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Three-chord Song

Three-chord song

A three-chord song is a song whose music is built around three chords that are played in a certain sequence. Perhaps the most prevalent type of three-chord song is the simple twelve bar blues used in blues and rock and roll. Typically, the three chords used are the chords on the tonic, subdominant, and dominant (scale degrees I, IV and V): in the key of C, these would be the C, F and G chords. Sometimes the V7 chord is used instead of V, for greater tension. Three-chord songs are easy for the listener to remember, which can make them effective in pop music. They are also easier to learn than other, more complicated songs. Among others, country singer Hank Williams and folk singer Bob Dylan have written large numbers of such songs. Punk music very often features three-chord songs - sometimes called a 'three chord thrash' (cf. The Ramones). "Barbara Ann" by the Beach Boys is a nice example of an effective three-chord song.

External link

- http://www.acousticguitar.com/lessons/talley/1.shtml Category:Harmony Category:Songs Category:Chord progressions

Song

A song is a relatively short musical composition for the human voice (possibly accompanied by other musical instruments), which features words (lyrics). It is typically for a solo singer, though may also be a duet, trio, or for more voices (works with more than one voice to a part, however, are considered choral). The words of songs are typically of a poetic, rhyming nature, although they may be religious verses or free prose. Songs can be broadly divided into many different forms, depending on the criteria used. One division is between "art songs", "popular songs", and "folk songs". Other common methods of classification are by purpose (sacred vs secular), by style (dance, ballad, Lieder, etc.) or by time of origin (Renaissance, Contemporary, etc). The performer of a song is called a "singer" or "vocalist", the act is called singing.

Cultural types

Art songs

Art songs are songs created for performance in their own right, or for the purposes of a European upper class, usually with piano accompaniment, although they can also have other types of accompaniment such as an orchestra or string quartet, and are always notated. Generally they have an identified author(s) and require voice training for acceptable performances. The German word for song, "Lied" (plural: "Lieder"), is used in French and English-speaking communities to refer to the serious art song, whereas in German-speaking communities the word "Kunstlied" (plural: "Kunstlieder") is used to distinguish art song from folk song ("Volkslied"). The lyrics are often written by a lyricist and the music separately by a composer. Art songs may be more formally complicated than popular or folk songs, though many early Lieder by the likes of Franz Schubert are in simple strophic form. They are often important to national identity. Art songs feature in many European cultures, including but not limited to: Russian (romansy), Dutch (lied), Italian (canzoni), French (mélodies), Scandinavian (sånger), Spanish (canciones). Cultures outside of Europe may have what they consider to be a classical music tradition, such as India, and thus feature art songs. Of the romantic music era, the art song is considered one of the most distinctive music forms developed. The accompaniment of pieces of this period is considered as an important part of the composition. The art song of this period is often a duet in which the vocalist and accompanist share in interpretive importance. The pieces were most often written to be performed in a home setting although today the works enjoy popularity as concert pieces. The emergency of poetry during this era was much of what inspired the creation of these pieces by Brahms, Schumann, Schubert and other period composers. These composers set poems in their native language. Many works were inspired by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Heinrich Heine. An art song with a German text is often referred to as a Lied. The romantic art song was often reflective of the popular poetic notions of despair created by places, legends, nature or lost love. Some composers would interpret the poem literally and create music which imitated the music and imagery of the music. The vocal melody was created to reflect the form and emphasis of the poem. The mood of the piece would often be summarized in the closing piano section called a postlude. To reflect the stanzas of a poem, the composer could use strophic form to reuse music for each stanza. Another method would be to write new music for each stanza to create a unique form, this was through-composed form known in German as durchkomponiert. A combination of both of these techniques in a single setting was called a modified strophic form. Often romantic art songs sharing similar elements were grouped as a song cycle. (Kamien, 217–18)

Popular songs

Popular songs are songs which may be considered in between art songs and folk songs. They are usually accompanied in performance and recording by a band. They are not anonymous in origin and have a known authors. They are often but not always notated by their author(s) or transcribed after recording and tend to be composed in collaboration more often than art songs, for instance by an entire band, though the lyrics are usually written by one person, usually the lead singer. Popular songs are often a part of individual and cultural, but seldom national, identity. Performers usually often have not undergone formal voice training but highly stylized vocal techniques are used. Many people consider songs in popular music to have in general simpler structures than art songs, however, musicologists who are "both contemptuous and condescending [of popular music] are looking for types of production, musical form, and listening which they associate with a different kind of music...'classical music'...and they generally find popular music lacking" (Middleton 1990, p.103).

Song structure or how a pop song is constructed

Popular songs almost always have a well defined structure. The song is constructed using three to five individually distinct musical sections, which are then strung together to form the complete song. A structural analysis of a typical pop song is as follows:
- Introduction
- Verse
- Chorus
- Verse
- Chorus
- Instrumental Bridge
- Repeat chorus to fade The above pop song structure is an extremely common way of building a modern pop song, including heavy metal, hip hop, rock songs and all other genres of pop songs. Some extremely musically simple song structures have songs which have only a single section which is repeated with slight modifications in order to sustain a listener's interest in the song. Pop songs also have rhyming schemes which are commonly used by lyricists. These are classified using capital letters of the English alphabet. For example, a song's verse section may have this rhyming scheme: ABAC ABAD. This means that the verse comprises of eight lines. Lines 1, 3, and 5 rhyme with each other. Also, lines 2 and 6 rhyme. Whereas lines 4 and 8 do not rhyme with any lines.

Folk songs

Folk songs are songs of often anonymous origin (or are public domain) that are transmitted orally. They are frequently a major aspect of national or cultural identity. Art songs often approach the status of folk songs when people forget who the author was. Folk songs are also frequently transmitted non-orally (that is, as sheet music), especially in the modern era. Folk songs exist in virtually if not every culture. For more on folk songs, see Folk music. For a list of influential songs, see:
- The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll
- The Grammy Hall of Fame Award (also includes many albums)
- The annual Eurovision Song Contest includes a list of winners

Song forms

- Anthem
- Aria and recitative (Opera)
- Ballad
- Cantata
- Carol
- Catch
- Chanson
- Chant
- Company song
- Folk song
- Frottola
- Gregorian chant and plainsong
- Hymn
- Jingle
- Lament
- Laude
- Lied (plural: Lieder)
- Lullaby
- Madrigal
- Mass
- Oratorio
- Pibroch
- Pop songs
- Spiritual
- Work song
- Thirty-two-bar form
- Twelve bar blues

References

# Middleton, Richard (1990/2002). Studying Popular Music. Philadelphia: Open University Press. ISBN 0335152759. # Kamien, Roger. Music : An Appreciation. Mcgraw-Hill College; 3rd edition (August 1, 1997) ISBN 0070365210 Category:Musical forms ja:歌

Chord (music)

In music and music theory, a chord (from the Middle English cord) short for accord is two or more different notes or pitches sounding simultaneously, or nearly simultaneously, over a period of time. For example, if you simultaneously play any three (or more) keys of a piano, you have just played a chord. Likewise, if you simultaneously play three or more strings of a guitar, you have just played a chord on the guitar. Every chord is given a specific name, based on the notes that constitute the chord and the distances, or intervals, between them. Originally, a chord simply meant the sounding together of different tones, the resultant of these tones. Broadly, any combination of three or more notes is a chord, although during the common practice period in western music and most popular music some combinations were given more prominence than others. Thus in common usage a chord is only those groups of three notes which are tonal or have diatonic functionality. Chords being directly perceived units, sonorities of two pitches are often interpreted as fragments of three- or four-note chords. A chord is then also only the harmonic function of the group of three notes, and it is unnecessary to have all three notes form a simultaneity. Less than three notes may and often do function, in context, as a simultaneity of all notes of chord. One example is a power chord, another is a broken chord or arpeggio, where each note in a chord is sounded one after the other. One of the most familiar broken chord figures is Alberti bass. See accompaniment. Although, as Jean-Jacques Nattiez (1990, p.218) explains, "we can encounter 'pure chords' in a musical work," such as in the following example from the "Promenade" of Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition: Pictures at an Exhibition But "often, we must go from a textual given to a more abstract representation of the chords being used," as in the following example where the chords on the second stave are abstracted from the actual notes written on the first: Pictures at an Exhibition "For a sound configuration to be recognized as a chord, it must have a certain duration." Goldman (1965, p.26) elaborates: "the sense of harmonic relation, change, or effect depends on speed (or tempo) as well as on the relative duration of single notes or triadic units. Both absolute time (measurable length and speed) and relative time (proportion and division) must at all times be taken into account in harmonic thinking or analysis." Music is said to be chord-based when the melody is determined by the chords and not by melodic concerns such as modal frames.

Nonchord tones and dissonance

A nonchord tone is a dissonant or unstable tone which is not a part of the chord that is currently playing and in most cases quickly resolves to a chord tone.

Chord sequences

Chords are commonly played in sequence, much as notes are played in sequence to form melodies. Chord sequences can be conceptualised either in a simplistic way, in which the root notes of the chords play simple melodies while tension is created and relieved by increasing and decreasing dissonance, or full attention can be paid to each note in every chord, in which case chord sequences can be regarded as multi-part harmony of unlimited complexity. Listen to an example of a chord sequence from Erik Satie's Sarabande no. 3.

Harmonic analysis and construction

Chords are named for how many notes they contain, more commonly for what type of intervals they are constructed from, and by the root note and bass note. The easiest way to name a chord, or limit its construction, is according to the number of notes included. The simplest and possibly most frequently used chords are trichords, meaning they have three ("tri") notes (before any doubling of notes, that is), four notes being a tetrachord, six a hexachord, etc. It is more informative to label a chord based on what type of intervals it contains, rather than how many notes, because no matter how many notes a similar interval apart you stack on top of each other, the chord still retains a characteristic sound. The chords most traditionally used in Western music are those with notes fundamentally a third apart (that is, before any inversions and doublings, discussed below), called tertian chords. Chords constructed from seconds are secundal, and from fourths are quartal. Chords are also distinguished and notated by the scale degree, pitch, or note of their root and bass, although there are many different conventions for indicating the quality of the chord, and the inversion of the chord (determined by which note of the chord serves as the bass note); see Inverted triads below). For example, since the first scale degree of the C major scale is the note C, a triad built on top of the note C would be called the one chord, which might be notated 1, I, or even C, in which case the assumption would be made that the key signature of the particular piece of music in question would indicate to the musician what function a C major triad was fulfilling, and that any special role of the chord outside of its normal diatonic function would be inferred from the context. Chords are labelled with chord symbols.

The triad

The most commonly used chords in Western music, triads are the basis of diatonic harmony, and are tertian trichords. That is, they are composed of three notes: a root note, a note which is a third above the root, and a note which is a third above that note, and therefore a fifth above the root. Each note has a function within the chord: the note the chord is built on is called the root of the chord, the second note (a third above the root) is called the third of the chord, and the third note (a third above the second note) is called the fifth of the chord. This is true of all triads, regardless of key, inversion, or quality. For example, in an F triad, F is always the root, A (sharp, natural, or flat) is always the third, and C (sharp, natural, or flat) is always the fifth. For another example, consider an octave of the C major scale, consisting of the notes C D E F G A B C: major scale
Fig 1. The C major scale The triad formed using the C note as the root would consist of C (the root note of the scale), E (the third note of the scale) and G (the fifth). major scale
Fig 2. C, E and G - The C major triad Using the same scale (and thus, implicitly, the key of C major) a chord may be constructed using the D as the root note. This would be D (root), F (third), A (fifth). It should be immediately apparent on hearing these two chords that they have a different quality to them: one which does not stem merely from the difference in pitch between their roots C and D. Examination at the piano keyboard will reveal that there are four semitones between the root and third of the chord on C, but only 3 semitones between the root and third of the chord on D (while the outer notes are still a perfect fifth apart). This triad on C is therefore called a major triad, or major chord, since the interval from C to E is a major third. A minor chord, such as the triad on D, has a smaller interval from root to third called a minor third, and the chord is D minor. A triad can be constructed on any note of the C major scale. These will all be either minor or major, with the exception of the triad on B, the leading-tone (the last note of the scale before returning to a C, in this case), which is diminished. See also Mathematics of the Western music scale.

Types of triads

As well as major and minor, there can also be augmented and diminished triads. These four terms describe the quality of a chord. For instance a triad built on top of a root D in the key of C would be said to be minor or have a minor quality. Augmented triads are composed of the root, a note a major third from the root, but then a note an augmented fifth from the root (unlike the major and minor triads); or equivalently, a major third on top of a major third (same as a major triad, except the top note has been raised by a semitone). Diminished triads have the root, a note a minor third from the root, but then a note a diminished fifth from the root, or a minor third on a minor third (same as a minor triad, except the top note has been lowered by a semitone.) These rules summarise the type of triads encountered so far:
- Major triad (M): root, major 3rd, perfect 5th
- Minor triad (m): root, minor 3rd, perfect 5th
- Augmented triad (A): root, major 3rd, augmented 5th
- Diminished triad (d): root, minor 3rd, diminished 5th

Inverted triads

Triads are said to be inverted when a note other than the root serves as the bass note (that is, it is the lowest note sounded). There are three positions that triads can have, two of which are inversions:
- Root position is when the chord is as described above: in ascending thirds with its root note in the bass, creating an interval of a fifth, and a third (i.e. the tonic root position is marked, "I" in a figured bass).
- First inversion is when the third of the chord is in the bass, with the fifth of the chord next above, and the root highest, creating an interval of a sixth and a third (this is marked as, "I6".).
- Second inversion is when the fifth of the chord in the bass, with the root next above, and the third of the chord highest, forming an interval of a sixth, and a fourth (This is marked "I6/4"). Second inversion is the most unstable chord position. For one traditional system of notation for inverted chords, see figured bass. Most Western music of any sophistication makes extensive use of inversion, since without it the harmonic resources available would be severely limited. For example, a I6/4 (second inversion of the tonic) often had cadential function in early western music since scale degree 5 is in the bass. Listen to some triads: the first three chords played are C major root position, first inversion, second inversion; then C minor root position, first inversion, second inversion.

Seventh chords

:Main article: Seventh chord. Seventh chords may be thought of as the next natural step in composing tertian chords. Seventh chords are constructed by adding a fourth note to a triad, at the interval of a third above the fifth of the chord. This creates the interval of a seventh above the root of the chord. There are various types of seventh chords depending on the quality of the original chord and the quality of the seventh added.

Extended chords

:Main article: Extended chord. Extended chords are tertian chords (built from thirds) or triads with notes extended, or added, beyond the seventh. Thus ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth chords are extended chords. After the thirteenth, any notes added in thirds duplicate notes elsewhere in the chord, so there are no fifteenth chords, seventeenth chords, and so on.

Augmented sixth chords

:Main article: Augmented sixth chord. An augmented sixth chord is a chord which contains two notes which are separated by an augmented sixth (or, by inversion, a diminished third - though this inversion is rare in compositional practice). The augmented sixth is generally used as a dissonant interval which resolves by both notes moving outward to an octave. In Western music, the most common use of these chords is to resolve to a dominant chord in root position (that is, a dominant triad with the root doubled to create the octave to which the augmented sixth chord resolves), or to a tonic chord in second inversion (a tonic triad with the fifth doubled for the same purpose). In this case, the tonic note of the key is included in the chord, sometimes along with an optional fourth note, to create one of the following (illustrated here in the key of C major):
- Italian Augmented Sixth Chord: A flat, C, F sharp
- French Augmented Sixth Chord: A flat, C, D, F sharp
- German Augmented Sixth Chord: A flat, C, E flat, F sharp

Added tone chords

:Main article: Added tone chord. An added tone chord is a traditional chord with an extra "added" note, such as the commonly added sixth (above the root). This includes chords with an added second (ninth) or fourth (eleventh), or a combination of the three. These chords do not include "intervening" thirds as in an extended chord.

Sustained chords

:Main article: Sustained chord. A sustained chord, or "sus chord" (also suspended chord), is a chord where the second or most often the fourth is played with or replaces the third. For instance, Csus4 is C, F, and G. These chords are called "sustained" because you typically arrive at them when you perform a V7-I progression but don't resolve the seventh of the V7. This is similar to a suspension, where the harmony shifts from one chord to another, but one or more notes of the first chord are held over into the second. However in a sustained chord the note may never resolve as is required of a suspension. In jazz, sus chords are usually played as a major triad with the second in the bass, e.g. a major C with a D bass is a Dsus7.

Borrowed chords

:Main article: Borrowed chord. Borrowed chords are chords borrowed from the parallel minor or major. If the root of the borrowed chord is not in the original key, then they are named by the accidental. For instance, in major, a chord built on the parallel minor's sixth degree is a "flat six chord", written bVI. Borrowed chords are an example of mode mixture.

Neapolitan sixth chord

The Neapolitan sixth chord is a major triad with the lowered supertonic scale degree as its root. The chord is referred to as a "sixth" because it is almost always found in first inversion (first inversions being traditionally named like this, from their characteristic interval of a sixth from the bass). Though a technically accurate roman numeral analysis would be bII⁶, it is generally labelled N⁶. In C major, the chord is spelled (assuming root position) D flat, F, A flat. Because it uses lowered altered tones, this chord is often grouped with the borrowed chords. However, the chord is not borrowed from the parallel major or minor, and may appear in both major and minor keys.

Other types of chords

"Power chords" consist of perfect fifths and fourths and may be considered triads which lack the third and thus double the root or fifth to create a third note. The lack of the third makes their quality ambiguous. Popularized by heavy metal music they are used extensively in many kinds of rock music, especially (see below). Polychords are two or more chords superimposed on top of one another. See also altered chord, secundal chord, and Tristan chord.

References

- Dahlhaus, Carl. Gjerdingen, Robert O. trans. (1990). Studies in the Origin of Harmonic Tonality, p.67. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691091358.
- Nattiez, Jean-Jacques (1990). Music and Discourse: Toward a Semiology of Music (Musicologie générale et sémiologue, 1987). Translated by Carolyn Abbate (1990). ISBN 0691027145.
- Goldman (1965).

External links

- [http://www.knowchords.com Understanding Chords for Keyboard] Note: this is a commercial site.
- [http://www.jazzguitar.be/jazz_guitar_chords.html Jazz Guitar Chords]
- [http://www.outsideshore.com/primer/primer/ms-primer-6-1.html#ChordVoicings Jazz Chord Voicings]
- [http://www.geocities.com/melatefet/chordsr.htm Chords Generator]
- [http://www.chordfind.com/ Guitar Chord Finder]
- [http://www.banjolin.co.uk/chordtheory/chords.htm Chord Theory] (Chord theory for Mandolins, Mandolas etc)
- ko:화음 ja:和音

Twelve bar blues

Twelve bar blues is a chord progression, typical of blues and later influenced music. In addition to the harmonic formulae the twelve bar blues uses a rhythmic scheme of twelve 4/4 bars to the verse with swing or shuffle (and thus may be notated in 12/8). A basic example of the progression would look like this, using T to indicate the tonic, S for the subdominant, and D for the dominant, and representing one chord per measure: T T T T S S T T D S T T The first line takes 16 quarter note beats (4 measures X 4 beats), as do the remaining two lines (for a total of 48 beats and 12 measures). However, the vocal or lead phrases, though they often come in threes, do not coincide with the above three lines or sections. This overlap between the grouping of the accompaniment and the vocal is part of what creates interest in the twelve bar blues. Many variations are possible. For instance, seventh chords are often used just before a change, and more changes can be added. A more complicated example might look like this, where "7" indicates a seventh chord: T S T T7 S S7 T T7 D S T D7 When the last bar contains the dominant, that bar can be called a turnaround. Finally, here is an example showing the pattern in the key of D, and how it fits with the lyrics of a given verse. One chord symbol is used per beat, with "-" representing the continuation of the previous chord: D - - - Woke up this morning with the G - - - D - - - D7 - - - blues down in my soul G - - - Woke up this morning with the G7 - - - D - - - D7 - - - blues down in my soul Saying "My A - - A7 baby gone and left me, got a G - - G7 D - - - D - A A7 heart as black as coal" While the blues is most often considered to be in sectional strophic form with a verse-refrain pattern, it may also be considered as an extension of the variational chaconne procedure. Van der Merwe (1989) considers it developed in part specifically from the American Gregory Walker though the conventional account would consider hymns as the provider of the blues repeating chord progression or harmonic formulae (Middleton 1990, p.117-8). Examples include Muddy Waters' "Train Fare Blues" (1948), Howlin' Wolf's "Evil" (1954), and Big Joe Turner's "Shake, Rattle, and Roll" (1954). (Covach 2005, p.67) See also: eight bar blues, thirty-two-bar form, [http://www.outsideshore.com/primer/primer/ms-primer-5-2.html#Blues Marc Sabatella's Jazz Improvisation Primer].

Sources

- Covach, John. "Form in Rock Music: A Primer", in Stein, Deborah (2005). Engaging Music: Essays in Music Analysis. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195170105.
- Middleton, Richard (1990/2002). Studying Popular Music. Philadelphia: Open University Press. ISBN 0335152759.
- Van der Merwe, P. (1989). Origins of the Popular Style. Oxford. Category:Chord progressions Category:Musical forms

Rock and roll

:For other uses of "rock and roll", see Rock and roll (disambiguation). Rock and roll (also spelled rock 'n' roll, especially in its first decade), is a genre of music that emerged as a defined musical style in American South in the 1950s, and quickly spread to the rest of the country, and the world. From the late 1950s to the mid 1990s rock was perhaps the most popular form in music in the western world. It later evolved into the various different sub-genres of what is now called simply 'rock'. As a result, "rock and roll" now has two distinct meanings: either traditional rock and roll in the 1950s style, or later rock and even pop music which may be very far from traditional rock and roll (rhythm sample).

Precursors and origins

Main article: Origins of rock and roll Rock and roll emerged as a defined musical style in America in the 1950s, though elements of rock and roll can be heard in rhythm and blues records as far back as the 1920s. Early rock and roll combined elements of blues, boogie woogie, jazz and rhythm and blues, and is also influenced by traditional Appalachian folk music, gospel and country and western. Going back even further, rock and roll can trace a foundational lineage to the old Five Points district of mid-19th century New York City, the scene of the first fusion of heavily rhythmic African shuffles and sand dances with melody driven European genres, particularly the Irish jig. Rocking was a term first used by black gospel singers in the American South to mean something akin to spiritual rapture. By the 1940s, however, the term was used as a double entendre, ostensibly referring to dancing, but with the hidden subtextual meaning of sex; an example of this is Roy Brown's "Good Rocking Tonight". This type of song was usually relegated to "race music" (the music industry code name for rhythm and blues) outlets and was rarely heard by mainstream white audiences. In 1951, Cleveland, Ohio disc jockey Alan Freed would begin playing this type of music for his white audience, and it is Freed who is credited with coining the phrase "rock and roll" to describe the rollicking R&B music that he brought to the airwaves. There is much debate as to what should be considered the first rock and roll record. Candidates include the 1951 "Rocket 88" by Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats, or later and more widely-known hits like Chuck Berry's "Maybellene" "Johnny B. Goode" or Bo Diddley's "Bo Diddley" or Bill Haley & His Comets' "Rock Around the Clock" or, as RollingStone magazine pointed out, to some controversy, in 2005, "That's all right", Elvis Presley's first single for SUN records, in Memphis. Some historians go further back, pointing to musicians like Fats Domino, who were recording in the 40s in styles largely indistinguishable from rock and roll; these include Louis Jordan's "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby?", Jack Guthrie's "The Oakie Bookie" (1947) and Benny Carter and Paul Vandervoort II's "Rock Me to Sleep" (1950). Main artists starting to score in the main hit charts from 1955 onward included the influencial and pioneering: Bill Haley, Elvis Presley, Fats Domino, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis.

Early North American rock and roll (1953-1963)

Whatever the beginning, it is clear that rock appeared at a time when racial tensions in the United States were coming to the surface. African Americans were protesting segregation of schools and public facilities. The "separate but equal" doctrine was nominally overturned by the Supreme Court in 1954. It can hardly be a coincidence, then, that a musical form combining elements of white and black music should arise, and that this music should provoke strong reactions, of all types, in all Americans. 1954The phrase may possibly first be heard on Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five's version of Tamburitza Boogie recorded on August 18, 1950, in New York City. However, in 1922, Trixie Smith had a song titled "My Man Rocks Me with One Steady Roll". On March 21, 1952 in Cleveland, Alan Freed (also known as Moondog) organized the first rock and roll concert, titled "The Moondog Coronation Ball". The audience and the performers were mixed in race and the evening ended after one song in a near-riot as thousands of fans tried to get into the sold-out venue. The culture industry soon understood that there was a white market for black music that was beyond the stylistic boundaries of rhythm and blues and so social prejudice and racial barriers, could do nothing against the forces of capitalism. Rock and roll was an overnight success in the U.S. making ripples across the atlantic, culminating in 1964 with the British Invasion. By the end of the decade, rock had spread throughout the world. In Australia, for example, Johnny O'Keefe became perhaps the first modern rock star of that country, and beginning a long history of Australian rock.

Rockabilly

Main article: Rockabilly In 1954, Elvis Presley recorded at Sam Phillips' Sun studios in Memphis, the regional hit "That's All Right, Mama." Elvis played a rock and country & western fusion called rockabilly, which was characterized by hiccupping vocals, slapping bass and a spastic guitar style. He became the first superstar rock musician. It was the following year's "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley & His Comets that really set the rock boom in motion, though. The song was one of the biggest hits in history, and frenzied teens flocked to see Haley and the Comets perform it, even causing riots in some places; "Rock Around the Clock" was a breakthrough for both the group and for all of rock and roll music. If everything that came before laid the groundwork, "Clock" certainly set the mold for everything else that came after. With its combined rockabilly and R & B influences, "Clock" topped the U.S. charts for several weeks, and became wildly popular in places like Australia and Germany. The single, released by independent label Festival Records in Australia, was the biggest-selling recording in the country at the time. In 1957, Jerry Lee Lewis and Buddy Holly became the first rock musicians to tour Australia, marking the expansion of the genre into a worldwide phenomenon. That same year, Bill Haley & His Comets toured Europe bringing rock 'n' roll to that continent for the first time.

Covers

Main article: Cover version Through the late 1940s and early 1950s, R&B music had been gaining a stronger beat and a wilder style, with artists such as Fats Domino and Johnny Otis speeding up the tempos and increasing the backbeat to great popularity on the juke-joint circuit. Despite the efforts of Freed and others, black music was still taboo on many white-owned radio outlets. However, savvy artists and producers quickly recognized the potential of rock and raced to cash in with white versions of this black music. Covering was customary in the music industry at the time. One of the first successful rock and roll covers was Wynonie Harris's transformation of Roy Brown's "Good Rocking Tonight" from a jump blues to a showy rocker. The most notable trend, however, was white pop covers of black R&B numbers. Black performers saw their songs recorded by white performers, an important step in the dissemination of the music, but often at the cost of feeling and authenticity. Most famously, Pat Boone recorded sanitized versions of Little Richard songs, though Boone found "Long Tall Sally" so intense that he couldn't cover it. Later, as those songs became popular, the original artists' recordings received radio play as well. Little Richard once called Pat Boone from the audience and introduced him as "the man who made me a millionaire". The cover versions were not necessarily straightforward imitations. For example, Bill Haley's incompletely bowdlerized cover of "Shake, Rattle and Roll" transformed Big Joe Turner's humorous and racy tale of adult love into an energetic teen dance number, while Georgia Gibbs replaced Etta James's tough, sarcastic vocal in "Roll With Me, Henry" (covered as "Dance With Me, Henry") with a perkier vocal more appropriate for an audience unfamiliar with the song to which James's song was an answer, (Hank Ballard's "Work With Me, Annie").

British Rock and Roll

Main article: British rock The Trad jazz movement brought blues artists to Britain, and in 1955 Lonnie Donegan's version of "Rock Island Line" began Skiffle music which inspired many young people to have a go, including John Lennon whose "The Quarry Men" formed in March 1957 would gradually change and develop into The Beatles. This primed the United Kingdom to respond creatively to American rock and roll which had an impact across the globe. In Britain skiffle groups, record collecting and trend-watching were in full bloom among the youth culture prior to the rock era, and color barriers were less of an issue with the idea of separate "race records" seeming almost unimaginable. Countless British youths listened to R&B and rock pioneers and began forming their own bands. Britain quickly became a new centre of rock and roll. In 1958 three British teenagers formed a rock and roll group, Cliff Richard and the Drifters (later renamed Cliff Richard and the Shadows). The group recorded a hit, "Move It", marking not only what is held to be the very first true British rock 'n' roll single, but also the beginning of a different sound — British rock. Richard and his band introduced many important changes, such as using a "lead guitarist" (virtuoso Hank Marvin) and an electric bass. The British scene developed, with others including Tommy Steele and Adam Faith vying to emulate the stars from the U.S.. Some touring acts attracted particular popularity in Britain, an example being Gene Vincent. This inspired many British teens to begin buying records and follow the music scene, thus laying the groundwork for Beatlemania. At the start of the '60s instrumental dance music was very popular, with hits including Apache by the The Shadows and Telstar by The Tornados from a British branch of Surf instrumental music.

Decline and rebirth

Main article: Rock (music). At the end of the 1950s the original Rock 'n' Roll rush faded, as stars like Elvis Presley diverted into the more commercial sound of ballads, and the music went out of fashion. It had influenced other genres which were going strong, and in the United Kingdom it formed a major part of the mix that brought the surge of British rock that reinvigorated Rock music worldwide.

Books

- The Fifties by Pulitzer Prize winning author David Halberstam (1996) Random House (ISBN 0517156075) provides information and analysis on fifites popular culture exploring major social and cultural changes including television, transistor radios, the phenomenon of Elvis Presley and the rise of rock-and-roll.
- The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll : The Definitive History of the Most Important Artists and Their Music by editors James Henke, Holly George-Warren, Anthony Decurtis, Jim Miller. (1992) Random House (ISBN 0679737286)
- The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll by Holly George-Warren, Patricia Romanowski, Jon Pareles (2001) Fireside Press (ISBN 0743201205)

External links

- [http://www.history-of-rock.com The History of Rock'n'Roll 1954 - 1963]
- [http://www.bandnews.org/genre/Rock/ Rock and Roll News]
- [http://www.rockhallsf.com San Francisco Rock and Roll Hall of Fame]
- [http://www.myclassiclyrics.com/elvis_presley/elvis_presley_sound_video_3.html Analysis on the True Birth of Rock and Roll] When did rock really begin
- [http://www.jerryfielden.com/essays/electromusic.htm The influence of Electronic Music in Rock Music, 1967-76; Keith Emerson, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd and others]
- [http://nomuzak.co.uk/against_pop.html Pop and Rock] An analysis of musical form and technique in popular music.
- [http://www.reasontorock.com/ Reason to Rock - Rock Music as Art Form]
- [http://www.myclassiclyrics.com/ Classic Rock Lyrics Page]
- [http://www.rockforums.net/ Rock Forums]
- [http://www.everythingrock.com/ Everythingrock.com - Rock music source & community]
- [http://groups-beta.google.com/group/Rock-Talk/ Rock music forum]
- [http://www.rantandroll.com/ Rock and Roll Forum]
- [http://www.rockreviews.co.uk/ Rock Reviews] ja:%E3%83%AD%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF%E3%83%B3%E3%83%AD%E3%83%BC%E3%83%AB ko:%EB%9D%BD simple:Rock music Category:American styles of music Category:Radio formats Category:Rock music Category:Musical movements Category:Musical genres Category:Youth culture in the United Kingdom Category:Moral panics

Scale degree

:For other types of degree, see Degree (disambiguation) In music theory, a scale degree is the name of a particular note of a scale in relation to the tonic (the first note in the scale). In tonal scales, the degrees may be identified several ways:
- the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh degrees of the scale;
- by arabic numerals (1,2,3...), sometimes with carets above them (

\hat 1, \hat 2, \hat 3...

); and
- in English, by the names tonic, supertonic, mediant, subdominant, dominant, submediant, (subtonic or leading tone). Subtonic is used when the interval between it and the tonic in the upper octave is a whole step; leading tone when that interval is a half step. Category:Musical terminology

Dissonance

Dissonance has several meanings, all related to conflict or incongruity. In music, dissonance is a property of an interval or chord. See consonance and dissonance. In poetry, dissonances is the deliberate avoidance of patterns of repeated vowel sounds (see assonance). In general, words that are difficult to pronounce or contain harsh, rasping consonants are considered dissonant. Dissonance in poetry is similar to cacophony and the opposite of euphony. Cognitive dissonance is a state of mental conflict.

Country music

Country music, also called country and western music or country-western, is an amalgam of popular musical forms developed in the Southern United States, with roots in traditional folk music, Celtic Music, Blues, Gospel music, and Old-time music. However, country music is actually a catch-all category that embraces several different genres of music: Nashville sound (the pop-like music very popular in the 1960s); bluegrass, a fast mandolin, banjo and fiddle-based music popularized by Bill Monroe and by the Foggy Mountain Boys; Western which encompasses traditional Western ballads and Hollywood Cowboy Music, Western swing, a sophisticated dance music popularized by Bob Wills; Bakersfield sound (popularized by Buck Owens and Merle Haggard); Outlaw country; Cajun; Zydeco; gospel; oldtime (generally pre-1930 folk music); honky tonk; Appalachian; rockabilly; neotraditional country and jug band. Each style is unique in its execution, its use of rhythms, and its chord structures, though many songs have been adapted to the different country styles. One example is the tune Milk Cow Blues, an early blues tune by Kokomo Arnold that has been performed in a wide variety of country styles by everyone from Aerosmith to Bob Wills to Willie Nelson, George Strait to Ricky Nelson and Elvis Presley. Vernon Dalhart was the first country singer to have a nationwide hit (May 1924, with "The Wreck of Old '97") (see External Links below). Other important early recording artists were Riley Puckett, Don Richardson, Fiddling John Carson, Ernest Stoneman, Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers, and The Skillet Lickers. Some trace the origins of modern country music to two seminal influences and a remarkable coincidence. Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family are widely considered to be the founders of country music, and their songs were first captured at an historic recording session in Bristol, Tennessee on August 1, 1927, where Ralph Peer was the talent scout and sound recordist. It is possible to categorize many country singers as being either from the Jimmie Rodgers strand or the Carter Family strand of country music.

Jimmie Rodgers' influence

Jimmie Rodgers' gift to country music was country folk. Building on the traditional ballads and musical influences of the South, Jimmie wrote and sang songs that ordinary people could relate to. He took the experiences of his own life in the Meridian, Mississippi, area and those of the people he met on the railroad, in bars and on the streets to create his lyrics. He used the musical influences of the traditional ballads and the folk to create his tunes. A annual festival has been held in Meridian for over 30 years. Pathos, humor, women, whiskey, murder, death, disease and destitution are all present in his lyrics and these themes have been carried forward and developed by his followers. People like Hank Williams, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, George Jones, Townes van Zandt, Kris Kristofferson and Johnny Cash have also suffered, and shared their suffering, bringing added dimensions to those themes. It would be fair to say that Jimmie Rodgers sang about life and death from a male perspective, and this viewpoint has dominated some areas of country music. It would also be fair to credit his influence for the development of honky tonk, rockabilly and the Bakersfield sound.

Hank Williams

Jimmie Rodgers is a major foundation stone in the structure of country music, but the most influential artist from the Jimmie Rodgers strand is undoubtedly Hank Williams, Sr. In his short career (he was only 29 when he died), he dominated the country scene and his songs have been covered by practically every other country artist, male and female. Some have even included him in their compositions (for example, Waylon Jennings and Alan Jackson). Hank had two personas: as Hank Williams he was a singer-songwriter and entertainer; as "Luke the Drifter", he was a songwriting crusader. The complexity of his character was reflected in the introspective songs he wrote about heartbreak, happiness and love (e.g., "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry"), and the more upbeat numbers about Cajun food ("Jambalaya") or barbershop Indians ("Kaw-Liga"). He took the music to a different level and a wider audience. Both Hank Williams, Jr. and his son Hank Williams III have been innovators within country music as well, Hank Jr. leading towards rock fusion and "outlaw country", and Hank III going much further in reaching out to death metal and psychobilly soul

The Carter Family's influence

The other Ralph Peer discovery, the Carter family, consisted of A.P. Carter, his wife Sara and their sister-in-law Maybelle. They built a long recording career based on the sonorous bass of A.P., the beautiful singing of Sara and the unique guitar playing of Maybelle. A.P.'s main contribution was the collection of songs and ballads that he picked up in his expeditions into the hill country around their home in Maces Springs, Virginia. In addition, being a man, he made it possible for Sara and Maybelle to perform without stigma at that time. These two women were the musical talent. They arranged the songs that A.P. collected and wrote their own songs. They were the precursors of a line of talented female country singers like Kitty Wells, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Skeeter Davis, Tammy Wynette, Dolly Parton and June Carter Cash, the daughter of Maybelle and the wife of Johnny Cash.

Bluegrass

Bluegrass carries on the tradition of the old String Band Music and was invented, in its pure form, by Bill Monroe. The name "Bluegrass" was simply taken from Monroe's band, the "Bluegrass Boys. The first recording in the classic line-up was made in 1945: Bill Monroe on Mandolin and Vocals, Lester Flatt on Guitar and Vocals, Earl Scruggs on 5-String Banjo, Chubby Wise on Fiddle and Cedric Rainwater on Upright Bass. This band set the standard for all bluegrass bands to follow, most of the famous early Bluegrass musicians were one-time band members of the Bluegrass Boys, like Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs, Jimmy Martin and Del McCoury, or played with Monroe occasionally, like Sonny Osborne, Ralph & Carter Stanley and Don Reno. Monroe also influenced people like Ricky Skaggs, Alison Krauss and Rhonda Vincent, who carry on the folk and ballad tradition in the bluegrass style.

Other influences

Country music has had only a handful of Black stars Charley Pride and Deford Bailey being the most notable. Pride endured much open racism early in his career with some radio programmers refusing to play a "nigger". Many TV audiences were shocked to realize that the songs they enjoyed were performed by a black man. Pride became the first black member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1993. He is considered a major influence on traditionalists today. Country music has also influenced the work of many black musicians such as Ray Charles and Keb' Mo'.

The Nashville sound

During the 1960s, country music became a multimillion-dollar industry centered on Nashville, Tennessee. Under the direction of Chet Atkins, the Nashville sound brought country music to a diverse audience. Although country music has great stylistic diversity, this diversity was strangled somewhat by the formulaic approach of the record producers like Chet Atkins. They played safe to protect sales. Even today the variety of country music is not usually well reflected in radio airplay and the popular perception of country music is still influenced by the maudlin ballads and whining steel guitars that many people still associate with the genre.

Reaction to the Nashville sound

The "vanilla"-flavored sounds that emanated from Nashville under the influence of Chet Atkins and his fellow producers led to a reaction among musicians outside Nashville, who saw that there was more to the genre than "the same old tunes, fiddle and guitar..." (Waylon Jennings). California produced the Bakersfield sound, promoted by Buck Owens and Merle Haggard and based on the work of the legendary Maddox Brothers and Rose, whose wild eclectic mix of old time country, hillbilly swing and gospel in the 1940s and 1950s was a feature of honky-tonks and dance halls in the state. Texas produced rebels like Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Butch Hancock, Jerry Jeff Walker and others who bucked the Nashville system and created outlaw country. Within Nashville in the 1980s, Randy Travis, Ricky Skaggs and others brought a return to the traditional values. Their musicianship, songwriting and producing skills helped to revive the genre momentarily. However, even they, and such long-time greats as Jones, Cash, and Haggard, fell from popularity as the record companies again imposed their formulas and refused to promote established artists. Capitol Records made an almost wholesale clearance of their country artists in the 1960s.

Country music developments

The two strands of country music have continued to develop. The Jimmie Rodgers influence can be seen in a pronounced "working man" image promoted by singers like Brooks & Dunn and Garth Brooks. On the Carter Family side, singers like Iris Dement and Nanci Griffith have written on more traditional "folk" themes, albeit with a contemporary point of view. In the 1990s a new form of country music emerged, called by some alternative country, or "insurgent country". Performed by generally younger musicians and inspired by traditional country performers and the country reactionaries, it shunned the Nashville-dominated sound of mainstream country and borrowed more from punk and rock groups than the watered-down, pop-oriented sound of Nashville. There are at least three U. S. cable networks devoted to the genre: CMT (owned by Viacom), VH-1 Country (also owned by Viacom), and GAC (owned by The E. W. Scripps Company).

Samples

- Download recording - "Prisoner’s Song" country music from the Library of Congress' [http://www.loc.gov/folklife/Gordon/sideAband8.html Gordon Collection]; performed by Ernest Hilton with banjo accompaniment in Biltmore, North Carolina on November 20, 1925
- Download sample of Hank Williams' "Cold, Cold Heart", one of the best-known Williams songs, covered by numerous other stars, and an excellent representation of the 1950s Nashville music.

External links

- [http://www.artistdevelopmentnetwork.com/ Artist Development Network in Nashville Tennessee]
- [http://www.nashvilletallent.com/ NashvilleTallent - Kicking Down The Doors In Nashville!]
- [http://www.roughstock.com/history/begin.html History of Country Music]
- [http://www.countrymusichalloffame.com/ Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum]
- [http://www.cmaworld.com The Country Music Association (America)]
- [http://www.ccma.org The Canadian Country Music Association]
- [http://www.angrycountry.com AngryCountry] Country Music News Magazine
- [http://www.countryweekly.com/ Country Weekly magazine]
- [http://www.opry.com/ Grand Ole Opry website]
- [http://www.luma-electronic.cz/lp/elpe.htm LP Discography-Covers & Lyrics]
- [http://www.countryhall.com/ Traditional Country Hall of Fame]
- [http://www.purecountrymusic.com/ Pure Country Music]
- [http://www.top-country-songs.com/ Top Country Songs]
- [http://www.countryexaminer.com/ Country Examiner] Up to the Minute Country Music News

Tribute sites to early artists

- [http://www.geocities.com/robtmorca/ Vernon Dalhart]
- [http://www.geocities.com/acuvar/carson_robison.html Carson Robison]
- [http://www.geocities.com/Fiddlindon/DON_RICHARDSON.html Don Richardson] Category:Country music Category:Musical genres Category:Radio formats ja:カントリー・ミュージック

Hank Williams

Hank Williams, Sr. (September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953) (legal name, Hiram Williams) was one of the most influential country musicians of all time, both as a singer and as a composer. In the words of country singer Faron Young, "He was the biggest change in the business. Before he came along, they were singing songs like 'Mama's Not Dead, She Just Quit Breathing'."

Life

He was born in Alabama (this is sometimes listed as nearby Mount Olive in Butler County, Alabama) in 1923 to Elonzo Williams and Jessie Lillybelle. He learned to play guitar and sing from a street blues singer named Rufus Payne (a.k.a. "Tee Tot"). He was performing throughout Alabama by his early teens, and formed a band called the Drifting Cowboys after his family moved to Montgomery, Alabama in 1937. He left high school without graduating. In 1941 Williams began working with WSFA, a local radio station. In 1943, Williams met Audrey Sheppard, and the couple were married a year later. Audrey also became his manager as Williams' career was rising and he became a local celebrity. In 1946, Williams recorded two singles for Sterling Records, "Never Again" (1946) and "Honky Tonkin'" (1947), both of which were successful. Williams soon signed with MGM Records, and released "Move It On Over", a massive country hit. In August of 1948, Williams joined The Louisiana Hayride, broadcasting from Shreveport, Louisiana, propelling him into living rooms all over the southeast. After a few more moderate hits, Williams released his version of "Lovesick Blues" (Rex Griffin) in 1949, which became a huge country hit and crossed over to mainstream audiences. That year, Williams sang the song at the Grand Ole Opry, where he became the first performer to receive six encores. That year, Audrey Williams gave birth to Randall Hank Williams (Hank Williams, Jr.), and Hank Williams brought together Bob McNett (guitar), Hillous Butrum (bass guitar), Jerry Rivers (fiddle) and Don Helms (steel guitar) to form the most famous version of the Drifting Cowboys. 1949 also saw Williams release seven hit songs after "Lovesick Blues", including "Wedding Bells", "Mind Your Own Business", "You're Gonna Change (Or I'm Gonna Leave)" and "My Bucket's Got a Hole in It". steel guitar In 1950, Williams began recording recitations as Luke the Drifter and released more hit songs, such as "My Son Calls Another Man Daddy", "They'll Never Take Her Love from Me", "Why Should We Try Anymore?", "Nobody's Lonesome for Me", "Long Gone Lonesome Blues", "Why Don't You Love Me?", "Moanin' the Blues" and "I Just Don't Like the Kind of Livin'". In 1951, "Dear John" became a hit but the B-side, "Cold, Cold Heart", has endured as one of his most famous songs, covered by Tony Bennett (who released a #1 pop hit version in 1951), Guy Mitchell, Teresa Brewer, Dinah Washington, Lucinda Williams, Cowboy Junkies, Frankie Laine, Jo Stafford, and Norah Jones. That same year, Williams released other hits, including the enduring classic "Crazy Heart". In spite of his professional success, Williams' life was becoming unmanageable. His marriage, always turbulent, was rapidly disintegrating, and he developed a serious problem with alcohol, morphine and other painkillers. Much of this abuse came from attempts to ease his severe back pain, which was caused by a birth defect, spina bifida occulta. In 1952, Hank and Audrey separated and he moved in with his mother, even as he released numerous hit songs, such as "Half as Much", "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)", "Settin' the Woods on Fire", "You Win Again" and "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive". Williams' drug problems continued to spiral out of control as he moved to Nashville and officially divorced his wife. In October of 1952, Williams was fired from the Grand Old Opry, and told not to return until he was sober. He rejoined the Louisiana Hayride. On October 18, 1952, he married Billie Jean Jones Eshliman. A ceremony was held at the New Orleans Municipal Auditorium and 14,000 people bought tickets to attend. His second marriage did not reform him. He missed numerous concerts or was too drunk to play. In addition, he did not stay faithful to his second wife, fathering another child, daughter Jett, by an acquaintance named Bobbie Jett. The Drifting Cowboys left Williams. On January 1, 1953, Williams was due to play in Canton, Ohio, but he was unable to fly due to weather problems. He hired a chauffeur and, before leaving the old Andrew Johnson Hotel in Knoxville, Tennessee was injected with B12 and morphine. He then left in a Cadillac, carrying a bottle of whiskey with him. Driver Andrew Carr was arrested early in the morning of Dec 31, 1952 after leaving Knoxville by the Tennessee State Police for speeding. This occurred at approximately 5 AM just short of the Virginia border. The weather was growing increasingly bad through-out the last day of 1952, and when driver Carr arrived at Bluefield, WV at about 10 AM he decided to get some help driving the very dangerous roads of pre-interstate West Virgina. He stopped at perhaps the most popular juke joint of that area during this era when Hank's records were still competing with World War II big band music--King Tut Tavern, just outside Bluefield WV. He roused a very sick and pale Hank and both went inside the just opened joint where owner Sox White was already busy warming the fry grease for the day. When they asked owner Sox White about getting a second driver, the waitress Helen Schultz recommended her boy friend Danny Surface, a taxi driver who hung out at The Doughboy Diner in downtown Bluefield WV between drives. Surface was on day shift at the taxi stand and would be available after 5PM. Waitress Schultz also worked another full shift at the Doughboy after getting off day shift at King Tut so she was reasonably sure that Surface could be contacted at the Doughboy. At about 11 AM driver Carr and Hank left for the Doughboy and Surface was available after his shift ended at 5 PM. At about noon Hank and driver Carr left again to the downtown office of a Dr. Horton, a Bluefield doctor notorious and later arrested in the 60's for dispensing prescription drugs without a prescription. They returned to the King Tut about an hour later. During the rest of the day Hank had both sandwiches and a beer sitting on the counter but took neither and spent most of the time at the bar with his face folded in his hands. By afternoon, the juke joint was getting roudy and Hank was scarcely noticed except for his "dude" wardrobe . When a barfly regular started beating up his girlfriend on the dance floor, (the approximately 90 lbs.) Hank got up and pushed the half-drunk 250 lb. red neck back. A Hank number was playing on the art deco juke box and the box even got "tilted" during the brawl. The redneck punched Hank hard in the family jewels and Sox the owner ejected Hank and let the redneck stay and soon he was back to beating the girlfriend on the dance floor. A very sick and doubled-up Hank was now in the trunk of the Cadillac trying to retrieve a pistol but was restrained by Carr and owner Sox. Carr had been running the Cadillac heater out in the parking lot, waiting for Surface to get off from his taxi shift. The pain from the punch was obviously excruciating and Hank got into the back seat and reached for a needle and arm band and was soon passed out with the needle still stuck into his arm. A kid from a neighboring business, Mays Motors witnessed this whole episode. About 30 minutes later when the kid returned Carr summoned him to get owner Sox as he couldn't get Hank to move. Sox brought coffee but couldn't find any pulse on Hank and told Carr; "This man is dead and get him the hell out of there". Carr asked where. Sox recommended getting going to the destination (Ohio). This was about 4PM Dec 31, 1952 and Carr left and drove the streets of Bluefield until Surface got off at 5 PM. Both then cuised around with the by now stiff Hank in the back seat until early in the morning of Jan. 1, 1953 they finally stopped in Oak Hill, a point about 60 miles past Bluefield on the Ohio route. Hank had scarcely been noticed at all at King Tut during his last day, except as a voice on the juke box. The only one who had paid much attention to him at all had been the waitress who swooned and exhibited the "groupy-like" behavior we now expect when a "star" enters. He had been dismissed and bashed by the Opry, but his records proved resilent like the big band music of the 40's which had overlapped each other as the most popular music of the two eras at the time of this death. This giant change in eras when both modern country and rock and roll were born was clear to all 6 months later when Hank's guitar player was playing on Elvis's first recordings. Many of Hank's personal possessions from the Cadillac were lost and were circulating around Bluefield WV for years. Many of these artifacts have been recovered and now reside in collections in Music City and elsewhere. But most significant of all was the sighting of the by now tattered white hand-made cowboy jacket on a homeless man in a dollar store in Princeton WV in 1998. When the seventeen year-old chauffeur pulled over at an all-night service station in Oak Hill, West Virginia, he discovered that Williams was unresponsive and becoming rigid. Upon closer examination, it was discovered that Hank Williams was dead. He had been married for the second time for less than 3 months. Oak Hill, West Virginia Williams' final single was ominously titled "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive". Five days after his death, his illegitimate daughter, Jett Williams, was born. His widow, Billie Jean, married country singer Johnny Horton the next year. His son Hank Williams, Jr. (whom the elder Williams referred to by the nickname of "Bocephus", which has stuck), daughter Jett Williams, and grandson Hank Williams III are also country musicians. (Hank Williams III also plays Bass Guitar in the hard rock group Superjoint Ritual) Hank Williams' remains are interred at the Oakwood Annex in Montgomery, Alabama. His funeral was said to have been far larger than any ever held for any governor of Alabama and is still, as of 2005, the largest such event ever held in Montgomery. As of 2005, more than fifty years after Williams' death, members of his Drifting Cowboys continue to tour and bring his music to generations of fans, many of whom were born years after his passing.

Singles

Number one singles

- "Lovesick Blues"
- "Long Gone Lonesome Blues"
- "Why Don't You Love Me?"
- "Moanin' the Blues"
- "Cold, Cold Heart"
- "Hey, Good-Looking"
- "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)"
- "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive"
- "Your Cheatin' Heart"
- "Kaw-Liga"
- "Take These Chains From My Heart"
- "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry"

Top-five singles

- "Move It On Over"
- "I'm a Long Gone Daddy"
- "Wedding Bells"
- "Mind Your Own Business"
- "You're Gonna Change (Or I'm Gonna Leave)"
- "My Bucket's Got a Hole In It"
- "I Just Don't Like This Kind Of Livin'"
- "They'll Never Take Her Love From Me"
- "Howlin' At the Moon"
- "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still In Love With You)"
- "Crazy Heart"
- "Baby, We're Really In Love"
- "Honky Tonk Blues"
- "Half As Much"
- "Settin' the Woods On Fire"
- "I Won't Be Home No More"

Top-ten singles

- "Please Don't Let Me Love You"
- "My Son Calls Another Man Daddy"
- "Why Should We Try Anymore"
- "Nobody's Lonesome For Me"
- "Lonesome Whistle (I Heard That)"
- "You Win Again"
- "Dear John"
- "Never Again"
- "Weary Blues From Waitin'"

Cover versions of Hank Williams songs

Cover versions of Hank Williams songs include:
- "Just Waitin'" (by Williams' pseudonym Luke the Drifter) was covered by The Fall in 1992, re-titled "Just Waiting".
- "Lovesick Blues" was covered by Ryan Adams, as well as George Strait.
- The The did an entire album of Hank Williams covers called Hanky Panky.
- David Crowder Band covered Williams' "I Saw The Light" (with special guest Marty Stuart) on their 2005 release, "A Collision".
- George Thorogood and the Destroyers sang their own rock version of "Move It On Over".
- James Brown covered "Your Cheatin' Heart" in 1969.
- Al Green covered "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" in 1972.
- Huey Lewis & the News covered "Honky Tonk Blues" on the album "Sports"
- The Saints (Lincoln, Nebraska) covered "Lost Highway" and "Six More Miles (To the Graveyard)" on their 2005 release, "A New Kind of Patriot".

Tributes

Song titles which tribute Hank Williams include: "Hank Williams You Wrote My Life", "The Life of Hank Williams", "The Death of Hank Williams", "That Heaven Bound Train", "Hank, It Will Never Be the Same Without You", "Hank Williams Meets Jimmie Rodgers", "Tribute to Hank Williams", "Hank and Lefty Raised My Country Soul", "Hank Williams Will Live Forever", "Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?", Hank Jr.'s "Family Tradition", "The Ride", "Hank Williams Sings the Blues No More", "In Memory of Hank Williams", "Thanks Hank", "Hank's Home Town", "Good Old Boys Like Me" (Hank Williams and Tennessee Williams), "If You Don't Like Hank Williams", "Why Ain't I Half as Good as Old Hank (Since I'm Feeling All Dead Anyway)?", "The Last Letter" (Mississippi disc jockey Jimmy Swan's reading of a letter to Williams by M-G-M boss Frank Walker), "Midnight in Montgomery," and Charley Pride's album There's a Little Bit of Hank in Me. (Brackett 2000, p.219n22), "The Night Hank Williams Came To Town"

Samples

- Download sample of "Cold Cold Heart"

Quotes

- "A good song is a good song, and if I'm lucky enough to write it, well....! I get more kick out of writing than I do singing. I reckon I've written a thousand songs and had over 300 published." (From a 1952 interview with Ralph J. Gleason, published in a Rolling Stone magazine article 6/28/1969)

Source

- The Time-Life Country and Western Classics: Hank Williams, p.2. Quoted in Brackett, David (1995/2000). Interpreting Popular Music. ISBN 0520225414.

External links

- [http://www.hankwilliams.com/ Hank Williams website]
- [http://hwas.ipfox.com/ Hank Williams Appreciation Society International]
- [http://hank.ipfox.com/ Hank Williams - American Master of Folk Music] Williams, Hank Williams, Hank Williams, Hank Williams, Hank Williams, Hank Williams, Hank Williams, Hank Williams, Hank Williams, Hank Williams, Hank Williams, Hank Williams, Hank Williams, Hank Williams, Hank Williams, Hank

Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman 24 May, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter, musician and poet. He is

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