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TIN PAN ALLEY: Jailhouse Rock

3 minute read
TIME

“Mike did this spontaneous roll-out,” explained the short, intense young man, “and there was something nasty in the music. I just blurted out, ‘You ain’t nuthin’ but a hound dog,’ and there it was.” Hound Dog, as bawled by Elvis Presley, sold 5,000,000 records, enthroned Tunesmiths Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller as kings of the state of annoyance called rock ‘n’ roll. In all, their raucous inspirations have since sold 27 million records, and last week their latest, Charlie Brown, made its first million.

The youthful (both are 25) writing pals are now living in Manhattan brownstones on incomes of about $75,000 a year (cash), but to hear them tell it, they are laboring on a Jailhouse rock. “At least 60% of our stuff is rock ‘n’ roll,” laments Leiber, “and we’re sick of it. But consumers dictate the market: kids nine to 14 make up our market, and this is the stuff they want.” In massive doses, this is just what the pair has been giving them: Love Me (2,000,000 copies sold), Loving You (2,000,000), Searching (1,250,000), Jailhouse Rock (2,000,000), King Creole (1,000,000).

Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller began their career as amateur songwriters at Los Angeles City College, earned less than $2,000 apiece their first two years. Then, in 1952, they whelped Hound Dog in 20 minutes flat. “Originally, it was folk blues,” says Leiber. “When Presley, shall we say, performed it, there was a misunderstanding of the original lyrics—it was designed to be sung by a girl.” Adds Leiber: “The thing to remember is you’re not writing a song but a record. What you gotta do is get these kids to identify. That’s how we got Yakety Yak [1,000,000]. Mike was at the piano and I was making tea. He started an exciting riff, and right away I threw out: ‘Take out the papers and the trash.’ At once Mike came up with the second line: ‘You don’t get no spending cash.’ I felt right away we had a hit—we had a little slice here that hadn’t been touched.”

A slice the team would love to touch is Broadway, but Stoller (who writes most of the music) complains that “nobody has offered us a decent book.” In the meantime, Jerry and Mike go on helping the kids to identify. “Who’s always writin’ on the wall?/ Who’s always goofin’ in the hall?/ Who’s always throwin’ spitball?” Why, Charlie Brown, of course. Says Leiber: “If Cole Porter were starting out today, he’d have a tough time.”

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