Single:
(We’re Gonna) Rock Around the Clock entered the Australian singles chart* on 30 July 1955 and peaked at #1. It was #2 on the Top 100 of 1955.
The song was re-released in Australia in 1964 and 1971 as more simply Rock Around the Clock. The single entered the Australian singles chart* on 16 May 1964 and peaked at #4. It was #35 on the Top 100 of 1964. Its third chart entry was on 15 March 1971 when it peaked at #22.
Album:
The Rock Around the Clock album by Bill Haley & His Comets charted in Australia in 1958, and again on 15 March 1971 when it peaked at #22.
Songwriters:
Max C Freedman, James E Myers (as Jimmy DeKnight)
Producer:
Milt Gabler
Record label of Australian release:
Festival
*Kent Music Report / Australian Chart Book. See About.
On The Ed Sullivan Show in August 1955:
Songfacts:
There is some dispute over what was the first rock song ever recorded (the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame says it’s Rocket 88, which Haley covered in 1951), but Rock Around the Clock is indisputably the first rock song to top the charts, and generally considered the beginning of the “Rock Era,” at least for chart purposes.
Rock Around The Clock first appeared on the American charts on 3 June 1953. It was written earlier that year by a Philadelphia songwriter named named Max Freedman (who was nearly 60 years old), and by James Myers, a local musician and song publisher who published it under the name “Jimmy De-Knight.”
In 1955, Rock Around The Clock was featured in the movie Blackboard Jungle, which gave it a surge in popularity and prompted a re-release of the single in the USA and its first release in countries including Australia.
Read more: www.songfacts.com/facts/bill-haley/rock-around-the-clock
Lyrics:
One, two, tree o’clock, four o’clock rock
Five, six, seven o’clock, eight o’clock rock
Nine, ten, eleven o’clock, twelve o’clock rock
We’re gonna rock around the clock tonight
Click for full lyrics
Also on Bang a Gong: Rock Around the Clock by Glenn Shorrock, Graeme ‘Shirley’ Strachan, John Paul Young, Daryl Braithwaite, Renée Geyer and Frankie J Holden (1977)
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