Sweet Little Sixteen Rock 'n' Roll America


Sweet Little Sixteen

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60 years ago...

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FAINTLY: # Wop bop a loo bop a lop bam boom... #

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..America shook.

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# Four o'clock rock... #

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It was explosive.

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# Go, Johnny, go... #

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It sounded so different.

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# Great balls of fire... #

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It was free, it was wild.

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# Shake, rattle and roll... #

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These are some of the last witnesses

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to the birth of a music that changed...everything.

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HE CHUCKLES

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And they still feel it...

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Ooh...

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..like it was yesterday.

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I'll never forget that.

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Elvis, such a damn smash hit.

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The whole place exploded.

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GIRLS SCREAM We had sex appeal.

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I'm at the age if I make somebody mad by tellin' the truth, tough.

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# I'm a roadrunner, honey

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# And you can't keep up with me... #

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These are the innovators, the free-thinkers...

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Let it all hang out!

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..who shocked America.

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The vulgar performances of Elvis Presley.

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He should not be on television.

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The morals are dangerous. That's all I know. And you can't get away

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from it, you can't clean it up cos it's dirty to begin with.

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They followed their own path

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and transformed America.

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People were afraid of integration.

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Rock'n'roll is obviously nigger music.

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Integration is happening in our heads, through our ears.

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This is what we been waiting for.

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# I got to put you down... #

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We'll continue to charge on.

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# I'll see you someday

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# Baby, somewhere hangin' around... #

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A whole lot of shakin' goin' on.

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Today, a remarkable construction project is transforming

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the face of the countryside.

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The area below will, within the next two years,

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be the busy community of 70,000 people

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living in a city which was completely planned

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before the first house was built.

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America of the early '50s,

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where 11 out of 13 million new homes were built in a new suburbia.

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MAN: Hey, how about a couple of eggs this morning?

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OK, dear. Oh, but get a move on or you'll be late.

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'It's a great life, eh, Bob?'

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Communities built around a family unit, expanding in a baby boom

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created by returning World War II GIs.

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Life was perfect.

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The fathers and mothers in our home town

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are just plain, nice-living folks.

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The smoking of marijuana

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are tempting more and more

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teenage youngsters along dangerous paths.

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You know, main street folks who say, "Hello, nice morning,"

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even when it rains on Mondays.

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I'm getting sick and tired of being treated like a kid.

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Why be stuck with one expensive car when you can enjoy all the fun

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and freedom of two fine Fords?

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This is home, sweet home to us.

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We feel safe and are very proud of our friendly characters.

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When the coloured people came into the neighbourhood,

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I would become nauseous.

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We are proud of our excellent schools that provide

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for the education of our children.

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Proud of their part in preparing our youths to face the future.

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Atom bombs may some day be dropped on our cities,

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and let us prepare for survival.

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The air force itself has officially admitted that flying saucers exist.

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Space saboteurs seize control of earthmen's minds.

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Communism, in reality, is not a political party.

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It is a way of life, an evil and malignant way of life.

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But one thing that America could rely on in these times

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was the radio...

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..programmed with popular music of the day.

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# Do not forsake me, oh, my darling

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# On this, our wedding day

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# Wait alone... #

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But not of all of America was like this.

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Below the Mason-Dixon line,

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like a wayward cousin,

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lay America's buried past,

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where something was happening that would shake up not just the music

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but America's way of life... down south.

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Way down south.

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There are things in New Orleans

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that you wouldn't see anywhere in the world.

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Just about anything went.

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The gay entertainers who would dance with a boa constrictor.

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Storyville was where they used to have legalised prostitution.

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And that lasted for about 20 years.

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There were exotic dancers who could make their cleavage jump up and down

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-in different patterns.

-HE LAUGHS

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Man, I remember the first place I ever really got loaded on whisky.

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I ain't never experienced anything like that in my life.

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And I never want to experience it again.

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New Orleans music was for dancing, for entertainment. Make people move.

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The dancers were going to be doing boom, bam, boom, bop. Boom!

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He may see a big fat woman with a big butt,

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and she right in tune with the bass drum - boom, boom, boom.

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If you ever listen to New Orleans' music, you're going to move.

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# I'm walkin'

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# Yes, indeed, I'm talkin'

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# 'Bout you and me, I'm hopin'

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# That you come back to me

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# I'm lonely as I can be

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# I'm waitin' for your company

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# I'm hopin' that you come back to me... #

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Well, it has certainly been a long time since I've been here.

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This is where it all took place, back here.

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All right. Great.

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It's a laundromat now but back in the day -

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and I mean the most beautiful days, in fact,

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the days that began putting us on the map - it was J&M Studio,

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Cosimo's Recording Studio, owned by Cosimo Matassa.

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And there was Cosimo back there, doing what he does.

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The musicians would be back in that area.

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Those bricks are probably the same bricks which witnessed

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all of that wonderful music.

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The whole call of the day was for most things to be done live.

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In fact, when it was time to make a fade, at the end of the recording,

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the musicians didn't want Cosimo to turn down the knob,

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they wanted to just play softer and make a natural fade

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cos they figured that that's a technical fade with the knob.

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And very importantly, Fats Domino's career started here and it was 1949,

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he recorded The Fat Man.

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And it clicked on a switch that lasts for decades and decades.

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Fats' debut hit is a contender for the very first rock'n'roll record,

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and its origins lay in a traditional song

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from the wild heart of New Orleans.

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It was a drug song.

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That lyric was,

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"They call, they call me a junker cos I'm loaded all the time."

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Dave Bartholomew, the producer, said, "We can't sing about junkies,

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"we're going to have to sing about the fat man."

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# They call They call me the fat man

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# Cos I weigh two hundred pounds

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# All the girls, they love me

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# Cos I know my way around... #

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Fats' rhythm proved innovative and irresistible,

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but not just to black audiences in the South.

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Now for the big finale. The guy you've all been waiting to hear...

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Through the '50s, he'd overcome the musical segregation of the time,

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crossing over from the black R&B chart to white audiences

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on the national pop chart.

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# You made me cry

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# When you said

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# Goodbye

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# Ain't that a shame?

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# My tears fell like rain... #

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And what was special about his rhythm that got the kids hooked

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was a piano triplet that underpinned Fats' biggest hits.

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This little simple beat - one, two, three, one, two, three -

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on his piano...

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A lot of great musicians around New Orleans didn't want to play

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behind Fats Domino cos they said his music was so simple.

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People kind of made fun of you when you just played

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dink-dink-dink-dink-dink, but that's what he did

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and it made people dance.

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Those simple lines, and he played it all the way through the song.

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And so, even in the Deep South, even in the segregated South,

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whites started showing up at his shows.

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# Oh, well

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# Goodbye

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# Although

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# I'll cry

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# Ain't that a shame?... #

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Black concerts were coming through Memphis

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and we'd go down and watch 'em.

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They made us sit upstairs,

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you know, it was kinda crazy,

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but we didn't care. And when those guys started rockin' on stage,

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the kids jumped up in the aisle and started dancing.

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And I said, "Uh-oh, something's happening here, big time."

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The whites started dancing, mixing with the blacks.

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One thing led to another.

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Herbert Hardesty, Fats' saxophone player,

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says there was a fight every night.

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And the reason why is because he was causing that integration.

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-MAN:

-Fats, this rock'n'roll music seems to be under

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an awful heavy attack from all over the country. There's been riots,

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it's been banned in certain parts of this country and abroad.

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-You know of any reason for that?

-Well...

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as far as I know, music makes people happy. I know it makes me happy.

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-You wouldn't blame it on rock'n'roll?

-No indeed.

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Maybe you'll excuse me, I'd like to go back to my practice.

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I saw some protestors one time right in the midst of that era

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saying, "Send all the Negros back to the Congo, except Fats Domino."

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Fats wasn't alone in integrating audiences.

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Alan Freed, a DJ who popularised the term "rock'n'roll"...

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Hi, everybody. How y'all?

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This is yours truly, Alan Freed...

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..staged a Moondog Ball in Cleveland in 1952 for a mixed-race audience

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of 20,000.

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It was shut down by police for fears of a riot.

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But segregation was just part of a wider narrative in post-war America,

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as millions of black Americans

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migrated up the Mississippi corridor,

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bound for the industrial cities of the Northeast and Midwest.

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People in Mississippi, Louisiana - they worked their way

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to get to Memphis.

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And they go to St Louis...

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East St Louis - wasn't St Louis - East St Louis.

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Then he goes to Chicago.

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They were trying to get to Detroit, where the Ford plant was,

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and Chicago, where the steel mill was.

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Sometimes, it'd take you two months to get to Chicago.

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And with the people, the music migrated.

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This song, from 1951, Rocket 88 by Jackie Brenston,

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another contender for the first rock'n'roll record,

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was written in Clarksdale, recorded in Memphis,

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and released in Chicago on Chess Records,

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as the Blues moved upstream to the big cities of the Midwest.

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When you look at it, you've got Chicago, St Louis,

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Memphis, New Orleans

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all on a straight dotted line all the way down.

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And those are all pretty hip music towns all the way up.

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So there's something about being on this big ol' muddy river.

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By the early '50s, Chicago was the hub of an Electric Blues scene,

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rooted in a booming migrant black community.

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Jimmy Reed was a guy that I was in love with

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in Chicago playing the Blues.

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He's had songs like...

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HE PLAYS BLUES MUSIC

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# Oh, baby

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# You don't have to go

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# Whoa, baby

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# You don't have to go... #

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But by the mid-'50s, the Electric Blues stars like Jimmy Reed

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and Muddy Waters were nudging 30 and 40,

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and a younger generation in these cities craved a new sound

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that spoke of their experience.

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The Blues is always losin' the girl.

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# My baby done left me... #

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Doo-wop gave me the idea of fulfilling my dream

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by getting the girl.

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Blues writers were older people.

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They had been in the South,

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they had seen things that were very different,

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whereas the doo-wop writers were teenagers.

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# Oh, baby... #

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Hey, man! What you all doing, standing out here in the cold?

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I'm freezing!

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Oh, no!

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CHEERFUL GREETINGS

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Nice seeing you, though.

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In 1953, the Spaniels were a teenage street-corner group

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from the edge of Chicago, with a first single climbing the charts...

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We got street light...

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..and a follow-up that would become a classic of the new doo-wop style.

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# Doot-do-do, doot-do-do

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# Doot-do-do-do-do

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-ALL:

-# Good night, sweetheart

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# Well, it's time to go

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# Doot-do-do-do-do

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-ALL:

-# Good night, sweetheart

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# Well, it's time to go

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# Do-do do-do

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# I hate to leave you but I really must say

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-ALL:

-# Good night, sweetheart

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# Good night

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# Doot-do-do, doot-do-do

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# Doot-do-do-do-do

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-ALL:

-# Good night, sweetheart... #

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It is truly the sound of the city.

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It is truly the street-corner symphony.

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You could stand under a street lamp and just sing.

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# Do-do do-do... #

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We could imagine that we would be on stage

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and that lamp would actually brighten the whole corner

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and people could come and watch you and you could do your stuff.

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So we were on stage there.

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# It's three o'clock

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# In the morning

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# Do-do... #

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Through the music, you could court a girl.

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All you had to do was sing a song.

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I think that women like low voices,

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almost like a mating call of the bull walrus

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or something like that.

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-ALL:

-# Because I love you so

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# Doot-do-do, doot-do-do

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# Do-do do-do

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-ALL:

-# Good night, sweetheart... #

-It was our music.

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The lyric spoke for the things that we felt

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and we couldn't express ourselves.

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And you only heard it all the way at the other end of the dial.

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The little black stations, 13-40.

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# I love that girly so... #

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-14-10.

-# Hello, hello again

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# Sh-boom and hopin' we'll meet again

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# Oh, life could be a dream... #

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You didn't hear it on the major 9-50s...

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# Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer... #

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..or 5-60s...

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# How much is that doggy in the window? #

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..which were big, powerful radio AM stations,

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which are heard around the country, you see.

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RADIO STATIC

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-# Oh, oh...

-Doo-doo-doo... #

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But while radio was still largely segregated,

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there was one technology that wasn't.

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# I love that girl

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# Love that girl... #

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1950 saw the advent of the 45 RPM jukebox,

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and it was this invention that helped the growth of doo-wop,

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as record labels used the jukeboxes

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as testing grounds for new releases.

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Jukebox was very, very important

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because some of the great record labels said,

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"The black radio stations are playing it,

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"let's put it into the jukebox and see if kids recognise it."

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# My love must be a kind of blind love... #

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Doo-wop was the first pop music

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performed by teenagers for teenagers.

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# I can't see anyone but you... #

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And there were more teenagers than ever before,

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due to increases in the birth-rate around World War II.

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# Are the stars

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# Out tonight?... #

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And from the mid-'50s, America's older population began to feel

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overrun by a new adolescent attitude.

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And the song is Why Do Fools Fall In Love?

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AUDIENCE LAUGHS

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..Call themselves the Teenagers...

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-DEEP VOICE:

-Come on, boys, let's sing our song.

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-That come out of you?

-Yes, can we sing now?

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What's your hurry?

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Have to make my money before my voice changes.

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AUDIENCE LAUGHS

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# Mm-bop, mm-bop, mm-bop Doo-roo-roo

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ALL: # Ooh wah, ooh wah

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# Ooh wah, ooh wah

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# Ooh wah, ooh wah

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-BOTH:

-# Why do fools fall in love?

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# Why do birds sing so gay?

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# And lovers await the break of day

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# Why do they fall in love? #

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Now there's a whole strata of young people that have some money

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and their own taste.

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They will go for things that maybe their parents don't like.

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Do you realise what time it is?

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Oh, Mother, don't be such an old fuddy-duddy.

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Our young people are getting out of hand everywhere.

0:18:480:18:51

It changed the type of clothing they wore,

0:18:510:18:53

it changed the type of movies they liked,

0:18:530:18:56

it changed the way they talked.

0:18:560:18:57

Rock'n'roll is cool, Daddy, and you know it!

0:18:570:18:59

It's crazy music, man.

0:18:590:19:02

Whoo!

0:19:020:19:03

-What does that do for you?

-It makes you feel good inside.

0:19:030:19:07

The youth could see that they had power

0:19:070:19:09

and through the music they were spreading messages.

0:19:090:19:11

For me, it was a major shift.

0:19:110:19:13

For a newly liberated youth, there was

0:19:180:19:21

a new form of entertainment vying for their attention.

0:19:210:19:23

Just look at this real big-screen Westinghouse set.

0:19:230:19:27

Why, it's big enough so the whole family can watch

0:19:270:19:30

your favourite entertainer without anybody having to block the view.

0:19:300:19:34

But while TV was on the rise, it was limited to safe, family fodder.

0:19:340:19:39

With money and time on their hands,

0:19:390:19:42

teenagers look for their own entertainment and own hang-outs.

0:19:420:19:46

And there was one location in every town

0:19:460:19:48

that would increasingly become theirs.

0:19:480:19:50

After 1950, television sales are going through the roof.

0:19:520:19:56

Audiences in the cinemas are declining.

0:19:560:19:59

And they're declining at an alarming rate.

0:19:590:20:01

But teenagers, they don't want to sit at home and watch TV.

0:20:010:20:05

The studios absolutely aimed for the teen market.

0:20:050:20:08

And they're marketing a kind of cool, which is like rebellion,

0:20:140:20:19

but at the same time a kind of emphasis on belonging,

0:20:190:20:22

like belonging to your gang.

0:20:220:20:23

The great example is Marlon Brando in The Wild One,

0:20:260:20:28

where he's kind of an individual

0:20:280:20:30

but he's dressed in a way that looks like he belongs to something.

0:20:300:20:33

Hey, somebody tell me what that means - B-R-M-C.

0:20:330:20:35

-What does it mean?

-Black Rebels Motorcycle Club.

0:20:350:20:38

Isn't that cute? Hey, Johnny, what are you rebelling against?

0:20:380:20:42

What have you got?

0:20:420:20:44

THEY LAUGH

0:20:440:20:46

Hey, Cathy, aren't they wonderful?

0:20:460:20:49

But whereas 1953's The Wild One

0:20:490:20:51

featured a cast in their late 20s and a jazz swing soundtrack...

0:20:510:20:55

I go, "What are you rebelling against, Johnny?"

0:20:550:20:57

He says, "What have you got?" What have you got?!

0:20:570:21:01

..1955 saw the release of Blackboard Jungle,

0:21:010:21:05

set in an inner-city school

0:21:050:21:08

and addressing the problems of teenage delinquents.

0:21:080:21:10

-Excuse me, I believe I have an appointment with the principal.

-Name?

0:21:100:21:14

-Name?

-Richard Dadier.

0:21:140:21:16

My dad's character in the film, Richard Dadier,

0:21:160:21:19

was a schoolteacher who was trying to get through to his students.

0:21:190:21:23

Bring your paper up here.

0:21:230:21:25

'And they were not wanting to be educated.'

0:21:260:21:29

There was a lot of elements in the film that were quite shocking.

0:21:300:21:34

There was an attempted rape in the library

0:21:340:21:36

of one of the teachers by a kid who my father beat down.

0:21:360:21:41

You know, you didn't see this in film.

0:21:430:21:45

-What happened?

-It's the first day of school, Teacher.

0:21:460:21:51

'I believe I'm 16 years of age.

0:21:510:21:53

'I said, "Wow, man, this cat, whoever produced this movie,

0:21:530:21:56

' "got it down right the way it is in some of the neighbourhood ghettos." '

0:21:560:22:00

We had a guy called Mr Mimilich. He was the biology guy.

0:22:010:22:05

We'd throw things at him.

0:22:050:22:07

Biology, he turned his head, we would throw things at him, spitballs...

0:22:070:22:11

I mean, these things actually happened.

0:22:110:22:13

'A lot of the bosses at MGM, they were quite concerned

0:22:130:22:16

'about the film representing America in not so nice a way.'

0:22:160:22:21

The fact that juvenile delinquents, they were being depicted as

0:22:210:22:24

the youth of America - this was quite scandalous.

0:22:240:22:27

Switchblade knives were very prominent at that time.

0:22:270:22:30

This is going to be a showdown now.

0:22:320:22:34

The gunfight at the end of the movie.

0:22:340:22:36

As Richard Dadier starts to stalk him...

0:22:360:22:39

Give me that knife.

0:22:390:22:40

..the rest of the classroom is motionless.

0:22:400:22:42

And you hear that clock... tick-tock, tick-tock.

0:22:420:22:46

"Come on, boy. Come on."

0:22:460:22:49

End of the line, boy.

0:22:500:22:51

'The knife drops. Belazi picks up the knife.'

0:22:540:22:57

-Belazi!

-Shut up!

0:22:570:22:59

And that's when my character, Santini, decides to take over.

0:22:590:23:04

And he goes and grabs the American flag and he runs across the room

0:23:040:23:08

and rams the eagle into Belazi's chest and he drops the knife.

0:23:080:23:12

Unlike the bikers in The Wild One,

0:23:140:23:17

these teenagers showed their generational difference

0:23:170:23:20

with a hatred of jazz,

0:23:200:23:21

smashing a teacher's collection of rare swing records.

0:23:210:23:24

This is Cherokee. Anybody want to hear this record, huh?

0:23:240:23:27

STUDENTS GRUMBLE

0:23:270:23:30

Towards the end of production, the film's director, Richard Brooks,

0:23:340:23:38

realised he needed one final element for his movie -

0:23:380:23:41

a theme song that would speak to this generation of restless teens.

0:23:410:23:45

And it couldn't be swing.

0:23:450:23:47

Richard Brooks would come to our house,

0:23:470:23:50

often at the end of the day on his way home, cos he lived up the street.

0:23:500:23:54

And he was looking for a tune.

0:23:540:23:57

I had a very big record collection for a young nine-year-old kid

0:23:570:24:00

and I played a number of records for him in my collection

0:24:000:24:04

cos Dad said I had all these unusual records.

0:24:040:24:07

Glenn Ford's son was a Haley fan.

0:24:070:24:10

You know, as a young kid.

0:24:100:24:12

# There were thirteen women and only one man in town... #

0:24:120:24:16

I had purchased this song called

0:24:160:24:18

Thirteen Women And One Man In Town,

0:24:180:24:20

which was supposed to be the A side on Decca.

0:24:200:24:23

And I didn't like it and, like most kids did in those days,

0:24:230:24:26

I turned the thing over and I really liked that one.

0:24:260:24:28

The producer says, "That's a terrific song."

0:24:280:24:32

It was by chance.

0:24:320:24:34

I went to the premiere at the Encino Theatre,

0:24:360:24:39

a few days before my tenth birthday.

0:24:390:24:41

This song comes on - "One, two, three o'clock..."

0:24:410:24:44

# One, two, three o'clock Four o'clock rock

0:24:440:24:47

# Five, six, seven o'clock... #

0:24:470:24:48

It was just thrilling. I mean, it was absolutely thrilling.

0:24:480:24:52

# We're gonna rock around the clock tonight

0:24:520:24:54

# Put your glad rags on... #

0:24:540:24:56

The whole place exploded.

0:24:560:24:58

The kids, when they heard that song,

0:24:580:25:00

started jumping up and dancing in the aisles.

0:25:000:25:03

And that never happened before.

0:25:030:25:05

The kids got up and started doing the jitterbug up and down the aisle.

0:25:050:25:10

Here it was, coming out loud,

0:25:100:25:13

those big speakers in the movie theatre, it sounded good.

0:25:130:25:16

A lot better than jukeboxes, cos the only way you heard it was 45 records.

0:25:160:25:21

It was explosive. It just blew you right out of the...

0:25:210:25:24

Obviously, it blew the kids out of their seat

0:25:240:25:27

cos they were dancing in the aisle.

0:25:270:25:28

Some theatres had to close down in the Midwest.

0:25:280:25:31

They couldn't show the film because the kids were so taken with it.

0:25:310:25:35

Many municipalities banned the movie altogether,

0:25:350:25:40

or muted the music in that first scene.

0:25:400:25:44

It sounded so different from anything else that was being played.

0:25:440:25:48

Clearer. More crisp.

0:25:480:25:51

Most of the records of that nature, before, were not recorded very well.

0:25:510:25:56

# When the chimes ring five, six and seven

0:25:560:25:58

# We'll be right

0:25:580:26:00

# In seventh heaven... #

0:26:000:26:01

They concentrated on the rhythm section.

0:26:010:26:04

Ba-bow! This big echoey snare.

0:26:040:26:07

# We're gonna rock, gonna rock around the clock tonight... #

0:26:070:26:10

Each instrument had been miked, which hadn't been done before.

0:26:100:26:14

So it was the sound of it that kids identified with.

0:26:140:26:17

I certainly did at 15.

0:26:170:26:19

# We're gonna rock, rock, rock till broad daylight... #

0:26:190:26:23

That became the number one hit

0:26:230:26:26

in the United States for eight weeks, which was never even heard of.

0:26:260:26:30

Rock Around The Clock was the first rock'n'roll song to top

0:26:440:26:47

the national pop charts in America,

0:26:470:26:50

with the lyrics and title perfectly selling the idea

0:26:500:26:53

of a new, wild dance music.

0:26:530:26:55

But while Bill Haley might have hit on the perfect message,

0:26:580:27:02

the ex-hillbilly singer was a reluctant messenger...

0:27:020:27:06

..becoming increasingly nervous at rock'n'roll's association

0:27:080:27:11

with juvenile delinquents.

0:27:110:27:13

I think he would have preferred to have been a country star.

0:27:190:27:22

I think, really, in his heart.

0:27:220:27:24

That's what he really grew up with. He loved country music.

0:27:240:27:27

He even tried another couple of recordings. They were OK.

0:27:270:27:31

He didn't dress like a rock'n'roller.

0:27:310:27:34

He was kind of chunky. He didn't look like a rock'n'roller

0:27:340:27:37

and he went on to other and lesser things

0:27:370:27:42

in a career that kind of petered out.

0:27:420:27:44

He was in his 30s.

0:27:440:27:46

Doesn't seem too old to me now

0:27:460:27:48

but by rock'n'roll standards, trust no-one over 23.

0:27:480:27:52

But what also made Bill an outsider was the fact

0:27:560:28:00

he was based out of Chester, Pennsylvania,

0:28:000:28:03

at a time when the Mississippi Delta,

0:28:030:28:05

and in particular a segregated Memphis,

0:28:050:28:08

was where it was all happening.

0:28:080:28:10

60 years ago, there's a fine line between where black people could go

0:28:240:28:30

and if you went one block left or right of here,

0:28:300:28:34

there was no black people, other than people working.

0:28:340:28:38

There wasn't no party.

0:28:380:28:40

Party was right here, this is where the black people were.

0:28:400:28:42

# The thrill has gone

0:28:420:28:45

# The thrill has gone away... #

0:28:460:28:50

We're going to stop by BBs.

0:28:500:28:52

# The thrill has gone, baby... #

0:28:540:28:56

Hey, baby. How you doin'?

0:28:560:28:58

# The thrill has gone away... #

0:28:580:29:02

When I was working here this was all 99% black clubs.

0:29:020:29:08

These buildings wasn't here.

0:29:080:29:10

It was what they called honky-tonks.

0:29:100:29:13

Juke joints.

0:29:130:29:15

Some in the back room was gamblin', shootin' dice and whatever.

0:29:150:29:19

It was like the Las Vegas for the black peoples.

0:29:190:29:23

This was the Chitlin' Circuit

0:29:240:29:27

where all the black entertainers, all along here with myself,

0:29:270:29:31

Rufus Thomas, BB King...

0:29:310:29:35

was playin' on this street.

0:29:350:29:37

This was Chitlin' Circuit.

0:29:370:29:38

There's no more Chitlin' Circuit now, it's uptown.

0:29:380:29:41

While segregation ruled back then,

0:29:490:29:51

one man took steps to change attitudes to a wealth of black music

0:29:510:29:56

in the South - Sam Phillips.

0:29:560:29:59

Hailing from a poor cotton-farming background in Alabama,

0:29:590:30:03

he quit his job as a local radio announcer to set up a unique

0:30:030:30:07

recording studio in Memphis.

0:30:070:30:10

One thing that I always admired about Sam was that he had

0:30:200:30:23

a fantastic job, a job that anybody dreamed to have.

0:30:230:30:27

And he quit it to record primarily black musicians during a time period

0:30:270:30:31

where you couldn't even use the same bathroom.

0:30:310:30:33

Sam grew up working in cotton fields.

0:30:390:30:42

He never really looked at the colour of someone's skin.

0:30:420:30:45

He just felt a connection with them and he felt a rhythm with them.

0:30:450:30:49

He shared with me that he noticed the difference in the rhythm

0:30:490:30:52

when they were picking cotton in the fields together.

0:30:520:30:55

That's something that most people wouldn't notice.

0:30:550:30:57

# Love my baby

0:30:580:31:00

# Keeps her business to herself... #

0:31:000:31:04

It was 1950 and my dad opened Memphis Recording Service here

0:31:070:31:10

and he would let black people come in for free.

0:31:100:31:13

He would tell them, "Play for me. Forget that I'm a white man.

0:31:130:31:17

"Play for me. Give me what you would do if you were on your front porch."

0:31:170:31:21

For four years Sam worked tirelessly...

0:31:240:31:28

..driving the back roads of the South,

0:31:290:31:32

distributing records on his own label,

0:31:320:31:34

all the time chasing a hit sound.

0:31:340:31:37

But back in his office at Sun Studios,

0:31:390:31:42

he'd often talk about finding the unthinkable -

0:31:420:31:45

a white singer with a black voice.

0:31:450:31:49

Unbeknownst to Sam,

0:31:490:31:51

he'd already recorded him.

0:31:510:31:53

# Let's get together and... #

0:31:530:31:55

When we think of Elvis, we think of the stud, the guy in

0:31:550:31:58

the leather pants and he's confident and arrogant and rules the world.

0:31:580:32:02

But at that time, Elvis didn't have his jet-black hair,

0:32:020:32:06

he had light brown hair, acne.

0:32:060:32:08

He wore a lot of pink and scarves

0:32:080:32:10

and just really was alien almost to most people.

0:32:100:32:13

# But it wouldn't be the same

0:32:140:32:18

# Without you... #

0:32:180:32:21

By the summer of '54, Elvis had cut three demo acetates at Sun,

0:32:210:32:26

showing potential but yet to release a record.

0:32:260:32:29

# Would just make me blue... #

0:32:290:32:33

In July, Elvis came back to try his luck with another ballad of the day.

0:32:330:32:38

But, again, failed to impress Sam.

0:32:380:32:41

There's no air conditioning in there.

0:32:420:32:44

We're talking about July, so it's steaming hot.

0:32:440:32:47

And tube equipment gets pretty hot.

0:32:470:32:49

So it's getting kind of aggravated and people are getting tired

0:32:490:32:53

and he said he kind of called it for a while.

0:32:530:32:56

And that's when Scotty said Elvis, in a bunch of nervous energy,

0:32:570:33:00

picked up acoustic - and he didn't say he played it,

0:33:000:33:02

he says every time he was beatin' on it -

0:33:020:33:04

and he just kind of started doing That's All Right Mamma

0:33:040:33:07

by Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup.

0:33:070:33:08

# Well now, that's all right now, Mama

0:33:080:33:11

# That's all right for you... #

0:33:110:33:13

That night it was Bill Black here - in fact, there's a little hole

0:33:130:33:16

in the floor where his spiker came out of his upright bass.

0:33:160:33:19

Bill Black jumped up, not very seriously playing along,

0:33:190:33:22

he was hootin' and hollerin' and slappin' the bass real silly.

0:33:220:33:25

This X on the floor here's where Scotty Moore stood.

0:33:260:33:31

Of course, Elvis was right here.

0:33:310:33:33

# Well, that's all right now, Mamma

0:33:330:33:36

# That's all right for you

0:33:360:33:39

# That's all right now, Mamma

0:33:390:33:41

# Just anyway you do

0:33:410:33:43

# That's all right

0:33:430:33:45

# That's all right... #

0:33:450:33:47

Sam ran out there in front of that little door right there

0:33:470:33:49

and just said, "What's going on here?

0:33:490:33:51

"Keep doing it!" And he moved some mics and started the tape rolling.

0:33:510:33:54

# Well, Mamma she done told me

0:33:540:33:57

# Papa done told me too

0:33:570:33:59

# Son, that gal you foolin' with

0:33:590:34:01

# She ain't no good for you

0:34:010:34:03

# But that's all right... #

0:34:030:34:05

I think what happened was they felt they weren't recording

0:34:050:34:08

and they finally loosened up and that's how it all really came out

0:34:080:34:11

because, you know, my dad told me a lot of times,

0:34:110:34:13

"Don't pay any attention to that microphone.

0:34:130:34:16

"It'll scare you to death."

0:34:160:34:17

Sam originally cut direct to disc and then he went to tape, but everything

0:34:170:34:22

ended on disc, so he had... I've got the same model right over here.

0:34:220:34:26

And so that night Sam made an acetate of it, which is a one-sided record,

0:34:260:34:29

and took it straight to Dewey Phillips.

0:34:290:34:32

Two days later he played it on the air.

0:34:320:34:34

Everyone went crazy that night in Memphis.

0:34:340:34:36

I think he played it 14 times in a row, they said.

0:34:360:34:39

'Man, I got her one, I got Elvis's autograph.

0:34:390:34:42

'I'm sayin', man, she's runnin' down Main Street...'

0:34:420:34:45

You could not keep from turning the radio volume up.

0:34:450:34:49

Right now I'm going to play the next record. Just flat drive you crazy.

0:34:490:34:52

# I'm leavin' town now, baby

0:34:520:34:54

# I'm leaving town for sure... #

0:34:540:34:56

You're either in your car...

0:34:560:34:58

We drive up and down Main Street, "dragging Main", as they called it,

0:34:580:35:01

and looking for the pretty girls and what have you,

0:35:010:35:04

and when That's All Right Mamma would come on the radio, we'd turn

0:35:040:35:07

the volume up and you could hear it in just about every car that

0:35:070:35:10

you would pass.

0:35:100:35:11

# I got dee, dee... #

0:35:110:35:14

People heard the voice

0:35:140:35:16

and they couldn't quite figure out, was this voice black or white?

0:35:160:35:19

And that song...that, like, wasn't a white person's song.

0:35:190:35:24

He did a Blues song with a hint of Bluegrass.

0:35:240:35:29

"He must be black."

0:35:290:35:30

'We got one of the hottest cotton-pickin' shows

0:35:300:35:33

'in the country - whoa, you're messin' up, partner...'

0:35:330:35:37

What confused things further was local DJ Dewey Phillips'

0:35:370:35:41

pioneering style of programming.

0:35:410:35:43

'In Memphis, Tennessee, and it's Friday night,

0:35:430:35:45

'tomorrow's payday and bathday, that's a good deal...'

0:35:450:35:48

Dewey Phillips would play three black songs and two white guys.

0:35:480:35:52

'Oh, yes, sir, that's octopus -

0:35:520:35:54

'I mean, Opus Number 1 by the late, great Tommy Dorsey...'

0:35:540:35:57

He would play Tommy Dorsey and follow that with Hank Williams.

0:35:570:36:00

# I got a feeling called the Blues... #

0:36:000:36:04

He would play Hank Williams, he would play Howlin' Wolf.

0:36:040:36:07

# Yeah, they called me the rocker

0:36:070:36:09

# I can rock you all night long... #

0:36:090:36:12

So Elvis is at a movie theatre seeing a movie

0:36:120:36:14

and they call Gladys and Vernon.

0:36:140:36:16

Dewey said, "You gotta get your son, we gotta put him on the air

0:36:160:36:19

"and do an interview." So they rip him out of the movie theatre,

0:36:190:36:22

drive him down. He's terrified.

0:36:220:36:24

And one of the first things he does on the programme is says,

0:36:240:36:27

"What high school do you go to?"

0:36:270:36:29

Because people in Memphis will know by what high school you go to

0:36:290:36:33

whether you're black or white.

0:36:330:36:35

And, shocking to people's ears,

0:36:350:36:37

this white guy was playing a black style of music.

0:36:370:36:40

And the phones lit up like mad.

0:36:400:36:42

I mean, he was really capturing a zeitgeist of the moment.

0:36:420:36:46

# Oh, give me land

0:36:460:36:49

# Lots of land

0:36:490:36:51

# Under starry skies above

0:36:510:36:54

# Don't fence me in... #

0:36:540:36:57

Back in those days, the white singers had no movement on stage.

0:36:570:37:00

They would just come out and sing their ballads

0:37:000:37:03

cos there weren't any rock'n'roll.

0:37:030:37:05

The word was spreading pretty fast about this Presley kid.

0:37:050:37:08

He was something else, "You gotta see this guy."

0:37:080:37:10

# Well, that's because you think you're so pretty

0:37:100:37:14

# And just because your mamma thinks you're hot... #

0:37:140:37:17

I MC'd his first show in Memphis.

0:37:170:37:19

# You think you've got something... #

0:37:190:37:22

He was on the back of a flatbed truck, opening up a shopping centre

0:37:220:37:26

in East Memphis, and they'd hired me to be the disc jockey.

0:37:260:37:29

When I introduced him and he got on stage, he started moving around.

0:37:290:37:32

# Hottest thing in town

0:37:320:37:34

# Well, just because you think you got something... #

0:37:340:37:36

When he came off, the kids said, "More, more!"

0:37:360:37:39

And Elvis asked Sam Phillips, "Mr Phillips, why are they screaming?

0:37:390:37:42

"Am I doing something wrong?"

0:37:420:37:44

He said, "No, man, just keep on doing it, shaking your body,

0:37:440:37:46

"shake your leg, man. Shake anything. They like it, they like it."

0:37:460:37:49

-I liked him.

-SHE CHUCKLES

0:37:490:37:52

He was sexy. He was charming.

0:37:530:37:56

But his moves, I think that's probably what made him

0:37:560:38:01

to begin with.

0:38:010:38:03

Scotty Moore says that Elvis was shaking his legs,

0:38:060:38:10

his pants were loose, and people could see his privates

0:38:100:38:13

jiggling inside.

0:38:130:38:15

And that's why the girls were screaming.

0:38:150:38:18

Elvis broke big.

0:38:220:38:25

But only in the South...

0:38:270:38:28

# You saw me standing alone... #

0:38:280:38:31

..making it as far as the Louisiana Hayride by '55.

0:38:310:38:35

The King was but a local prince.

0:38:370:38:39

# Without a love of my own... #

0:38:390:38:43

And there would be another pretender to the crown.

0:38:430:38:46

Can I say something?

0:38:460:38:48

Let it all hang out

0:38:480:38:50

with the beautiful Little Richard from down in Macon, Georgia.

0:38:500:38:54

I am the king of rock'n'roll. Ow, ow, ow! My, my, my, my,

0:38:540:38:58

I just had to do that. Now I feel so much better I got it out.

0:38:580:39:01

In the early '50s,

0:39:020:39:04

Little Richard cut his teeth on the Chitlin' Circuit,

0:39:040:39:07

first as a female impersonator

0:39:070:39:09

and then as a singer with his hot band, The Upsetters.

0:39:090:39:13

In '55 he sent a demo to producer "Bumps" Blackwell,

0:39:130:39:17

who thought he could be the next Ray Charles...

0:39:170:39:21

..and invited him to New Orleans' J&M Studios.

0:39:220:39:25

# Every hour in the day... #

0:39:250:39:28

After a frustrating morning session trying out slow ballads,

0:39:280:39:31

they took a break...

0:39:310:39:33

# Every hour... #

0:39:330:39:35

..and headed to a nearby supper club.

0:39:350:39:38

# Every hour in the day... #

0:39:380:39:41

This is the legendary Dew Drop Inn.

0:39:410:39:46

The desired location for the duration.

0:39:460:39:50

This is where many a tear has to fall.

0:39:500:39:53

HE LAUGHS

0:39:530:39:55

This is where the legends were made.

0:39:550:39:58

The stage would have been right about here.

0:39:580:40:02

Little Richard walks in and got up to the piano,

0:40:020:40:05

which about a'been right about here,

0:40:050:40:07

and he started singing one of his popular songs that he did

0:40:070:40:11

on his road show with The Upsetters.

0:40:110:40:13

The lyrics were kind of suggestive and kind of risque.

0:40:130:40:17

# A wop bop a loo bop a lop bam boom

0:40:170:40:20

# Tutti frutti, good bootie

0:40:200:40:23

# Tutti frutti, good bootie

0:40:230:40:25

# Tutti frutti, good bootie

0:40:250:40:28

# A wop bop a loo bop a lop bam boom. #

0:40:280:40:31

And Bumps Blackwell heard the song and he said,

0:40:310:40:35

"Man, this is what we've been waiting for!"

0:40:350:40:38

Little Richard and Tutti Frutti!

0:40:380:40:42

But the real original lyrics to Tutti Frutti

0:40:420:40:45

is "Tutti Frutti, good bootie.

0:40:450:40:50

"If it's tight, it's all right.

0:40:500:40:53

"And if it's greasy, it make it easy."

0:40:530:40:56

-Ooh!

-HE LAUGHS

0:40:560:40:59

# A wop bop a loo bop a lop bam boom

0:40:590:41:01

# Tutti frutti, all rutti,

0:41:010:41:04

# Tutti frutti, all rutti... #

0:41:040:41:06

When they got back in the studio,

0:41:060:41:09

Dorothy LaBostrie, another great songwriter, was in the studio

0:41:090:41:13

and she suggested they use some hipster jargon

0:41:130:41:16

that was really popular during the '50s and that was "All rutti."

0:41:160:41:21

All right - all rutti.

0:41:210:41:22

So she said, "Well, that rhymes with tutti frutti."

0:41:220:41:25

"So it's tutti frutti, all rutti. Wop bop a loo bop..."

0:41:250:41:30

# ..A lop bam boom

0:41:300:41:31

# Got a girl named Daisy

0:41:310:41:33

# She almost drives me crazy

0:41:330:41:36

# Got a girl named Daisy... #

0:41:360:41:38

The beauty of his delivery...

0:41:380:41:40

it was free, it was wild.

0:41:400:41:42

# Knows how to love me, yes indeed

0:41:420:41:44

# Boy, you don't know... #

0:41:440:41:47

It was not Patti Page. It was not Perry Como.

0:41:470:41:49

You got a taste of black vernacular.

0:41:490:41:52

# Tutti frutti, all rutti... #

0:41:520:41:55

You realised this is a whole other language. And it was exciting.

0:41:550:41:59

# Wop bop a loo bop

0:41:590:42:01

# Ow... #

0:42:010:42:03

This what you call doing your own thing time.

0:42:100:42:12

-Do you always dress like that?

-Every day. I go to the grocery store

0:42:120:42:15

like this and people turn around. When I walked through the airport

0:42:150:42:18

here in London today a man dropped his cup of coffee.

0:42:180:42:21

In '56, Richard notched up multiple hits as young America was entranced

0:42:210:42:26

by his extravagant performance and extraordinary appearance.

0:42:260:42:29

He brought it out. He was the guy.

0:42:450:42:47

Liberace didn't know nothing till you saw Little Richard.

0:42:470:42:50

# Gonna tell Aunt Mary about Uncle John

0:42:500:42:53

# He claims he has the music but he has a lot of fun

0:42:530:42:55

# Oh, baby... #

0:42:550:42:57

He looked so different with all that hair and everything like that,

0:42:570:43:00

hair on his head and the pancake make-up.

0:43:000:43:03

He had SOME make-up. About that thick.

0:43:030:43:06

# Well, long tall Sally, she's built for speed, she got

0:43:060:43:09

# Everything that Uncle John need

0:43:090:43:11

# Oh, baby... #

0:43:110:43:13

..supposed to wear make-up. Just like, "I put sugar in your coffee,"

0:43:130:43:17

you're supposed to add a little touch to it.

0:43:170:43:19

-I must remember that.

-Yes, God.

0:43:190:43:21

I met Little Richard. We were in East Point, Georgia,

0:43:210:43:24

and he come on the stage, said,

0:43:240:43:26

"Ladies and gentlemen, the prettiest two guys in the world..."

0:43:260:43:29

He said, "Me and Bobby Rush."

0:43:290:43:31

-HE LAUGHS

-I'll never forget that.

0:43:310:43:34

I wish he'd just said handsome.

0:43:360:43:38

-HE LAUGHS

-Oh, man!

0:43:380:43:41

# Go, man, go

0:43:410:43:43

# I got a girl that I love so, I'm ready... #

0:43:430:43:45

But Little Richard kept them guessing,

0:43:450:43:48

with a string of songs from The Girl Can't Help It

0:43:480:43:51

to Ready Teddy, celebrating the women in his life.

0:43:510:43:54

# Going to the corner Pick up my sweetie pie

0:43:540:43:56

# She's my rock'n'roll baby She's the apple of my eye, I'm ready

0:43:560:43:59

# Ready, ready, Ted, I'm ready

0:43:590:44:02

# I'm ready, ready, Ted, I'm ready

0:44:020:44:04

# Ready, ready, Ted, I'm ready Ready, ready to rock and roll

0:44:040:44:07

# All the flattop cats and dungaree dolls

0:44:070:44:09

# Are headed for the gym to the sock hop ball

0:44:090:44:11

# The joint's really jumpin' The cats are goin' wild

0:44:110:44:14

# The music really sends me, I dig that crazy style, I'm ready... #

0:44:140:44:17

I was a disc jockey and I was playing his music.

0:44:170:44:19

Tutti Frutti, all the big hits he had.

0:44:190:44:22

And I didn't know he was gay.

0:44:220:44:25

Oh, he was. Yeah, he is.

0:44:250:44:28

He's gay as you can be.

0:44:280:44:30

You know?

0:44:310:44:32

He invited me but I said no, thank you.

0:44:320:44:35

I said no, no, that's not for me.

0:44:360:44:39

That was quite a time back there at the Paramount Theatre.

0:44:400:44:43

All of us were working together and things were going on, man.

0:44:430:44:48

We were all kids.

0:44:480:44:50

# Directly

0:44:540:44:58

# Directly from my heart to you... #

0:44:580:45:01

Just as Fats Domino's innocent charm had won over a young, white audience

0:45:010:45:04

in an era of segregation,

0:45:040:45:07

Richard, from the early days, traded on his flamboyant personality

0:45:070:45:11

to overcome the colour bar in the South.

0:45:110:45:14

We would play white clubs and we had to dress like a bunch of gay guys

0:45:140:45:18

so we wasn't a threat.

0:45:180:45:21

The white promoters didn't want us to mess with the white girls down South.

0:45:210:45:25

That's the strategy he used

0:45:250:45:28

to introduce rock'n'roll to the Southern States.

0:45:280:45:32

We're walkin' on stage switchin', you know, walkin' across the stage

0:45:320:45:35

and a lot of people would say, "Here comes Richard and his sissies."

0:45:350:45:39

HE LAUGHS Very smart.

0:45:390:45:41

He knew how to get the audience to love him and stuff like that.

0:45:410:45:45

# If she walks by

0:45:450:45:46

# The men folks get engrossed

0:45:460:45:48

# She can't help it The girl can't help it... #

0:45:480:45:51

But Little Richard also stood out and caught the ear of young America

0:45:510:45:54

by building his hits on a rhythm that deviated from the standard

0:45:540:45:58

R&B swing beat that was the foundation of rock'n'roll.

0:45:580:46:02

# The girl can't help it... #

0:46:020:46:04

Little Richard's beats are...

0:46:040:46:06

I would even say radically different

0:46:060:46:07

from, like, Bill Haley and The Comets,

0:46:070:46:09

which is a very swing beat.

0:46:090:46:11

It's "Rock around the clock tonight,"

0:46:110:46:14

that just, you know, the emphasis is on the two and the four -

0:46:140:46:17

one, two, three, FOUR - like that.

0:46:170:46:19

Whereas Lucille is... HE MIMICS FASTER BEAT

0:46:190:46:24

..and it hits on the one and the three.

0:46:240:46:26

It's just something you feel.

0:46:280:46:29

It feels...exciting.

0:46:310:46:34

# Lucille

0:46:340:46:37

# You won't do your sister's will

0:46:370:46:39

# Lucille

0:46:410:46:43

# You won't do your sister's will... #

0:46:440:46:47

I remember one day, Richy was lookin' at me

0:46:470:46:50

and this guy got something in his mind.

0:46:500:46:52

He said,

0:46:520:46:55

"We goin' to the train station in Macon, Georgia, on Fifth Street.

0:46:550:46:59

"We're going to follow this train

0:46:590:47:01

"as it move along and we's going to listen to the sound of the train."

0:47:010:47:07

I say, "OK."

0:47:070:47:09

TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS

0:47:090:47:11

And the train picked up speed, so it went choo-choo-choo-choo,

0:47:110:47:15

choo-choo-choo-choo.

0:47:150:47:16

He say, "Joe?" I say, "What?"

0:47:160:47:18

He say, "What kind of notes are those?"

0:47:180:47:20

I say, "Richard, those are eighth notes."

0:47:220:47:24

He says, "When we have rehearsal tomorrow at my house,

0:47:250:47:28

"I want you to play that beat behind me

0:47:280:47:31

"and I'm going to be playing the same thing on piano."

0:47:310:47:34

I say, "OK."

0:47:340:47:36

MUSIC SPEED MIMICS TRAIN

0:47:360:47:39

Sound like a damn earthquake.

0:47:500:47:52

HE CHUCKLES

0:47:520:47:54

# Lucille

0:47:550:47:57

# Please come back like you belong... #

0:47:570:48:00

And of course the way they used to record, with one or two microphones

0:48:000:48:03

up in the air, it just sounds like all one thing.

0:48:030:48:06

And that just has a way of getting at ya.

0:48:060:48:10

It sort of marks out the way that teenagers felt at the time.

0:48:100:48:13

"What are you rebelling against?" "I don't know. Whaddaya got?"

0:48:130:48:16

But we're going to do it and we're going to do it now.

0:48:160:48:18

While trains inspired Little Richard,

0:48:240:48:26

America in the '50s was a nation

0:48:260:48:29

expanding its love affair with the car,

0:48:290:48:31

the auto industry gaining power through government closure

0:48:310:48:34

of public transport and a massive plan to extend America's highways.

0:48:340:48:40

NARRATOR: This is the American dream -

0:48:400:48:43

a freedom on wheels.

0:48:430:48:45

An automotive age, travelling on time-saving superhighways.

0:48:450:48:50

# Baby, baby Don't you need some... #

0:48:510:48:55

Cars were like a major part of the culture - drag racing

0:48:570:49:00

and teenagers going out in their own cars.

0:49:000:49:02

This wasn't happening before.

0:49:020:49:04

'Plenty of speed here...'

0:49:040:49:06

The design of cars changed as well,

0:49:060:49:09

with more powerful engines like the mass-produced V8 Ford,

0:49:090:49:13

and styling taking on chrome plating,

0:49:130:49:15

two-tone colours and rocket-age streamlining and fins.

0:49:150:49:19

Sam Phillips recorded a record by Jackie Brenston called Rocket 88.

0:49:210:49:25

# V8 motor in this modern design

0:49:250:49:28

# Black convertible top and the girls don't mind

0:49:280:49:32

# Sportin' with me... #

0:49:320:49:33

Rocket 88 was a model

0:49:330:49:35

of Oldsmobile car.

0:49:350:49:38

It was the first American car that had two-tone colours.

0:49:380:49:41

Blue - I remember a powder blue and a navy blue

0:49:410:49:45

and that in the ghetto was hot stuff, like new Nikes would be today.

0:49:450:49:50

The whole idea of a love song to the car - I'm going to pick you up

0:49:500:49:53

for a date, we're going to be free to be ourselves,

0:49:530:49:56

go wherever we want to go, do what we want to do,

0:49:560:49:58

and no-one has to know.

0:49:580:50:00

# Step in my Rocket and don't be late, baby

0:50:000:50:03

# We're pullin' out about half past eight

0:50:030:50:06

# Goin' round the corner... #

0:50:060:50:07

The next car record to ride high in the charts

0:50:070:50:10

came from an unlikely source -

0:50:100:50:13

a 28-year-old ex-hairdresser with an ear for Blues and Country...

0:50:130:50:17

going by the name of Chuck Berry...

0:50:170:50:20

..who, in the summer of '55, motivated up the migrant corridor

0:50:220:50:26

from St Louis to Chicago and Chess Records...

0:50:260:50:29

# In the wee wee hours... #

0:50:290:50:31

..with a Blues song called Wee Wee Hours.

0:50:310:50:34

# That's when I think of you... #

0:50:340:50:37

But what caught the ear of label head Leonard Chess

0:50:370:50:40

was not Chuck's Blues but the other song on his demo...

0:50:400:50:43

# Light in the parlour Fire in the grate... #

0:50:430:50:46

..an adaptation of Bob Wills' western swing song, Ida Red.

0:50:460:50:52

# Ida Red, I had a red

0:50:520:50:54

# I'm a fool about Ida Red... #

0:50:540:50:56

My family was always lookin' for what was new and cutting-edge.

0:50:560:51:00

My father's nickname was the Foot Stomper - his foot started going...

0:51:000:51:03

HE TAPS HIS FOOT

0:51:030:51:05

At Chess Records, Chuck's song went through a rewrite,

0:51:050:51:08

starting with its title.

0:51:080:51:10

# Lamp on the table, a picture on the wall

0:51:100:51:12

# There's a pretty sofa and that's not all... #

0:51:120:51:14

# As I was motivatin' over the hill

0:51:140:51:16

# I saw Maybellene in a Coup de Ville

0:51:160:51:18

# A Cadillac a-rollin' on open road

0:51:180:51:20

# Nothin'll outrun my V8 Ford... #

0:51:200:51:22

The story goes that, in the studio, there was

0:51:220:51:25

a Maybelline cosmetic package.

0:51:250:51:27

They came up with the name Maybelline and they recorded it.

0:51:270:51:30

# Maybellene

0:51:300:51:32

# Why can't you be true?

0:51:320:51:34

# Oh, Maybellene

0:51:340:51:36

# Why can't you be true?

0:51:360:51:38

# You've started back doin' the things you used to do... #

0:51:380:51:41

Chuck Berry is the Shakespeare of rock'n'roll.

0:51:410:51:43

# The Cadillac pulled up ahead of the Ford

0:51:430:51:45

# The Ford got hot and wouldn't do no more... #

0:51:450:51:47

Maybellene is about him chasing a beautiful woman who's in a Cadillac

0:51:470:51:50

and he's trying to catch up with her.

0:51:500:51:51

# Rainwater blowin' all under my hood

0:51:510:51:53

# I knew that was doin' my motor good

0:51:530:51:55

# Maybellene

0:51:550:51:56

# Why can't you be true... #

0:51:560:51:58

He was talkin' about the wind was comin' in, the rain was comin' down,

0:51:580:52:01

but all that could be good for his motor. He was sayin', keep it cool,

0:52:010:52:03

cos he's driving so fast, you know?

0:52:030:52:05

Then he happened to look out his window and she was right there, too.

0:52:050:52:09

# The motor cooled down, the heat went down

0:52:090:52:10

# That's when I heard that highway sound... #

0:52:100:52:12

What a story. What a man.

0:52:120:52:15

# 110 a half a mile ahead

0:52:150:52:16

# The Cadillac lookin' like it's sittin' still

0:52:160:52:18

# And I caught Maybellene at the top of the hill... #

0:52:180:52:21

There's a kind of ambiguity there because you don't know

0:52:210:52:24

if she's a white girl or a black girl.

0:52:240:52:27

Also, there's a class dimension.

0:52:270:52:29

He's driving a V8 Ford and she's driving a Cadillac Coupe de Ville.

0:52:290:52:33

That's a rich person's car!

0:52:330:52:35

You know, that's dangerous. In 1955, that's really dangerous.

0:52:350:52:38

Chuck Berry, I think, is the best rock'n'roll songwriter.

0:52:380:52:43

I don't think there was anybody like him before.

0:52:430:52:46

He came up with a different word for every note.

0:52:460:52:49

There was a word...for each note.

0:52:490:52:52

Which was not like Blues records. Chuck Berry doesn't repeat.

0:52:520:52:56

It's like,

0:52:560:52:57

# Deep down in Louisiana close to New Orleans

0:52:570:52:59

# Way back up in the woods among the evergreens

0:52:590:53:02

# There stood a log cabin made of earth and wood

0:53:020:53:04

# Where lived a country boy name of Johnny B Goode

0:53:040:53:07

# Who never ever learned to read or write so well

0:53:070:53:09

# But he could play the guitar just like a-ringing a bell. #

0:53:090:53:12

I mean, that's a whole story right there. And then,

0:53:120:53:15

# Go, go, go, Johnny, go. #

0:53:150:53:17

So that's when he comes into the chorus but every note is a word.

0:53:170:53:22

# Deep down in Louisiana close to New Orleans

0:53:220:53:25

# Way back up in the woods among the evergreens

0:53:250:53:28

# There stood a log cabin made of earth and wood

0:53:280:53:31

# Where lived a country boy named Johnny B Goode

0:53:310:53:33

# Who never ever learned to read or write so well

0:53:330:53:36

# But he could play a guitar just like a-ringing a bell

0:53:360:53:39

# Go, go

0:53:390:53:40

# Go, Johnny, go

0:53:400:53:43

# Go, Johnny, go... #

0:53:430:53:44

Before Chuck Berry, most everybody strummed their guitars

0:53:440:53:47

in a delicate manner.

0:53:470:53:49

And all of a sudden, here comes Chuck Berry and he's kicking butt.

0:53:490:53:53

He's not strummin' - he's hittin' that baby.

0:53:530:53:55

# Go, go... #

0:53:550:53:57

You didn't have to play just one role as just being a music maker,

0:53:570:54:01

it was a personality that he would play with.

0:54:010:54:05

SOFT GUITAR DROWNS OUT SONG

0:54:050:54:09

But Chuck was no spring chicken.

0:54:090:54:11

He'd been round the block

0:54:110:54:13

and cut an almost avuncular figure in this white teenage world.

0:54:130:54:16

I was very young, I was 13 when Chuck Berry came to Chess.

0:54:200:54:23

In my eyes he was extraordinarily eccentric.

0:54:230:54:26

One day my dad said,

0:54:260:54:27

"Take Chuck across the street, buy him some lunch."

0:54:270:54:30

We sat down in the booth and he ordered strawberry shortcake

0:54:300:54:33

as a starter.

0:54:330:54:35

And the main course AFTER, you know? He was just a very unique individual.

0:54:350:54:40

He had robbed a gas station,

0:54:400:54:41

he had done jail time when he was a teenager.

0:54:410:54:44

He knew the hard knocks of it.

0:54:440:54:46

But as I grew older, I was fascinated how he knew what was happening

0:54:460:54:51

with white teenagers riding around in an automobile.

0:54:510:54:54

Black teenagers weren't driving cars in 1955.

0:54:540:54:58

It was before civil rights.

0:54:580:55:00

That's the thing about Chuck, he was very highly motivated to make it.

0:55:000:55:04

Somehow, he was able to tap into what white teenagers were doing,

0:55:040:55:09

their lifestyle, how much different they're living than the black kids.

0:55:090:55:13

"That's the market. That's what I want to get into."

0:55:130:55:15

Chuck was able to see the teenager experience

0:55:150:55:18

and sing a song directly to your experience.

0:55:180:55:21

Ladies and gentlemen, Chuck Berry! AUDIENCE SCREAMS AND CHEERS

0:55:210:55:24

# Sweet little 16

0:55:240:55:27

# She's got the grown-up blues

0:55:270:55:30

# Tight dresses and lipstick

0:55:300:55:32

# She's sportin' high-heel shoes

0:55:320:55:35

# Oh, but tomorrow morning

0:55:350:55:38

# She'll have to change her trend

0:55:380:55:41

# And be sweet 16

0:55:410:55:43

# And back in class again... #

0:55:430:55:45

Chuck's songs were the first to explore the teen experience,

0:55:450:55:48

catching the moment a young America walked a line

0:55:480:55:51

between parental control and dolled-up, libidinous,

0:55:510:55:55

four-on-the-floor freedom on a highway to who knows where?

0:55:550:56:00

Despite being hatched in a divided country,

0:56:000:56:03

the music, through stealth and accident,

0:56:030:56:05

had stolen the soul of young America.

0:56:050:56:08

# Cos they'll be rockin' on bandstands

0:56:080:56:10

# In Philadelphia, PA... #

0:56:100:56:12

Just as the song describes, rock'n'roll would spread like

0:56:120:56:15

a gathering storm from the South to every corner of the US...

0:56:150:56:19

# All over St Louis

0:56:190:56:21

# Way down in New Orleans... #

0:56:210:56:23

..providing the newborn teenager

0:56:230:56:25

with their own fashions and language...

0:56:250:56:27

It excites me, man, excites me. You've got to dig that music.

0:56:270:56:30

..and their own culture and identity,

0:56:300:56:34

and through rhythm and poetry

0:56:340:56:36

held the promise of a very different America.

0:56:360:56:39

But that isn't how the story ends.

0:56:430:56:46

"Man, here we go. We're going to ruin America with this junk."

0:56:490:56:52

# Wake up, little Susie... #

0:56:520:56:55

The wonderful young Everly Brothers.

0:56:550:56:57

Once the music hits it's like smokin' weed.

0:56:570:57:00

Changes things.

0:57:000:57:02

I think Pat Boone is old enough to be their grandfather.

0:57:020:57:05

HE LAUGHS

0:57:050:57:06

He didn't have the soul.

0:57:060:57:08

A wop bop a loobop, a lop what?

0:57:080:57:10

Jerry Lee Lewis!

0:57:100:57:11

He's interesting. You might ring his neck sometimes.

0:57:110:57:15

And don't ever say that to me again.

0:57:150:57:18

Elvis Presley!

0:57:180:57:19

'This vulgar, animalistic nigger...'

0:57:190:57:21

'Presley records.'

0:57:210:57:22

Electricity beyond comprehension.

0:57:240:57:26

He should not be on television.

0:57:260:57:28

Buddy Holly and The Crickets.

0:57:280:57:30

That'll be the day.

0:57:300:57:31

The parents called it the Devil's music.

0:57:310:57:33

The rock'n'roll records must go.

0:57:330:57:36

# Wake up, little Susie

0:57:360:57:38

# Well, what are we gonna tell your mama?

0:57:380:57:42

# What are we gonna tell your pa?

0:57:420:57:44

# What are we gonna tell our friends

0:57:440:57:46

# When they say

0:57:460:57:47

# Ooh la la?

0:57:470:57:49

# Wake up, Little Susie

0:57:490:57:51

# Wake up, Little Susie

0:57:510:57:53

# Wake up, Little Susie... #

0:57:530:57:56

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