the birth of rock and roll (part 3)

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Part 3 of the 5 part series

Updated 03/13/2021
Created 11/16/2003
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and here comes something called country blues
songs like sallie gooden and the arkansas traveler
send scouts scurrying south for more hillbilly music
it came from eck robertsons texas fiddle
from ragtime henry thomas on the texas gulf coast
blind willie mctells fingerpicking in georgia
robert johnsons mississippi bottleneck guitar
from big bill broonzy sonny terry robert johnson
merging mixing sopping into this homemade stew
a new brew to soon rock you out of your shoes.

and it all begins to blend together as one
to meld to mutate like different dialects
into a new national language speaking
like jimmie rodgers to the depression poor
and louis armstrong reinventing jazz by
combining his passion for white pop
and out in far west texas bob wills
picking cotton in the weary fields
and dreaming about picking his fiddle
to a new country blues jazz only he can hear.

and now arrives the age of live radio with
the grand ole opry down in nashville
the wls national barn dance in chicago and
in shreveport theres the louisiana hayride
and also the first dj on wcrw in chicago
using his vibraphone to broadcast albums
right into your living rooms its a miracle
and soon jukeboxes make the scene
to play wail swing and then to play it again
and now it seems like everybody can hear.

and if you were white and rich why
there was always the harlem cotton club
where people got up and began to dance
chick webb and duke ellington mainlining
musical rhythms into the american mainstream
exploding in the first flash of teen hysteria
when gene krupa went nuts on the drums
with benny goodman carnegie hall 1938
"sing sing sing" building in strength and volume
as the crowd jitterbugged delirious in the aisles.

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