The Soundies #9

In the mid '50s, several soundies compilations were released featuring jazz and R&B artists. They went by names like Soundies Cavalcade and Rhythm and Blues Revue, and many of them featured the same videos packaged in different combinations. Here's blues shouter Big Joe Turner singing his biggest hit, "Shake, Rattle and Roll." He is backed by Paul Williams and his Band. That's baritone sax man Williams seated to Turner's immediate left. The tenor sax solo is by Noble "Thin Man" Watts. I can't identify the pianist. The introduction is by Harlem comedian Willie Bryant.

This is an expurgated version of the song. The missing verse is:
     Wearin' those dresses, the sun comes shinin' through (x2)
     I can't believe my eyes, all of this belongs to you?

It's pretty tame stuff, but it was the excuse for radio stations not to play Joe's original version, leaving most of the sales to a cover version by Bill Haley and the Comets.  Ironically, a more salacious verse made it past the censors, not only on this video but also on the Haley record.
     I'm like a one-eyed cat peepin' in a seafood store (x2)
     I could look at you 'til you ain't no child no more

Maybe they didn't get it.