HISTORY OF ROCK AND ROLL: QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
12 bar blues Right Ans - classic blues structure; I I I I IV IV I I V IV I I
Tin Pan Alley form Right Ans - form AABA
Robert Johnson, "Crossroad Blues" (1936) Right Ans - a blues song;
recorded by Okeh Records, the singer had a mythology about him that he sold
his soul to the devil to play in the fashion he did; style includes acoustic guitar,
rhythmic method of playing
Bessie Smith, "St. Louis Blues" (1925) Right Ans - a classic blues song; 12
bar blues, call and response method, has an organ backing it up; the singer
goes off the written music quite a bit and formed her own "swing" type style;
Louis Armstrong was on the cornet
BB King, "Three O'Clock Blues" (1952) Right Ans - Mississippi Delta style
blues, produced by Sam Phillips (later Sun Records), gospel influence in the
vocals (melisma), voice and guitar call and response; was known for using
vibrato and pitch-blending on the guitar, 12 bar blues
Muddy Waters, "Hoochie Coochie Man" (1954) Right Ans - Mississippi
Delta style blues, used amplification almost to the point of distortion, had the
stop time band for this song; 16 bar blues (8 bars of stop time riff [blues riff]);
mixes sexuality and voodoo/hoodoo, has urban sound but Delta blues
elements
Howlin' Wolf, "Smokestack Lightnin'" (1956) Right Ans - Mississippi Delta
style blues; based on trains he saw when he was younger, themes include
trains and migration; used amplification, harmonica, 1 chord, 1 riff, "howling"
vocals
Jean Ritchie, "Barbara Allen" (1961) Right Ans - originally a 17th century
Scottish ballad; a "hillbilly" song, about ill-fated lovers; 1960s folk revival
The Carter Family, "Can the Circle Be Unbroken" (1935) Right Ans -
hillbilly/country song; has religious context, close vocal harmony - sacred
harp/shape note singing; known for "Carter Scratch;" form is verse/chorus;
image of the band tended to be serious and quiet
, Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys, "New San Antonio Rose" (1938) Right
Ans - western swing with influences from country, blues, swing, big band,
Tejano. Uses strings, guitar, big band, trumpets (mariachi sound); has Tin Pan
Alley form. Big band leaders tended to not sing and instead led the band,
which was the case in this song.
Jimmie Rodgers, "Waitin' On a Train" (1928) Right Ans - country + western
(eventually); singer was a brakeman working on trains, style included blues,
jazz, vaudeville, yodeling. The form is strophic (same form every time). The
singer presented himself as having a "rambler" persona (wanderer, hard-
living, authentic), known for blues yodels
Hank William, Sr. "Move It On Over" (1947) Right Ans - country; 12 bars
blues, Jimmie Rodgers-style rambler persona. His life played out the theme of
alienation and he died at 29; sounded older than he was, utilizes a guitar solo.
Fusion between vocals (smooth/nasal), urbanizing, also rural; drums are
featured in song); the lyrics line up with the hard living rambler persona;
compare to Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock"
Kitty Wells, "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky-Tonk Angels" (1952) Right
Ans - country; singer possessed a sweetheart persona; answer song to Hank
Thompson's "Wild Side of Life." Country women did not have much choice for
a persona - girl next door or sweetheart were their main choices.
Johnny Cash, "I Walk the Line" (1956) Right Ans - country; possessed a
persona of contradiction (rambler), emphasized "simplicity," lyrics of song
address marital fidelity, has a train motif and blues crossover elements
Louis Armstrong, "West End Blues" (1928) Right Ans - jazz; written by his
mentor, the recording includes the artist and his Hot 5, Earl Hines plays the
piano, 12 bar blues form, emphasizes instrumental solos with a trumpet
cadenza, scat vocal (duet with clarinet), piano solo, ends with trumpet solo
Bing Crosby, "Brother Can You Spare a Dime" (1932) Right Ans - solo artist,
jazz style; utilizes a swing jazz band and the crooner style (thanks to the new
microphones), AABA form, major/minor modes, themes of the Great
Depression; unlike most Tin Pan Alley-type songs, which tended not to