Happy Sunday to everyone out there reading this!
How I love these early Sun Record artists. There were more there besides Elvis, Jerry Lee, Orbison, Perkins, and Cash. The key to this song to me is that the guitar plays a hell of a rhythm through the song. The saxophone break cuts through the recording with a great solo.
In January 1954, Ike Turner brought the young Billy Emerson to Sam Philips’ attention. He would cut some great songs at Sun but not any hits. He wrote songs covered by Elvis, Junior Wells, Willie Mabon, Wynonie Harris, and Buddy Guy.
Move Baby Move was cut in Memphis, Tennessee in October 1954 by Billy Emerson (piano and vocal), Luther Taylor (trumpet), Charles Smith (alto saxophone), Bennie Moore (tenor saxophone), Elven Parr (guitar), and Robert Prindell (drums); the song was written by Billy Emerson.
This song uses the melody of “Shake, Rattle, and Roll”, using an uptempo rocking arrangement. Emerson’s voice drives it home.
Billy Emerson: “At Sun, Sam Phillips was always wanting to hear something different, and back then I could just go away and think of something different to record overnight.”
Sam Phillips: “Billy Emerson wrote such great songs. He was one of the very best.”
Move Baby Move
Stop banging on the door and come on in this house
Stop banging on the door and come on in this house
Kick off your slippers and tip here quiet as a mouse
You passed by the house and I was laying here wide awake
You passed by the house and I was laying here wide awake
You’d better stop that cattin’ and give this dog a break
You gotta move, baby, move
You gotta move, baby, move
You gotta move, baby, move
You gotta move, baby, move
Well, you won’t do right and you know I ain’t no fool
You gotta go that line and watch the way you do
You gotta go that line and watch the way you do
If you don’t stop rappin’ then you and me are through
You’d better pack your rags and move on down the line
You’d better pack your rags and move on down the line
I’m tired of this jive and I won’t stop by crying
You gotta move, baby, move
move, baby, move
move, baby, move
move, baby, move
Well you won’t do right and you know I aint no fool
PowerPop... An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture 
Love that stuff too! Always said if I won mega on the Lottery, I’d have TWO vintage jukeboxes installed in the house – one devoted to SUN / Rockabilly singles and the other to SKA singles from the ’60s.
A lad can dream, (sigh!) 🙂
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I’m with you on that dream!
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Great song, Max. Early Sun artists other than the obvious suspects would make a great topic for a post. You know how you can tell whether a tune grabs you? When it makes you snip your fingers or groove along in your chair. The appropriately titled “Move Baby Move” did that right away to me!
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I go looking for Sun Artists and I’m rarely if ever lets me down. That is what I tell people…even if a song is old…if it still moves you….it works.
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I didn’t know of Billy (The Kid) Emerson, but I guess that was because he never had any hits. This song is really cool, thanks for sharing it Max.
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I didn’t know of this artist, but of course you had me at ‘Sun Records’. His sound and rhythm fit right in with the Sun sound. This song sounds like it could, and should have been a hit.
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I hadn’t heard of him either, but it’s a good song very much in that Sun sound. About 30 seconds in though, I thought ‘that sounds a lot like ‘Shake Rattle and Roll”, and I re-read your notes and it says it used that melody. How did he get away with taking sole writing credits?
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Yea I’m not sure unless whoever wrote that copped the riff somewhere else!
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Yeah, it seems back in the 80’s it was common to be fast and loose with ‘loaning’ a melody or riff from elsewhere and forgetting about giving due (dues?) credit to someone not ‘in house.’
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Dagnabbit, I meant ‘the 50’s!’
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I thought that was it… people started to get more conscious of that stuff in the 70s I guess… like Zeppelin shopping in the blues aisle and not paying for anything.
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I guess people in entertainment weren’t as litigious (sp?) back in the 50s as they are now
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Had never heard this! I ran across Billy Emerson when I found out he wrote/ co wrote some great songs. Dylan certainly knows who he is, discovered when he was deep into the Sun Records catalog and Chess Records as well. While this effort is a knock off on Shake Rattle and Roll, not an usual thing to happen music, he wrote “Red Hot” which became a Rockabilly classic. Great find there I must say Max!
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Thanks Randy…yes he was more successful writing for other people than releases himself. I know he got into gospel later on.
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This is so slick and smooth. It’s a pleasure to hear the beginnings of rock n roll (from a blues background) in its purest form.
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Yes I love the sound of it…just basic blues/rock and roll. It swings.
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Good title because that’s what you want to do while listening to it. Great party tune it must have gotten a lot of people out on the dance floor in its day.
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The Sun artists had it going on. Big nod to Joe Turner among others. The sax was always well placed. I could feel it coming.
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Glad you liked it CB.I just randomly pick a Sun artist sometimes and it’s guaranteed good…yes the sax was setup perfectly.
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I have a Sun comp I pull out often. Not a bad cut.
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