Apparently it was exactly 50 years ago today that rock n’ roll was born, appearing, in the words of guitarist Scotty Moore, from a young man named Elvis, who “ was just fooling around.” According to Moore, who was there at that historic moment, Elvis “was just a white teenager rocking through an old black blues song he heard on the radio.” You can read the BBC article in it’s entirety here.
I like to imagine that there are still things to discover. That foolish, young teenagers, looking for a different direction, still have a chance. That all the good things aren’t gone. I like to imagine that there is something bigger and better waiting for them, just past this time, where we seem to spend too much energy struggling with the idea of tattoos or sexual preferences. That one day, one of them will just be fooling around, and suddenly that thing that is so different will just be there, right in front of them, and they will share it with everyone.
And all of the young people will smile, or tap a toe, or close their eyes, or whatever it is this new thing makes them do. And all of the old people will frown and scowl, or whatever it is the new thing makes them do.
But maybe a few old people will smile too, because they’ll remember that once a man with a guitar wiggled his hips so much that he could make a crowd of girls faint. And they’ll realize just how silly they once were. And maybe some of them will even be singing That’s All Right Mama, and shaking their own hips.
Which if you think about it, never has been easy to do. Especially if you’re trying to make people faint.