April 21, 1947: Hank Williams records "Move It On Over." It becomes his 1st hit record, and some people even call it "the first rock and roll record."
Hiram Williams (no middle name) was born on September 17, 1923 in Mount Olive, Alabama. By 1937, he had dropped out of school to sing country songs on an Alabama radio station. At that time, he started calling himself Hank, because he thought, "It sounded more like a hillbilly and Western star than 'Hiram.'" World War II delayed his rise: A back injury gave him a medical deferment, but his entire band got drafted.
On April 21, 1947, 6 days after Jackie Robinson re-integrated baseball, Hank went into Castle Recording Laboratory, on the 2nd floor of the Hotel Tulane, at 206 8th Avenue North in Nashville, where he had made his first professional recordings the year before, and recorded "Move It On Over."
The song tells of a man who defied his wife's wish that he not go out drinking, so she locks him out, and he has to sleep in the doghouse. The expression, "in the doghouse," meaning someone is angry with you, was already in common use. So he's saying, "Move it on over" to the family dog: "Move over, little dog, 'cause the big dog's movin' in."
The song has an electric guitar solo, so it retroactively gets placed on lists of songs considered "the first rock and roll record." However, the song is driven by violins, or rather "fiddles" as they say in country music, not guitars. The main part of the song, though not the chorus, would be adapted -- probably consciously -- by songwriter Jimmy Myers for "Rock Around the Clock," recorded by Bill Haley, which became the 1st rock and roll song to hit Number 1, in 1955. Haley also covered "Move It On Over" in 1957.
By that time, Hank Williams was dead, a result of substance abuse. His flight to a show in Ohio on New Year's Day 1953 was canceled due to fog, he got a driver, who found him dead in the back seat shortly after midnight. He was not yet 30 years old. He has thus been called "the first dead rock star."
On May 26, 1949, Hank's son was born in Shreveport, Louisiana: Randall Hank Williams, known professionally as Hank Williams Jr. My father, a big country music fan despite having lived his entire life in New Jersey, told me that Hank Williams' greatest contribution to country music was Hank Williams Jr.
On January 6, 1953, 5 days after Hank Sr. died, his daughter was born in Montgomery, with the name Antha Belle Jett. She became a country singer under the name Jett Williams. On December 12, 1972, in Nashville, Hank Jr. became the father of Shelton Hank Williams, who performs "psychobilly" or "cowpunk" music under the name Hank Williams III. On March 12, 1981, in Cullman, Alabama, Hank Jr. became the father of Holly Williams, also a country hitmaker. And in 1991, Hank III became the father of Coleman Williams, who calls himself simply "IV," the Roman numeral for 4, pronounced like "four."
A much harder, louder version of "Move It On Over" was done in 1978 by George Thorogood & The Destroyers.
The Hotel Tulane was demolished in 1956. An office building is now on the site.
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April 21, 1947 was a Monday. Rock star Iggy Pop was born. Football was out of season. The NBA, still known as the Basketball Association of America, was conducting the Finals of its 1st season. The next day, the Philadelphia Warriors beat the Chicago Stags to clinch the title. The NHL season was wrapped up 2 days earlier, when the Toronto Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup, beating the Montreal Canadiens.
And there were only baseball games played that day -- and yet, both Chicago teams played. The White Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 6-4 at Briggs Stadium in Detroit. And the Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds, 3-0 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Hank Wyse pitched a 3-hit shutout. Lennie Merullo went 4-for-4 with ab RBI.
Both of these were day games. Each of these ballparks would be the last in its League to put up permanent lights: Briggs Stadium in 1948 -- it was renamed Tiger Stadium in 1961 -- and Wrigley Field in 1988.
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