![]() Gabler, someone’s broken into your office.’ I said, ‘Yes, I know. When the staff came in on Monday morning, they thought there had been a robbery. Said Gabler: “My office had a frosted glass panel so I got a hammer, smashed the pane and robbed my own office. In mid-December, knowing that operations would shut down when hey got near Christmas, the band recorded the song on a weekend, and Gabler had to break into his own office to retrieve the Charles version of the song and the lyrics he had written down. Haley and his producer Milt Gabler had some experience turning catchy R&B songs into mainstream hits – they had done it with “Shake, Rattle And Roll.” They heard the Bobby Charles version of “See You Later Alligator,” which was climbing the charts, and knew that they had to get a version recorded and released quickly before someone else did. Bill Haley & His Comets is regarded today as one of the first true rock-n-roll bands, innovators who were white musicians bringing rock to a white audience. They don’t make ’em like they used to! This classic hails from a time when rock-n-roll bands had flashy names like “Bill Haley & His Comets” and played 12-bar blues songs like they knew where they were coming from. Have a wonderful Sunday and thanks for reading. Thanks for dropping by, McFly…and see you later…alligator! ![]() So….to stay in the spirit of the song…Don’t Be Square…We’d better stop before we drop. The song peaked at #6 in the Top 100, #7 in the R&B Charts, and #7 in the UK in 1955. However… according to Brewer’s Dictionary of Modern Phrase & Fable, ‘alligator’ was already a term in the 1950s for a jazz or a swing fan, as someone who ‘swallowed up’ everything on offer. The use of the phrase “See you later alligator” when taking one’s leave stemmed from this song. Guidry also wrote hits for other performers, most notably “Walking To New Orleans” for Fats Domino.Īfter while crocodile was/is a popular way of saying goodbye and this song made it more popular. However it was the Bill Haley version that took off. See You Later Alligator was written by songwriter Robert Charles Guidry, who recorded it himself in 1955 under his stage name of Bobby Charles. I was introduced to him by the television show Happy Days. His popularity and legacy didn’t last as long as some of his peers. Rock Around the Clock was his best known song but he did have some other hits like Shake, Rattle, and Roll, and Crazy Man Crazy. Bill Haley was an unlikely looking rock star but he did have some hits in the 50s. Sometimes I like going back to the era where Rock and Roll began as we know it. ![]() This week’s prompt is (drum roll please…) Alligator/Crocodile/Lizard/Snake/Turtle… This song is for Song Lyric Sunday for Jim Adams’s blog.
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