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274
2. style fostered by major recording producer,
Leonard Chess
3. Maybelline (1955), first hit
a. sold over one million copies to black and
white audiences
D. Roll Over Beethoven
1. second major hit, 1956
2. rhythm and blues/rock and roll song
a. strophic, 12- bar blues form
b. vocal and instrumental verses
c. repetitions of title phrase ends the song
3. cele bration of dancing and rebellion
4. Rolling Stone’s list of “500 Greatest Songs of All
Time,” 2004
E. Rolling Past Berry, Roll Over Beethoven covers
1. covering a song: multiple performers convey
individual versions of hit tunes
a. essential to spread of early rock- and- roll
2. The Beatles (1963)
a. structurally identical to Berry
b. more polished, post- production studio sound
3. Carl Perkins (1957)
a. “rockabilly” style, country- western and blue-
grass ele ments
b. slower tempo, honky- tonk piano
c. rearranged verses
d. emphasizes instrumental elaborations
4. Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) (1973)
a. elaborate “art rock”
b. references both Berry and Perkins recordings
c. Beethoven’s musical ideas (strings and syn-
thesizer), Berry’s stanzas (voice, guitar, bass,
drums)
OUTLINE
I. The Many Voices of Rock
A. Multi- billion dollar music industry
1. far- reaching impact: fashion, language, politics,
religion
2. musical influence: classical, jazz, country-
western, rap, Tejano, con temporary global pop
B. Emerged in 1950s
1. African American rhythm and blues with
country-western
2. rhythm and blues (R&B): dance music genre
1940s, roots in swing jazz
a. performed by African Americans
b. vocal genre: featured solo singer accompanied
by small group
c. 12- bar blues and 32- bar pop song form
d. strong driving rhythm, qua dru ple meter,
emphasis on beats 2 and 4 (backbeats)
3. “rock and roll” coined, mid-1950s: R&B that
crossed racial lines
a. white singers: Bill Haley, Elvis Presley, Jerry
Lee Lewis
b. rockabilly: combined “hillbilly” country with
R&B
c. 12- bar blues, “boogie” rhythms
4. African Americans gain white audience
a. Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Little Richard
C. Charles Edward Anderson (“Chuck”) Berry
(1926–2017)
1. early 1950s, blended styles
a. smooth vocal quality of Nat King Cole
b. per for mance sets: African American blues
with Anglo- American country songs
Rolling Beethoven Over: Roots
and Reworkings of Rock
CHAPTERfi65
Rolling Beethoven Over: Roots and Reworkings of Rock | 275
Anglo- American traditions? Can you think of more
recent examples of popu lar music that blend ele ments
from each of these backgrounds?
2. The practice of covering allows musicians to take an
existing song and create a new version of that song that
reflects their musical style and artistic priorities. How is
this practice dif fer ent from other approaches to using
existing tunes in new compositions (e.g., Bach’s use of
the chorale tune in Cantata No.140, or Ives’s use of
marches and hymn tunes in Country Band March)?
TEACHING CHALLENGES
Sorting out terminology and concepts associated with popu-
lar music from this period (rock- and- roll vs. rhythm and blues
vs. rockabilly, for example) may be difficult for some stu-
dents. As with the similar issues regarding the intersections
of jazz, blues, and swing in Chapter56, emphasize the areas
of overlap and difference while reminding students that fixed
bound aries can often limit our understanding and apprecia-
tion of these styles.
SUPPLEMENTAL REPERTORY
SUPPLEMENTAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
Berry, Chuck. Chuck Berry: The Autobiography. New York: Har-
mony Books, 1987. An engrossing personal account of the
author’s life and career.
YOUR TURN TO EXPLORE
Find another song from the early rock- and- roll years that has
OVERVIEW
Chapter65 acknowledges the profusion of musical traditions
in the second half of the twentieth century and focuses on
rock- and- roll as the most impor tant of these traditions. Chuck
Ber r y’s Roll Over Beethoven functions as both an example
of an early rock- and- roll hit and as a means to explore the
concept of covering a song.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. To recognize the myriad musical styles that contributed
to the development of rock- and- roll
2. To understand Chuck Berry as an impor tant figure in the
development of rock- and- roll
3. To understand the concept of covering a song and to rec-
ognize techniques associated with this concept in cov-
ers of Roll Over Beethoven
LECTURE SUGGESTIONS
1. Review the form, harmonic language, and performing
forces associated with Billie Holiday’s Billie’s Blues
ture (though there are differences between the two
songs), alternations between vocal and instrumental
verses, and the use of twelve- bar blues.
2. Choose one cover of Roll Over Beethoven to discuss as a
class. Play a recording and ask students to identify simi-
ASSIGNMENT SUGGESTIONS
276 | Chapterfi65
MODEL RESPONSES
1. Willie Nelson/Leon Russell (https:// www . youtube . com / watch ? v
= H6jYhm9Aq _ 0)
The most immediately obvious changes here include the use of
backing vocals, slight changes to the text (“you’ll be so lonely”
2. Lynyrd Skynyrd (https:// www . youtube . com / watch ? v = rzOzZn
Although this version is nearly twice as long as the Elvis record-
