Editing Rock Around the Clock (section)

==Decca recording session==
After leaving Essex Records in the spring of 1954, Bill Haley signed with [[Decca Records]], and the band's first recording session was set for April 12, 1954, at Decca's studios in the [[Pythian Temple (New York City)|Pythian Temple]] in New York City.<ref name="SIMONS"/><ref name="nyt-2009-06-18"/> The recording session almost failed to take place because the band was traveling on a ferry that got stuck on a [[Shoal|sandbar]] en route to New York from [[Philadelphia]]. Once at the studio, producer [[Milt Gabler]] (Gabler was the uncle of actor [[Billy Crystal]] and had produced [[Louis Jordan]] as well as [[Billie Holiday]]), insisted the band work on a song entitled "Thirteen Women (and Only One Man in Town)" (written and previously recorded by [[Dickie Thompson]]), which Gabler wanted to promote as the [[A-side]] of the group's first single for Decca.

Near the end of the session, the band finally recorded a take of "Rock Around the Clock", but Haley's vocals were drowned out by the band. A second take was quickly made with minimal accompaniment while [[Sammy Davis Jr.]] waited outside the studio for his turn behind the [[microphone]]. Decca engineers later combined the two versions into one version. (Comets piano player [[Johnny Grande]] tells a slightly different version, claiming that the only reason a second take was recorded was that the drummer made an error.)

Many musicians have claimed that they performed on the recording session for "Rock Around the Clock". Song co-writer Myers once claimed he had played drums on the piece, although he also claimed to have been advising the sound mixer in the recording booth.<ref>Swenson, John. ''Bill Haley''. (Star Books, 1983).</ref> According to the official record sheet from the session, however, the musicians on the famous recording are:

* [[Bill Haley]] – vocals, rhythm guitar
* [[Marshall Lytle]] – [[double bass]]
* [[Franny Beecher]] – guitar
* [[Billy Williamson (guitarist)|Billy Williamson]] – [[steel guitar]]
* [[Johnny Grande]] – piano
* [[Billy Gussak]] – drums (session musician)
* [[Danny Cedrone]] – electric guitar
* [[Joey Ambrose]] (aka Joey D'Ambrosio) – tenor saxophone

Dick Richards, Haley's drummer at the time, confirmed in a 2016 interview with Dutch journalist Gerbren Deves, that it was not him, but Gussak playing drums on the recording. Despite not being members of Bill Haley and His Comets, Gussak and Cedrone were trusted session players that Haley had used before. Cedrone's guitar solo was one that he used before on Bill Haley And The Saddlemen's version of "[[Rock the Joint]]" in 1952, and is considered one of the classic rock and roll guitar solos of all time. (Cedrone died in a fall down a stairway on June 17, 1954, and never lived to see his contribution become famous and legendary.) The second instrumental break recreates a popular [[rhythm and blues]] "out chorus" with tenor sax and guitar emulating the rhythm section.

The version of "Rock Around the Clock" that was used in the movie ''[[Blackboard Jungle]]'' differs from the hit single version. The difference is in the two solo breaks. The record has the guitar solo taking the first break and the sax solo taking the second break. The movie version is just the opposite with the sax solo coming first.

In a 2005 retrospective on his uncle Milt Gabler's work (''The Milt Gabler Story''), [[Billy Crystal]] identifies Haley's 1954 recording of "Rock Around the Clock" as the single most important song Gabler ever produced. Gabler had previously been responsible for the highly successful string of [[Rhythm and blues|R&B]] and [[jump blues]] recordings by Louis Jordan in the late 1940s, which were characterised by their strong beat, clearly enunciated lyrics and high production values, all features which Gabler sought to repeat in Haley's recordings. Also significantly, "Rock Around the Clock" was recorded in the very same month that [[Atlantic Records]] issued [[Big Joe Turner]]'s "[[Shake, Rattle and Roll]]". In relation to "Rock Around the Clock", Gabler said: "I was aware that rock was starting. I knew what was happening in the Philadelphia area, and "Crazy Man, Crazy" had been a hit about a year before that. It already was starting and I wanted to take it from there."<ref>{{cite book|first1=Jim|last1=Dawson|author-link1=Jim Dawson|first2=Steve|last2=Propes|author-link2=Steve Propes|title=What Was The First Rock 'n' Roll Record?|publisher=[[Faber and Faber]]|location=London, England|date=1992|isbn=0-571-12939-0|pages=121–123}}</ref>

Although the record is sometimes claimed to be the first in the rock and roll genre, Alexis Petridis of [[The Guardian]] wrote that "Rock Around the Clock" and "[[That's All Right]]" were generally not considered the first rock and roll records but rather "the first white artists' interpretations of a sound already well-established by black musicians almost a decade before. It was a raucous, driving, unnamed variant of rhythm and blues that came complete with lyrics that talked about 'rocking'." Later in the same article, Petridis relates that Tony Cajiao, then the editor of Now Dig This!, offered the conclusion "... you have to say that Rock Around the Clock was the first record that really brought everything together, that made tremors around the world."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2004/apr/16/popandrock |title=Will the creator of modern music please stand up? |date=April 16, 2004 |work=The Guardian |access-date=December 26, 2022 |quote=}}</ref>