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Zachary Wilson
3/3/22
MUS-163-26187
Midterm

Bill Haley & His Comets

For this midterm assignment, I chose Bill Haley & His Comets. I chose this group be-

cause ever since I heard “Shake, Rattle, and Roll” while completing an assignment in this class, I

have not been able to get it out of my head. Bill Haley was the main component to this group.

The group with him, the Comets, changed a few times over the course of their time as a band.

Haley grew up in Highland Park, Michigan. While researching Haley, a quote I found from his

official website was “One of Haley’s first musical performances took place in 1938, when he

played at a Bethel Junior baseball team event at just 13 years old, and he spent most of his teen

years playing guitar and yodeling in various bands. In 1945 at the age of 20, he joined his first

professional band, The Downhomers.” (Paragraph 4). No author credits were listed for citing

purposes. Later in his life, Haley became a musical director at a radio station in Chester, Penn-

sylvania. Haley’s musical career began when he was in a country-style band called the “The

Saddlers”. Later on, this band would be renamed Bill Haley & His Comets. The group continued

on until Haley’s death in 1981, lasting approximately an impressive 29 years.

The song that made me want to write this paper on Bill Haley & His Comets was “Shake,

Rattle, and Roll”. This song was released in 1955, and is known as one of the most memorable

and popular songs from Bill Haley & His Comets. The combination of piano, guitar, bass, and
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saxophone had immediately caught my attention and hooked me. The unique pattern of the song

was so catchy to me, that I have actually listened to it multiple times outside of class. This is a

big deal for someone like me, because I usually only listen to modern rap/pop, but Bill Haley &

His Comets dragged me in on this one. Although originally, the song was written and performed

by Big Joe Turner, when Bill Haley & His Comets released their version of it, the song was

greatly received. While researching “Shake, Rattle, and Roll”, two quotes I found from a Rock

Music Wiki (Not Wikipedia), was “Bill Haley & His Comets’ Cover Version of the song, record-

ed on July 7, 1954 (three weeks after Turner's version first topped the R&B charts), featured the

following members of the Comets: Johnny Grande (piano), Billy Williamson (steel guitar), Mar-

shall Lytle (bass), and Joey Ambrose (saxophone).” (Paragraph 6). The other quote I found reads

“Haley's version was released in August, 21 and reached #7 on the Billboard pop chart, spending

a total of twenty-seven weeks in the Top 40. It was used as the theme song for the Springfield

Indians of the American Hockey League for many years, and is now used as the victory song for

the current franchise in Springfield, MA, the Springfield Falcons.” (Paragraph 7). The Rock Mu-

sic Wiki page did not list an author for citing purposes. The level which “Shake, Rattle, and

Roll” reached was pretty huge. Being the official theme song of an AHL franchise is a significant

accomplishment, especially since the AHL is the last stepping stone to the biggest North Ameri-

can hockey league, the NHL. After doing more research on the Springfield Falcons, I learned that

in 2016, the franchise was bought by the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes and was relocated to Tucson,

Arizona, where they became the AHL affiliate to them. During the relocation, the team was re-

named the Tucson Roadrunners, so it is unclear if “Shake, Rattle, and Roll” is still in use

throughout the franchise.

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Another absolute classic from Bill Haley & His Comets was “Rock Around the Clock”.

Released in 1955, “Rock Around the Clock” is known as the most popular song released by Bill

Haley & His Comets. This song shadowed “Shake, Rattle, and Roll” in a certain way for me. I

feel like both songs have a positive and upbeat tune that makes listeners want to dance and sing

along to the catchy tunes. The lyrics of “Rock Around the Clock” are so simple, yet perfect. For

example, “We’re gonna rock, gonna rock around the clock tonight, When the clock strikes

twelve, we’ll cool off then, Start a rockin’ round the clock again, We’re gonna rock around the

clock again”. Throughout the song, all the numbers (hours) on the clock are mentioned like,

“When the clock strikes two, three, and four, If the band slows down we’ll yell for more,”. The

lyrics in this tune are so simple yet so well fitted for Haley and His Comets to make a master-

piece of it. While searching the same Rock Music Wiki page as I did for “Shake, Rattle, and

Roll”, I came across a quote that showed how big “Rock Around the Clock” really became. This

quote reads “...The Bill Haley version also hit number three on the R&B charts. In the UK, Ha-

ley's "Rock Around the Clock" reached number 17 on the pop charts in January 1955, four

months before it first entered the US pop charts. (Coincidentally, it reached the same position as

was reached by The Beatles’' first single, "Love Me Do", in 1962). The song re-entered the UK

charts to reach number one in November 1955, and after a three-week break returned there for a

further three weeks in January 1956. It re-entered the charts again in September 1956, reaching

number 5. The song was re-issued in 1968, when it made number 20, and again in 1974, when it

reached number 12.” (Paragraphs 19 and 20). Again, there was no author listed for citing purpos-

es. What the quote that I chose proves is that Bill Haley and His Comets were not just a huge
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success in the United States, but overseas in the UK as well. Maybe it helped that Haley’s moth-

er, Maude Green was born in Northamptonshire, UK.

Overall, Bill Haley’s steady use of backbeat and upbeat style music fueled the success of

him and his comets during their prime in the 1950’s/60’s. I am very happy I took the outside of

the box approach in learning about Haley and his Comets, because it made me perceive his two

top hits in ways that I never thought I would see. It even connected something that is a big part

of my life, hockey, to “Shake, Rattle, and Roll”, my own personal favorite from the music group.

I really feel as though my approach to this topic, the knowledge I learned in class and the details

I learned in research has made me into a true fan of Bill Haley and His Comets and their lyrics,

sound and groove.

Works Cited:

“Bill Haley: The Father Of Rock ‘n’ Roll.” Bill Haley Official Website, https://billhaley.com/

#bio.

“Shake, Rattle, and Roll.” Rock Music Wiki, https://rock.fandom.com/wiki/Shake,_Rat-

tle_and_Roll.

“Rock Around the Clock.” Rock Music Wiki, https://rock.fandom.com/wiki/Rock_Around_the_-

Clock?so=search.
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