@jackthehat,
Here is the Wikipedia version of the origin of Whole Lot of Shakin. I have a record of Bonny Bee but it will take a while to locate it. The label will list the author.
The origins of the song are disputed, but the writing is co-credited to Native American (Crow) / African American Kentuckian singer/songwriter Dave "Curlee" Williams, and white pianist, bandleader and songwriter James Faye "Roy" Hall (May 7, 1922 - March 2, 1984)[1]. Hall made the first recording of the song in September, 1954 for Decca Records, and maintained that he had written it and had secured the legal copyright as co-writer under the pseudonym of "Sunny David". All recordings of the song list the composers as Sunny David and Dave Williams. However, a Decca sample copy of Hall's recording [2] lists Dave Williams as the sole writer. The songwriting credit has always appeared as David-Williams on all recordings of the song subsequently. Hall was also a Nashville club owner, who later claimed to have employed young piano player Jerry Lee Lewis at some point around 1954.
Hall's version was rapidly covered by Big Maybelle whose recording was produced by the young Quincy Jones, and by others including The Commodores (no relation to the '70s Motown group). Big Maybelle was covering a record by a white artist, which usually did not get as much attention as when the reverse occurred. However, none of these early recordings found much commercial success.
[edit] Jerry Lee Lewis version
Jerry Lee Lewis had been performing the song in his stage act, and recorded it at his second recording session for Sun Records, on May 27, 1957[3]. Supervised by producer Jack Clement, Lewis radically altered the original, adding a propulsive boogie piano that was complemented by J.M. Van Eaton's energetic drumming, and also added suggestive spoken asides. Lewis later stated : "I knew it was a hit when I cut it. Sam Phillips thought it was gonna be too risqué, it couldn't make it. If that's risqué, well, I'm sorry."[4]
In Lewis' biographical film, Lewis is shown spying in on Black American speak-easy type club, listening to Whole Lotta Shakin Goin' On by a Black female soloist. The next scene depicts Lewis using the song without crediting the original artist.
Released as Sun 267, the record reached number three on the Billboard pop charts, and number one on the R&B charts [5]. The single also hit number one on the country charts, and number eight in the UK. Lewis became an instant sensation and, as writer Robert Gordon noted: "Jerry Lee began to show that in this new emerging genre called rock 'n' roll, not everybody was going to stand there with a guitar."
Jerry Lee Lewis's version of the song is ranked as the sixty-first greatest song of all time by Rolling Stone magazine. In 2005, it was selected for permanent preservation in the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress.
