America’s Gift to the World

No matter where we have traveled, we have noticed one cultural gift America has given to the world.

That gift?

Rock ‘n’ Roll.

The popular music in every nation has now adopted the rhythmic punctuation that came into American music in the twentieth century through the mixing of gospel, blues, jazz and country/western music.

Cleveland hosts the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in a fabulous building designed by architect I. M. Pey. Its exhibits identify those antecedents that merged to produce Rock. Blues artists such as Lead Belly and Big Mama Thornton; gospel singers such as the Carter Family and Aretha Franklin; jazz greats such as Louis Armstrong; country and western stars like Jimmy Rogers and Bill Monroe all propelled the movement that eventually became Rock ‘n’ Roll. Cleveland’s museum gives proper attention to each of these forerunners and to many more.

I was especially interested in the display devoted to Les Paul and Mary Ford, who revolutionized music by inventing the electric guitar and multi-track overdubbing. This husband-wife team were not only artists, but they were also technicians.

It was these obscure voices crying in the wilderness that eventually allowed us all to hear the voices of Bill Hailey and the Comets, Buddy Holly and the Crickets, the Everly Brothers and Elvis Presley.

A great deal of attention is given to the young Elvis and his transition from gospel to rock in the black nightclubs on Beale Street in Memphis. Other exhibits detail the public and private lives of the Beatles. All along the way we see exhibits cataloguing the music, instruments and clothing of the performers whose music filled our lives.

We saw the piano that Paul McCartney used to compose the Beatles’ early hits such as “She Loves You,” “I Feel Fine,” and “Money Can’t Buy Me Love.” The instrument belonged to the family of Jane Asher, McCartney’s consort in the 1960’s. The piano was also used by her brother Peter Asher, who became part of the duo Peter & Gordon. That pair produced such hits as “A World Without Love,” and “I Go to Pieces.”

Another upright piano on display served rocker Jerry Lee Lewis as he was learning to play. His aggressive piano style literally wore the ivory off the keys. The same piano was used by his young cousin Mickey Gilley when he was a beginner. Gilley became a singer/songwriter whose bar was featured in the film “Urban Cowboy.”

Acid rock, Punk-rock, Motown, Hip-hop, and Heavy-metal are all presented. All genres and variations up to the present are represented. There is even a studio where current rockers can assemble and strut their stuff before onlooking visitors to the museum.

One video shows the Beatles in a recording session of their hit, “Let it Be.” They are actually making up the words and chords as they go along. Nothing was written out in advance. Perhaps the essence of Rock’n’ roll can be summed up by a statement Paul McCartney makes at the end of the session. He says that for him nothing is written down in advance. There are no rules to tell us how music should sound. For him the highest joy is simply sitting down at the piano and trying things out until music just mysteriously happens. He says that rock music doesn’t tell us how we should feel. It simply expresses how we do feel.

Maybe that is the glory of rock and roll. Maybe that’s why it has been accepted everywhere in the world.

Thanks to Cleveland’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame for reminding us of this. Thanks to Viking for bringing us here.En savoir plus