One of the first white rock & rollers to record for a major label (Columbia… Read Full Bio ↴One of the first white rock & rollers to record for a major label (Columbia Records), Sid King (born Sid Erwin) was also one of the first young Southern musicians to go from Western swing to rockabilly in the mid-'50s. Erwin grew up in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. He sang and played guitar at school, and while still in his mid-teens he began appearing on local radio with a friend, Melvin Robinson. The duo eventually took over the program, and Erwin and Robinson (who also played steel guitar and sax) formed a band, bringing in Erwin's brother Billy Joe on lead guitar, Ken Massey on bass, and David White on drums.
The group, by then known as the Western Melody Makers, stuck to playing country and Western swing in their gigs and radio appearances, but they were listening to lots of records by black artists. They were signed to Starday Records in 1954 and recorded a handful of songs, but these yielded no hits. They subsequently got a contract with Columbia Records and rechristened themselves the Five Strings. Erwin, in turn, changed his name to Sid King, all for the sake of a rhyming moniker, Sid King & the Five Strings.
The Columbia sessions show just how far afield from country the group's listening had gotten. Their harmonies, the high-compression beat of their playing, and their choice of songs, coupled with Jim Beck's hard, up-front mixing of the rhythm section, made them, for a time, one of the hotter rockabilly acts outside of Memphis. They weren't as wild as the Sparkletones, but within Columbia Records' stable of artists, their music (along with that of the Collins Kids) constituted a tiny corner of rockabilly validity. Hearing their stuff today, they could have been fair rivals to Bill Haley & His Comets or Carl Perkins, with a sound midway between the two.
Sid King & the Five Strings were featured on the Louisiana Hayride alongside Elvis Presley and Johnny Horton and inherited "Ooby Dooby" from Roy Orbison (competing head to head with the latter's Sun version), but they never had the success of those whose paths they crossed. Their success was still confined to Texas, and by 1957 their Columbia contract had ended. The group's sound had also softened by that time, and their music no longer had the same edge, so by 1958 the band had called it quits.
King saw recording activity on his own in the early '60s on the Dot Records label through his acquaintance with Pat Boone, a fellow native of Denton whom he'd met years earlier, but by 1965 he was out of the music business. He resumed performing part-time in the 1980s, drawn back to the stage by a new generation of Europeans eager to hear authentic American rockabilly.
He never quite jumped into rock head over heels, nor did he ever break through to a national audience. The only vintage King available on CD domestically is an interesting, but not wholly representative, set of radio broadcasts from the mid-'50s that are closer to hillbilly than rockabilly. His Columbia recordings have been reissued in Germany on Bear Family's Gonna Shake This Shack Tonight. ~ Richie Unterberger & Bruce Eder, All Music Guide[1]
The group, by then known as the Western Melody Makers, stuck to playing country and Western swing in their gigs and radio appearances, but they were listening to lots of records by black artists. They were signed to Starday Records in 1954 and recorded a handful of songs, but these yielded no hits. They subsequently got a contract with Columbia Records and rechristened themselves the Five Strings. Erwin, in turn, changed his name to Sid King, all for the sake of a rhyming moniker, Sid King & the Five Strings.
The Columbia sessions show just how far afield from country the group's listening had gotten. Their harmonies, the high-compression beat of their playing, and their choice of songs, coupled with Jim Beck's hard, up-front mixing of the rhythm section, made them, for a time, one of the hotter rockabilly acts outside of Memphis. They weren't as wild as the Sparkletones, but within Columbia Records' stable of artists, their music (along with that of the Collins Kids) constituted a tiny corner of rockabilly validity. Hearing their stuff today, they could have been fair rivals to Bill Haley & His Comets or Carl Perkins, with a sound midway between the two.
Sid King & the Five Strings were featured on the Louisiana Hayride alongside Elvis Presley and Johnny Horton and inherited "Ooby Dooby" from Roy Orbison (competing head to head with the latter's Sun version), but they never had the success of those whose paths they crossed. Their success was still confined to Texas, and by 1957 their Columbia contract had ended. The group's sound had also softened by that time, and their music no longer had the same edge, so by 1958 the band had called it quits.
King saw recording activity on his own in the early '60s on the Dot Records label through his acquaintance with Pat Boone, a fellow native of Denton whom he'd met years earlier, but by 1965 he was out of the music business. He resumed performing part-time in the 1980s, drawn back to the stage by a new generation of Europeans eager to hear authentic American rockabilly.
He never quite jumped into rock head over heels, nor did he ever break through to a national audience. The only vintage King available on CD domestically is an interesting, but not wholly representative, set of radio broadcasts from the mid-'50s that are closer to hillbilly than rockabilly. His Columbia recordings have been reissued in Germany on Bear Family's Gonna Shake This Shack Tonight. ~ Richie Unterberger & Bruce Eder, All Music Guide[1]
Let 'Er Rip
Sid King & The Five Strings Lyrics
We have lyrics for 'Let 'Er Rip' by these artists:
American Juniors Can Tell There's Something You Don't Wanna Tell Me It's Kill…
Dixie Chicks I can tell there's something you Don't wanna tell me It's ki…
The Chicks I can tell there's something you don't wanna tell me It's…
The Gone Jackals Lies, lies. Pile 'em up to the sky. Stuff yer smile At the…
Tori Thompson Can Tell There's Something You Don't Wanna Tell Me It's Kill…
We have lyrics for these tracks by The Five Strings:
Amazing Grace Let's grow together, heal together Find true strength f…
I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day I heard the bells on Christmas day. Their old familiar…
Moment to Live When you can dream a mountain high See the Earth from…
O Come All Ye Faithful O Come All Ye Faithful Joyful and triumphant, O come ye, O…
This Ride When I was down at the bottom, way down, you…
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
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@edpowers1510
I know that song at least since 40 years and it still makes me wagging, shaking and rocking all my body. A fantastic cool singing and playing.
@leroxy06
excellent
@danielvelazquez7885
They makes me feel young again!!!
@stewartfenton7660
When Buddy and the Crickets were still getting started, a guy said, I can get you a gig with Sid King and the Five Strings, and you'll get the same money. So they put themselves out and went there, it was a distance away I think (don't remember). They all did the gig and Sid didn't get ANY money, and neither did the Crickets.
@stewartfenton7660
Yeahhhhh haven't heard it for years! Even better than I remembered.
@violinmke
I was so mesmerized by this for a minute I didn't realize there was film playing in the record!
@stephenstone8817
Great memories of when I first heard this track way back in the 80's rock'n'roll dances. Great track
@Lonedomedrifter54
Killer
@tornadorockrollclubenviken259
Unbeatable swinging sound!
@Trident750UK
Pure Rock n Roll....!!!!