Saturday Morning Soundtrack -- "Move It" by Cliff Richard (1958)

I struggled a little this week in coming up with a suitable song for 1958 in the Saturday Morning Soundtrack series. Read on to find out why!

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Saturday Morning Soundtrack @ Youtube

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"Move It" -- Cliff Richard and the Shadows (1958)

I can't help feeling that 1958 was the first moment when rock and roll started getting stale. Blasphemy, I know. Rock and roll as a genre isn't even five years old at this point, but when I look at the rock offerings of the late-fifties, I see a musical genre that is quickly growing tired. It's practically aching for a British Invasion and some Beach Boys. It's not that there aren't a lot of great acts still going at this time: Elvis is doing his thing; Buddy Holly and Little Richard and the Everly Brothers are all still going strong. And, yes, Chuck Berry released the most iconic and timeless rock and roll guitar riff of all time in '58, with "Johnny B. Goode."  But everything is starting to sound the same. I imagine that there were a number of folks who'd predicted rock as a passing trend hearing these songs and gloating to themselves, it's only a matter of time. Even guitar godfather Chuck Berry is starting to copy himself. Don't believe me? Listen to my favorite Berry song, "Carol," and tell me you don't hear "Johnny B. Goode" in there.

Rock needed someone to come along and rattle the cages a little.

Fortunately, as we know, rock was not a fad like Disco, but a full-fledged movement, and within five years, plenty of musicians would come forward and shake things up with groundbreaking new approaches and sounds. In the 60's rock will see rapid growth in both number of artists and number of different sub-genres and styles. (And all those detractors, I mentioned? Well, they'll end up looking back at the 50's with new-found nostalgia.) Until then, it's easy to call 58-59 the "Dark Ages," but that would be inaccurate. It's not like rock was dead just because The Beatles and Stones hadn't landed yet. There were still some under-appreciated songs making waves. (Lloyd Price's "Stagger Lee" comes to mind. Larry Williams's "Dizzy Miss Lizzy," too.)  "Move It" is a song that fits into the category of "below the radar" perfectly. Most folks have never heard it, yet it's a great tune and (unless I am mistaken) it's also Britain's very first rock song, so that makes it pretty special.

More than that, "Move It" is a time capsule of sorts--the perfect combination of rockabilly, surf rock, early guitar rock, and even Brit. rock. (Listen to the first fifteen seconds and tell me you don't hear both Buddy Holly and later surf acts like the Venturas in those opening licks. Throw in a crooner's voice, not unlike that of The King's, and a few shakes of Little Richard's rebelliousness and Chuck Berry's double-stop soloing, and suddenly we have a real "melting pot" song on our hands. It doesn't merely copy other acts of the time; it combines them into something fresh, if not altogether new.) As John Lennon once said, "before Cliff and the Shadows, there had been nothing worth listening to in British music."

High praise, indeed.

At first blush, "Move It" seems like your typical dance song, imploring that the listener shake what she's got, but what sets it apart is that this song seems to have a certain self-awareness that many other songs of the era lack. It recognizes its own potential mortality:

The rhythm that gets into your heart and soul
Well, let me tell you baby, it's called rock 'n' roll
They say it's gonna die, but honey please let's face it
Well, they just don't know what's-a goin' to replace it
Yeah, ballads and calypsos they got nothin' on
Real country music that just drives along
Well, a-move it

Here, our singer seems to realize that rock n' roll may not last forever, but he's optimistic about its longevity because he recognizes there are no other genres around that challenge rock's straightforward driving rhythms. It's prophetic insight when you consider that it will be twenty years before another mainstream music genre (Hip Hop) emerges with a comparable emphasis on back beat.

It's also ironic given that, despite having a career that spans 55 years (which feels like forever in rock terms), Richard has never duplicated the success of "Move It," his very first hit. Some attribute this to the rise of The Beatles and the new Mersey Sound coming out of Liverpool, Manchester, and London, which made Richards's brand of rock feel "old-fashioned." Others cite Richards's move to Christian faith-based music during the 60's and 70's. Some say it was lack of support by commercial radio. Whatever the case, Richards would go on to release over 40 rock albums (to date), half of them going Gold or Platinum in Britain, earning him fame and even knighthood across the pond. And yet none of those albums would go on to crack the U.S. Top 40 in sales. A real rock n' roll mystery.

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So what do you think? Did I get it right or miss the mark? Please, feel free to weigh in using the comments below. And, if you would like to write a Guest Entry for the "Saturday Morning Soundtrack" series where you creatively respond to one of your favorite rock songs, don't hesitate to contact me with queries.