Twenty Flight Rock
Encyclopedia
"Twenty Flight Rock" is a song originally performed by Eddie Cochran
in the 1956 film comedy The Girl Can't Help It
, and released as a single in 1957
. Cochran's biographer notes Cochran was granted a co-writer credit, but no royalties, a standard ego-salving arrangement between publishers and performers who popularize other writers' songs. The writer and sole royalty recipient, Ned Fairchild
, is Nelda Fairchild, a pioneering female songwriter for whom "Twenty Flight Rock" is just one of a hundred songwriter credits, BMI records show. Fairchild continues to perform and write in her 70s. She is the subject of a documentary due for 2008 release. Cochran's version was rockabilly
-flavored, but artists of all genres would cover the song, including Paul McCartney
, The Rolling Stones
, Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen
, Heinz
, Montrose
, including rockabilly
and psychobilly
groups Stray Cats
, Tiger Army
and Zombie Ghost Train
and Brazilians Coke Luxe version, "Vigesimo Andar"
The first version of "Twenty Flight Rock" was recorded by Cochran in July 1956 at Goldstar Studio, with Connie Smith on the bull fiddle and Jerry Capehart thumping a soup carton. Cochran re-recorded the song sometime between May to August 1957. This later version was released in the United States on (Liberty
55112) with "Cradle Baby" as a flipside
, it was a moderate seller, but was more popular in Europe and had steady sales for a long period.
The song follows the twelve-bar blues format, using the device of counting upwards ("One flight, two flight, three flight, four/five, six, seven flight, eight flight, more") in the refrain
in a manner similar to "Rock Around the Clock
". The lyrics end on a surprisingly morbid note relative to other pop music
songs of the time.
The barely 15-year-old Paul McCartney
used "Twenty Flight Rock" as his first song when he auditioned for John Lennon
on July 6, 1957 in Liverpool
, England
. The 16-year-old Lennon was impressed by the young McCartney's ability to play the song on the guitar during their first official introductions at St. Peter's Church Hall prior to a church garden fete. The good first impression of McCartney's performance led to an invitation to join The Quarrymen
- John Lennon's band that would eventually evolved into The Beatles
. On The Beatles Anthology
, McCartney noted that: "I think what impressed him most was that I knew all the words."
Cochran performing "Twenty Flight Rock" appeared in the film The Girl Can't Help It
, as a tongue-in-cheek example of the supposed lack of talent required to perform rock and roll.
The song also featured in the film "The Delinquents" (1989).
Eddie Cochran
Eddie Cochran , was an American rock and roll pioneer who in his brief career had a small but lasting influence on rock music through his guitar playing. Cochran's rockabilly songs, such as "C'mon Everybody", "Somethin' Else", and "Summertime Blues", captured teenage frustration and desire in the...
in the 1956 film comedy The Girl Can't Help It
The Girl Can't Help It
The Girl Can't Help It is a 1956 comedy musical film starring Jayne Mansfield, Tom Ewell, and Edmond O'Brien. It was produced and directed by Frank Tashlin, with a screenplay adapted by Tashlin and Herbert Baker from an uncredited novel Do Re Me by Garson Kanin...
, and released as a single in 1957
1957 in music
-Events:*January 5 – Renato Carosone and his band start their American tour in Cuba.*January 6 – Elvis Presley makes his final appearance on the The Ed Sullivan Show.*January 16 – The Cavern Club opens in Liverpool, UK....
. Cochran's biographer notes Cochran was granted a co-writer credit, but no royalties, a standard ego-salving arrangement between publishers and performers who popularize other writers' songs. The writer and sole royalty recipient, Ned Fairchild
Ned Fairchild
Ned Fairchild is the pen name of Nelda Fairchild an American songwriter. Her best known work is the hit rock'n'roll hit "Twenty Flight Rock"....
, is Nelda Fairchild, a pioneering female songwriter for whom "Twenty Flight Rock" is just one of a hundred songwriter credits, BMI records show. Fairchild continues to perform and write in her 70s. She is the subject of a documentary due for 2008 release. Cochran's version was rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
-flavored, but artists of all genres would cover the song, including Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
, The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
, Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen
Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen
Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen is an American country rock band founded in 1967. Core members included founder George Frayne, John Tichy, Billy C. Farlow, Bill Kirchen, Andy Stein, Paul "Buffalo" Bruce Barlow, Lance Dickerson, and Bobby Black....
, Heinz
Heinz (singer)
Heinz was a bassist and singer.-Life:Heinz was born in Detmold, but from the age of seven was brought up in Eastleigh, Hampshire, England, where a road is named after him. His biggest solo hit was "Just Like Eddie", a tribute to Eddie Cochran...
, Montrose
Montrose (band)
Montrose was a California-based hard rock band. The band originally featured Ronnie Montrose on guitar and future solo artist and former Van Halen frontman Sammy Hagar...
, including rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
and psychobilly
Psychobilly
Psychobilly is a fusion genre of rock music that mixes elements of punk rock, rockabilly, and other genres. It is one of several subgenres of rockabilly which also include thrashabilly, trashabilly, punkabilly, surfabilly and gothabilly...
groups Stray Cats
Stray Cats
Stray Cats are an American Rockabilly band formed in 1980 by guitarist/vocalist Brian Setzer , upright bassist Lee Rocker and Slim Jim Phantom in the Long Island town of Massapequa, New York. The group had numerous hit singles in the UK, Australia and the U.S...
, Tiger Army
Tiger Army
Tiger Army is an American psychobilly band that was formed in 1995 in Berkeley, California. Its constant member and lead song writer is Nick 13. The band have released a total of four studio albums.-History:...
and Zombie Ghost Train
Zombie Ghost Train
Zombie Ghost Train was an Australian psychobilly and gothabilly band located in Sydney, NSW, Australia. The band formed with Stu Arkoff , Azzy T , and Captain Reckless . In 2007, Azzy T left to pursue other musical ventures and was replaced by JM...
and Brazilians Coke Luxe version, "Vigesimo Andar"
The first version of "Twenty Flight Rock" was recorded by Cochran in July 1956 at Goldstar Studio, with Connie Smith on the bull fiddle and Jerry Capehart thumping a soup carton. Cochran re-recorded the song sometime between May to August 1957. This later version was released in the United States on (Liberty
Liberty Records
Liberty Records was a United States-based record label. It was started by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Al Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous revivals.-1950s:...
55112) with "Cradle Baby" as a flipside
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
, it was a moderate seller, but was more popular in Europe and had steady sales for a long period.
The song follows the twelve-bar blues format, using the device of counting upwards ("One flight, two flight, three flight, four/five, six, seven flight, eight flight, more") in the refrain
Refrain
A refrain is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse; the "chorus" of a song...
in a manner similar to "Rock Around the Clock
Rock Around the Clock
"Rock Around the Clock" is a 12-bar-blues-based song written by Max C. Freedman and James E. Myers in 1952. The best-known and most successful rendition was recorded by Bill Haley and His Comets in 1954...
". The lyrics end on a surprisingly morbid note relative to other pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
songs of the time.
The barely 15-year-old Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
used "Twenty Flight Rock" as his first song when he auditioned for John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
on July 6, 1957 in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The 16-year-old Lennon was impressed by the young McCartney's ability to play the song on the guitar during their first official introductions at St. Peter's Church Hall prior to a church garden fete. The good first impression of McCartney's performance led to an invitation to join The Quarrymen
The Quarrymen
The Quarrymen are a British skiffle and rock and roll group, initially formed in Liverpool in 1956, that eventually evolved into The Beatles in 1960...
- John Lennon's band that would eventually evolved into The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
. On The Beatles Anthology
The Beatles Anthology
The Beatles Anthology is the name of a documentary series, a set of three double albums and a book focusing on the history of The Beatles. Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr all participated in the making and approval of the works, which are sometimes referred to collectively as the...
, McCartney noted that: "I think what impressed him most was that I knew all the words."
Cochran performing "Twenty Flight Rock" appeared in the film The Girl Can't Help It
The Girl Can't Help It
The Girl Can't Help It is a 1956 comedy musical film starring Jayne Mansfield, Tom Ewell, and Edmond O'Brien. It was produced and directed by Frank Tashlin, with a screenplay adapted by Tashlin and Herbert Baker from an uncredited novel Do Re Me by Garson Kanin...
, as a tongue-in-cheek example of the supposed lack of talent required to perform rock and roll.
The song also featured in the film "The Delinquents" (1989).
Personnel 1956 version
- Eddie CochranEddie CochranEddie Cochran , was an American rock and roll pioneer who in his brief career had a small but lasting influence on rock music through his guitar playing. Cochran's rockabilly songs, such as "C'mon Everybody", "Somethin' Else", and "Summertime Blues", captured teenage frustration and desire in the...
- guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, vocals - Connie "Guybo" Smith - double bassDouble bassThe double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
- probably Jerry CapehartJerry CapehartJerry Capehart was a songwriter and music manager. Capehart co-wrote the famous rock 'n' roll songs "Summertime Blues" and "C'mon Everybody" with Eddie Cochran, whom he also managed. He died in Nashville, Tennessee....
- box slapping
Personnel 1957 version
- Eddie CochranEddie CochranEddie Cochran , was an American rock and roll pioneer who in his brief career had a small but lasting influence on rock music through his guitar playing. Cochran's rockabilly songs, such as "C'mon Everybody", "Somethin' Else", and "Summertime Blues", captured teenage frustration and desire in the...
- guitars, vocals - Perry Botkin - rhythm guitarRhythm guitarRhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
- Connie "Guybo" Smith - double bassDouble bassThe double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
- The Johnny Mann ChorusJohnny MannJohnny Mann is an American arranger, composer, conductor, entertainer, and recording artist.-Career:...
- backing vocals
Cover versions
- Vince TaylorVince TaylorVince Taylor was a British rock and roll singer. As the frontman for The Playboys, Taylor was successful primarily in France and the Continent during the late 1950s and early 1960s, afterwards falling into obscurity amidst personal problems and drug abuse.-Early life:Born Brian Maurice Holden,...
and His Playboys recorded the song for an EP between 1961-1962. - Commander Cody and His Lost Planet AirmenCommander Cody and His Lost Planet AirmenCommander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen is an American country rock band founded in 1967. Core members included founder George Frayne, John Tichy, Billy C. Farlow, Bill Kirchen, Andy Stein, Paul "Buffalo" Bruce Barlow, Lance Dickerson, and Bobby Black....
on the Album "Lost in the OzoneLost in the OzoneLost in the Ozone is the debut album by the Country rock band Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen that contains their hit cover version of "Hot Rod Lincoln" as well as the band's live staples, "Lost in the Ozone" and "Seeds and Stems ."...
" released in 1971. - MontroseMontrose (band)Montrose was a California-based hard rock band. The band originally featured Ronnie Montrose on guitar and future solo artist and former Van Halen frontman Sammy Hagar...
on the album Warner Brothers Presents... Montrose!Warner Brothers Presents... Montrose!Warner Brothers Presents... Montrose! is the third album of the band Montrose.It is the first Montrose album to feature singer Bob James and keyboardist Jim Alcivar. The album was critically praised and also noted for its movie-poster cover giving the impression that Warner Brothers was presenting...
released in 1975. - Robert GordonRobert Gordon (musician)Robert Gordon is an American rockabilly musician. Gordon rose to fame performing in several genres including alternative rock, punk rock, and rock and roll.- Early days:...
w/ Link WrayLink WrayFred Lincoln "Link" Wray Jr was an American rock and roll guitarist, songwriter and occasional singer....
on the album Fresh Fish Special released in 1978 - The Rolling StonesThe Rolling StonesThe Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
on the album "Still Life" (American Concert 1981) released in 1982 - Tailgators on the album Tailgators released in 1990
- Lightnin' Willie and the Poorboys on the album Lightnin' Willie and the Poorboys released in 1994
- The song was covered by the Backbeat band for the 1994 film of the same nameBackbeat (film)Backbeat is a 1994 British-German drama film directed by Iain Softley. It chronicles the early days of The Beatles in Hamburg, Germany. The film focuses primarily on the relationship between Stuart Sutcliffe and John Lennon , and also with Sutcliffe's German girlfriend Astrid Kirchherr...
. - Pyromanix on the album Searching for Rock el Roll released in 1997
- Stray CatsStray CatsStray Cats are an American Rockabilly band formed in 1980 by guitarist/vocalist Brian Setzer , upright bassist Lee Rocker and Slim Jim Phantom in the Long Island town of Massapequa, New York. The group had numerous hit singles in the UK, Australia and the U.S...
on the album Rock This TownRock This Town"Rock This Town" is a song by the Stray Cats from their UK debut album Stray Cats. Its first U.S. release was on the 1982 album Built for Speed. It peaked at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1982, becoming the first of the band's three top ten hits in the U.S...
released July 28, 1998 - Tiger ArmyTiger ArmyTiger Army is an American psychobilly band that was formed in 1995 in Berkeley, California. Its constant member and lead song writer is Nick 13. The band have released a total of four studio albums.-History:...
on the album Tiger ArmyTiger Army (album)Tiger Army is the first full-length release by California psychobilly band Tiger Army, released on October 26, 1999. The band had previously recorded a vinyl EP in 1996, and came to the attention of Tim Armstrong, the owner of Hellcat Records. Armstrong contacted Tiger Army's lead singer, Nick 13,...
released on October 26, 1999 - Robert GordonRobert GordonRobert Gordon , a 17th century merchant and philanthropist, was born in Aberdeen. He was the only son of Arthur Gordon who married Isabella Menzies of Balgownie...
on the album Live released on May 4, 2000 - The Bunch on the album Rock OnRock On (The Bunch album)Rock On is a 1972 one-off album of oldies covers by the Bunch, a group of English folk rock singers and musicians. The Bunch got together in late 1971 to record their one and only album, Rock On...
released on September 30, 2003 - Vic RuggieroVic RuggieroVictor "Vic" Ruggiero, is a musician, songwriter and producer from New York City who has played in many ska bands, such as The Slackers, Stubborn All-Stars, SKAndalous All Stars, Crazy Baldhead and The Silencers...
on the album Alive at the Ladybug HouseAlive at the Ladybug HouseAlive at the Ladybug House is the second solo, acoustic album from The Slackers' keyboardist/lead singer, Vic Ruggiero. It was released in 2004.- Track listing :# "Mean + Nasty" # "Vic's Lament" # "'Til the Early Morning"...
released in 2004 - Satellites on the album Mua Kiusaat Vain released on June 20, 2006
- The Shuteye Train on the album Rock and Roll with... released on September 11, 2006
- Dick RiversDick RiversDick Rivers is a French singer and actor who has been performing since the early 1960s. He was an important figure in introducing rock and roll music in France. He is known for being an admirer of Elvis Presley, who highly influenced both his singing and looks...
on the album The Rock Machine released in 2008 - Paul McCartneyPaul McCartneySir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
on the album Choba B CCCP released in 1988 in the USSR and 1991 worldwide. He also played it during some shows in his 1989-90 world tour and opened the two "Up Close" shows in December 1992 with this song - Conan O'BrienConan O'BrienConan Christopher O'Brien is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer and performer. Since November 2010 he has hosted Conan, a late-night talk show that airs on the American cable television station TBS....
and Jack WhiteJack White (musician)Jack White , often credited as Jack White III, is an American musician, songwriter, record producer and occasional actor...
covered Twenty Flight Rock with Conan's house band on November 8, 2010 during the premiere episode of Conan.