Serious Contenders: Gene Vincent, "Be Bop a Lula"

The early rock and roll standards feel cliche by now, but trying to put a fresh ear to them helps you realize how well they stand up. Listen close to the halting rhythm of the verses: there's your Rock. Listen to the easy flow of the chorus: there's your Roll. Back in the 50's, you couldn't really address the idea of sexual attraction directly, so you had to be creative, and a lot of the time when you get a nonsense word or a grunt or a "hey," that's what it's standing in for. "Be-Bop-A-Lula," manages to come out of nowhere and stand in perfectly for that space between "We're doing it" and "We're in love" -- a place where much teen romance, the type mythologized in early rock and roll, occupies. Rock and roll is often in saying it without saying it.