Everybody Rock!
Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009Jimmy McCracklin - Everybody Rock
Jimmy McCracklin is best known for The Walk which Checker released in 1958 and which went to number 5 in the Billboard R&B chart and number 7 in the pop chart. I’m pretty sure no other Jimmy McCracklin record was such a success - although I’ve got a few records of his that I love and play just as much - including this one: Everybody Rock, released on Checker only months after The Walk.
In fact, the flipside to this record, Get Tough is a pretty thinly disguised re-working of The Walk - I guess the idea was that it would also be a big hit. Well, it wasn’t. I guess people were far happier doing “the walk” than disciplining their good ladies - which is what the lyrics of Get Tough seem to be all about…
ANYhoo - Everybody Rock also has a lot in common with The Walk but it’s just a little more upbeat, more rollicking AND (this is the best bit) the song is structured so that instead of having a chorus, the lyrics of each verse sets up a break by one of the band members, culminating in the drummer’s break on which the track ends. Great idea, perfectly executed: Everybody rock!

