13 Women (and the biggest hit record of all time)
The band’s ferry got stuck in a sandbar
on their way to New York City
on an April day in 1954
when music was changed forever.
By the time Bill Haley and his Comets
with a few other musicians in tow
arrived at the recording space on 70th Street
there were three hours to get some work done.
The producer insisted they record a song
with the silly premise that a nuclear bomb
had left 13 women on earth, and only one man
to keep all of them company.
After the song had been recorded,
there was enough time for two takes
of a song Bill Haley was unable to record
with his prior record label.
The guitarist that day, Danny Cedrone,
wasn’t officially one of Bill Haley’s comets
and he received $31 for his efforts
which resulted in a work of inestimable value.
He wasn’t quite sure how to fit in
with the arrangement of the song
and there wasn’t any time left
for figuring it out, either.
In the end, he recycled notes he had played
on a song called “Rock the Joint”
and the result was a track
that will likely endure forever.
Danny Cedrone died two months later
after falling down a flight of stairs
three days before his 34th birthday
and before the world would know his work.
When the record came out later that year
the A side was "13 Women”
and the B side was called
“(We’re Gonna) Rock Around the Clock.”
A few people bought that record in 1954,
but it was really just one
of those consumers
whose purchase mattered the most.
A ten year-old boy in California
whose father was an actor
played it one day for a studio
making a movie called “Blackboard Jungle.”
That song brought teenagers into theaters
and gave a new music form
known as “rock and roll”
its first #1 hit record.
Here’s to Danny Cedrone and to Michael Dunne
and everyone who has played and created music.
May we appreciate the impact
their art has had upon our lives.
