Work with Me, Annie

"Work With Me, Annie" is a 12-bar blues with words and music by Hank Ballard. It was recorded by Hank Ballard & the Midnighters(formerly The Royals) in Cincinnati on the Federal Records label on January 14, 1954, and released the following month. The FCC immediately opposed it due to its overtly sexual lyrics, lyrics that had crossed over and were now being listened to by a white teenage audience. Because the record was in such demand and received so much publicity, attempts to restrict it failed and the record shot to number one on the R&B charts and remained there for seven weeks.cite book
first=& Steve Propes
last= Jim Dawson
authorlink=
coauthors=
year= 1992
title= What Was the First Rock'n'Roll Record
edition=
publisher= Faber & Faber
location= Boston & London
pages= p. 131-137
id=ISBN 0-571-12939-0 ]

This was the first of the "Annie" records and sold a million copies. So did the answer songs "Annie Had A Baby" and "Annies's Aunt Fanny". They all were banned for radio play by the FCC. The success of these recordings spurred the practice of recording double entendre records and answer songs. [cite web
url=http://www.johnnyspencer.info/imagetexts08/workwithmeannieR.htm
title=Work With Me, Annie
publisher=
accessdate=2006-11-07 ] Another answer, "The Wallflower", by Etta James, popularly known as "Roll with Me Henry", was reworded by Georgia Gibbs as "Dance With Me Henry" for Top 40 consumption. It had the same melody as "Work With Me Annie". The melody was recycled again by the Midnighters for the song "Henry's Got Flat Feet (Can't Dance No More)".

The song " Work With Me, Annie" is part of the The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll list. [Rock and Roll Hall of Fame "500 songs that shaped rock and roll" [http://www.rockhall.com/exhibitions/permanent.asp?id=658] ] .

The song

Hank Ballard had been a fan of "Sixty Minute Man" recorded by The Dominoes, a song so explicitly dirty that only an rhythm and blues label would take it. When he got the chance he wrote his own bawdy tune. With its strong melody and distinctive rhythm, the song's structure anticipated the style of rock and roll and was flexible enough that later it could be used with entirely different words.cite book
first=Charlie
last=Gillett
year= 1996
title= The Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock and Roll
edition= (2nd Ed.)
publisher= Da Capo Press
location=New York, N.Y.
pages= p. 129
id= ISBN 0-306-80683-5]

The "Annie" lyrics were extremely sexually explicit for the period [cite web
url=http://www.bluesworld.com/Ballard.html
title=Hank Ballard
publisher=
accessdate=2006-11-08 ] ::"Annie, please don't cheat. Give me all my meat."

And the punchline:

::"Let's get it while the getting is good."

Hank Ballard's baritone and excited squeals backed by the group's 'ah-oom' were accompanied by a boogie piano, a driving electric guitar and a booming electric bass. "Work With Me, Annie" defined what was to become Rock'n'Roll..

Notes

All of these same elements- driving rhythm guitar, booming bass,boogie piano- plus prominent saxophone and fervent drums- were present inIke Turner's 1951 classic, "Rocket 88", which preceded "Work with Me Annie" by almost 3 years.

External links

* [http://www.johnnyspencer.info/imagetexts08/workwithmeannieR.htm Photo official King reissue from 1975]