We know that rock 'n' roll, like panty hose and the sea, was not a human invention; that it was the work of the Holy Ghost. When, in an article called "Women Won't Leave Me Alone," published in the October, 1954, issue of Tan, Wynonie Harris bragged that he "started the present vogue of 'rocking' blues tunes," he failed to mention the Holy Ghost, who had chosen Harris—as he had earlier chosen the Virgin Mary, Blackbeard, and Aldo Ray's Mom—to serve him in his work. But Wynonie Harris was like that. Not even the Holy Ghost Hisself was safe from the unmoving sword of his arrogance.

At about the time Wynonie Harris was writing his story for Tan, in the summer of 1954, Sun was distributing Elvis Presley's first record. Presley's Y. second single, which was released in September, 1954, was a song learned from a Wynonie Harris record: "Good Rockin' Tonight." (Harris had cut the song for King in December, 1947, and it became one of the biggest R&B hits of 1948.) At the Louisiana Hayride that same year, Elvis sang another song learned from Harris: "That's The Stuff You Gotta Watch," which Harris had cut for Apollo in 1945.

Elvis learned more than songs from Wynonie Harris. The thrust and swivel of his hips, the sex-swept curlings and liftings of his face, the evangelical wavings and parries of his arms arid hands—these were not the spontaneities of Elvis, but a style deftly learned from watching Wyrionie Harris perform in Memphis in the early 50's. Henry Glover, who produced most of Wynonie's records, told me two years ago that, "When you saw Elvis, you were seeing a mild version of Wynonie,"

Not too much is known of Wynonie Harris's life. He was born in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1916. His parents, Luther and Nallie Harris, were church-going people who wanted Wynonie to become a doctor. After graduating from Central High, he attended Creighton University as a pre-med student. He stuck it out for two years, then turned to dancing for money in Jim Bell's Harlem, McGill's Blue Room, and other joints in Omaha. In 1934, he wed Olive Goodlow of Council Bluffs, Iowa , to whom he stayed married until 1946. About the time of his marriage, he turned from dancing to singing. He went to Los Angeles in 1940, and took a job playing at the Club Alabam for $17.50 a week. Within a few years, he was a local celebrity. In 1944, he left the Coast for Kansas City, where he had his first headline engagement, at

the Chez Paree. The bandleader Lucky Millinder was also playing in Kansas City that week. He heard Wynonie sing, and asked him to join his band.

On May 26, 1944, as the vocalist with Lucky Millinder & His Orchestra, Wynonie cut his first records, "Hurry, Hurry" and "Who Threw The Whiskey In The Well." Both sides became hits on Decca, but the only money Wynonife got out of them was a $37.50 recording fee.

In 1945, Wynonie made his first solo records, for Apollo in New York. Later that same year, he made two records for Lionel Hampton's Hamp-Tone Label, then began recording for Aladdin in L.A. (Around this time; he also made two records for the Bullet label in Nashville. He had played an R&B show at the Ryman Auditorium, home of the Grand Ole Opry, after which the Owner of Bullet coaxed him into recording with the promise of free whiskey.) In December, 1947, Wynonie began recording for King Records in Cincinnati. He stayed with King until 1954. During his six years with King, he became one of the biggest R&B stars of that era, and cut some of the toughest rock 'n' roll records in history.

His big hits all dealt either with getting drunk ("Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-ODee," "Bloodshot Eyes',') or getting laid ("Sittin' On It All The Time," "I Like My Baby's Pudding," ^'Lovin' Machine"). His biggest hit, "All She Wants To Do Is Rock," hit Number One in 1949, the year of the Holy Ghost's 2,872nd birthday, and He smiled.

Wynonie Harris is remembered by those who knew him as a wildman, a creature of lurid excess. Roy Brown, \ who wrote "Good Rockin' Tonight," recalls that, "He'd walk into a bar and shout, 'Here come the blues!' He was wild. He'd jump off the bar and say, 'Man, I'll eat you up!' He was like that. He got shot through the head, he got shot through the ears, he'd get beat up, but he didn't mean no harm."

Industry veteran Ralph Bass says that, "Wynonie always had a broad, man. Shit, he didn't have any respect. He'd walk up and insult a girl right in front of her man. He'd say, 'Hey, bitch, what you doin' here, whore?' That's the way he was. He was arrogant. He really cussed people out.

"One night in Cincinnati, he picked me up and said, 'Come on.'. He was gonna fight Ezzard Charles—-this was when Ez was the heavyweight champ —'cause Ez was hittin' on his old lady. What the hell, he lived."

Producer Henry Glover, grasping for kind adjectives, says that, "He was, uh,\ very likable. At times. He carried sort of a, I don't know, negative attitude.

a, I don't know, negative attitude.

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Really, I think it wa§ just he was. frightened at people. Didn't wanna be around 'em. Drank a lot of whiskey. Loud and vulgar." Then, laughing, Glovet says, "Hell, this man was a concept. He was too much."

In the late 50's, as white rock 'n* roll usurped the success of the black originals, Wynonie Harris, fell into obscurity. There were several comeback atterhpts—he cut a single for Atco in 1956, one for Roulette in 1960—but by the start of the new decade he was all but forgotten. He became a bar owner in New York, then L.A. He still drank, he still rocked, but now his friends were his only audience. On June 14, 1969, he died in Los Angeles. He was 53 years old.

Ralph Bass, when I was trying to ascertain how old Wynonie had been when he died, advised: "Whatever age he was when he died, just double it. That's the way that motherfucker lived. Every minute, every blessed minute."