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Mixtape Project

Good Essays

Taylor Rice
History of Rock and Roll
Mixtape Project
February 25, 2016

Cross Road Blues by Robert Johnson Hound Dog by Elvis Presley
This Land Is Your Land by Woody Guthrie Good Golly Miss Molly by Little Richard
Unforgettable by Nat King Cole Miserlou by Dick Dale & the Del Tones
Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley & the Comets Surfin’ USA by Beach Boys
Maybellene by Chuck Berry The Times They Are A-Changin by Bob Dylan

Robert Johnson’s “Cross Road Blues” (Crossroads) released in 1937. Robert Johnson is a legend, known as a figure in defining the foundation of the birth of Blues. His blues style was also very influential in the shaping of Rock and Roll. Before his young death at the young age of 27, …show more content…

The lyrics express Guthrie's belief that the working class should have the same rights as the rich. He very proudly carried the torch of singing songs about the American worker. Woody Guthrie’s music was not written down, but instead sung, performed, and taught completely by memory. The structure of this song is easy and memorable, using an "ACAB" format, which repeats the beginning of the melody (A section) for the third line. There was a certain Americana aspect to his folk music. He was a migrant farmer traveling as a country singer, using only his guitar and voice (occasionally using a harmonica) in his performances. He created songs from the sights he saw as he traveled all over the USA as a country singer, and spoke out against the lack of fairness and justice of capitalism and poor treatment of blue collar workers. He preached that his folk music was not just something that was made just to “sell” and “make money”, it was intensively focused on political and worldly events.
Nat King Cole’s “Unforgettable” released in 1952. Nat King Cole was widely accepted among white households, despite his ethnicity. He was widely known for his soft, calming, incandescent, baritone voice. He was originally a jazz pianist and he mostly performed in jazz and big band genres which allowed him to break through the racial barrier with the white community. His trio was made up of piano, bass and

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