Rock and Roll Music
By:
The Beatles
Lyrics:
Rock and Roll Music
Lead vocals:
John Lennon
Songwriter(s):
Chuck Berry
First released on:
Beatles for Sale
U.S. release date:
December 15, 1964
U.K. release date:
December 4, 1964
Length (≈):
2:02
Label:
Apple
Label:
Capitol
Label:
Parlophone
Produced by:
George Martin
Recording date(s):
October 18, 1964
Recorded at:
Abbey Road Studios (EMI)
Musicians :
- John Lennon – lead vocal, rhythm guitar
- Paul McCartney – bass
- George Harrison – lead guitar
- Ringo Starr – drums
- George Martin – piano
Rock and Roll Music is one of six covers on the Beatles' fourth album, Beatles for Sale. Unlike some of the other covers performed by the band on this album and at other times in their career, their rendition of Rock and Roll Music is a true Beatles classic. The band made the song their own much as they did two years before with their cover of Twist and Shout, thanks in large part of Lennon's piercing and high-powered vocals. The Beatles rendition of Rock and Roll Music has become iconic.
The song was a standard in their live set, starting out in the days of Liverpool and Hamburg and then continuing from December of 1964 virtually until the end. They often opened their shows with this classic tune. Rock and Roll Music is quite possibly the principal anthem of the genre that the Beatles so warmly embraced and then revolutionized.
Rock and Roll Music is an up tempo, Chuck Berry original (1957) in a 12-bar blues format (I-IV-V chord sequences), with a refrain-verse pattern, repeated four times between the intro and outro. The Beatles raised the key by a fifth and made the song much more hard-driven than Chuck Berry's version.
Recording
October 18, 1964 in just 1 take.
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