I'll be cruising around every evening at approximately 8 PM
You know it's great, don't be late
You know the car is fantastic, so don't be late
Girls will ride in style movin' all along
Girls will feel glamorous while cruising around with me
Contributed by Mason D. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@thebrazilianatlantis165
@@VogonPoet67 "Move It On Over" and "Guitar Boogie" are "hillbilly boogie," which became popular in about 1945. Blues with some backbeat had been around in the '20s and '30s. Tampa Red had been playing guitar boogie in about 1940 -- and that wasn't rock and roll either. All the known rock and roll recordings made before mid-1949, such as "Rock The Joint" by Jimmy Preston and "Rock And Roll" by Wild Bill Moore, are by R&B artists. All. That sound was called "rockers" in Billboard in 1949 and Albennie "Rock And Roll" Harris was using that nickname in print that year, the year she recorded the rocker "Jump And Shout." Rockabilly was that rock and roll sound mixed with "hillbilly" (i.e. C&W), and the first known example of rockabilly is by Hardrock Gunter in 1950. Country music was mixed with rock and roll from 1950 onward, whenever it was that was rockabilly (that was the year Haley got interested in doing so too btw, and what he got interested in was e.g. "Rock The Joint" recreated as partly country), and rock and roll had been invented before 1950 by black artists, not country artists.
Elvis, in press conferences in the '50s, said rock and roll was invented by black artists. The nth myth that whenever something important happens white people must have been around too, as it were, was nurtured by the imagination of white writers in the '60s-'80s. But Elvis e.g. knew better.
"no one did" Bill Moore, Wynonie Harris, Roy Brown, Jimmy Preston -- people like that in about 1947-1949, e.g. "We're Gonna Rock" 1947 by Moore. They were professional jump blues musicians making up a new sound to sell to black kids, which is why e.g. the black poet Al Young recalled that some black parents didn't approve of the black-deejayed show "Rocking With Leroy," which was around in 1947 (and Moore recorded a tribute to it in _1947_), years before Freed decided to have a similar show that started in 1951. The initial audience for the rock and roll sound was young black people who wanted to hear something new, which it was.
"Gospel was also influential on early... rock and roll" The rock and roll sound originated as black jump blues performed by black professional jump blues musicians as if it were black gospel as a sacrilegious joke.
"she basically invented the guitar solo"' No, as we know it it was basically popularized in U.S. commercial music by Eddie Lang (Lonnie Johnson's favorite guitarist, he said) when she was about 13. That led by the early '30s to people like Scrapper Blackwell, and T-Bone Walker's favorite guitarist was Blackwell, and T-Bone was a huge direct and indirect influence on the rock-and-roll-era guitarists.
"that many of the godfathers of rock" Chuck began recording for Chess in 1955, which is e.g. 6 years after Chris Powell recorded "Rock The Joint" and Albennie Jones recorded "Hole In The Wall." Chuck was one of the best, not one of the first. (Richard, like Sam Phillips, lied regarding chronology.)
Tharpe's talent was widely admired, and as with e.g. Bill Monroe, what that has to do with whether she was one of the people inventing the rock and roll sound in the late '40s is nothing. Buddy Holly recorded in 1949. But he wasn't into rock and roll yet then, so we don't pretend he was. Tharpe recorded no rock and roll in the late '40s either -- and didn't even approve of sacrilegious jokes.
@billchew450
Whatever one might think of Ike Turner as a human being, you Can't overstate the influence he had on rock and blues.
@thebrazilianatlantis165
On the contrary, people routinely do.
@sidneycarroll1058
Tina lies a lot,and ought be ashamed of herself,about some of what she said.
@tomasjones3755
Yeah.... I grew up w Ike Jr, when they lived in Ladera Heights [West L.A.]
Ike was noooooo gem, as a human being
@Ap-nv1hk
night hawk how did they do that?
@conchobar
Ike was no worse than your typical rock star. People have a right to hate him, but they need to take their blinders off because they probably love listening to plenty of other wife abusers.
@Jakedasnake1066
Rocket 88 is considered by most to be the first rock n roll song because it's the first song that uses distortion to affect the sound of the guitar. When they were driving to the studio to record, the guitar amp fell off the roof of the car, and they had to prop it up with wadded up newspaper, creating that buzz that you hear in the song.
@AllBobsAllTheTime
Great tune but considered "the first rock'n'roll song" because of Sam Philips' relentless p/r work - check out the aforementioned Hucklebuck, The Fat Man, and a couple of great covers: Wynonie Harris Good Rockin' Tonight and Jimmy Preston Oh Babe.
@kennycab3374
Was it Ikes guitar amp that fell off the car?
@eldesgraciado6690
Maybe Ike beat the crap out of the amp. The amp had to perform all messed up.