Songfacts®:

• Running to a mere 2 minutes, 7 seconds, recorded on Essex Records and backed by "Watcha Gonna Do," this was Haley's first release of 1953; it was also the song that broke through for him and the Comets, and was the first rock 'n' roll song to be televised nationally, reaching #12 in the US. Apparently, Haley got the title from the appreciative cheers of his youthful audience; he is said to have written it sitting at the kitchen table while his wife prepared lunch.
  
  According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, it was "an original amalgam of country and R&B that arguably became the first rock and roll record to register on Billboard's pop chart."
• Although Haley's monster hit "Rock Around The Clock" was written by Max Freedman and Jim Myers, it is a natural progression from "Crazy Man Crazy"; the new genre had clearly arrived.
• The sheet music held by the British Library credits Haley as the sole author [though it was later revealed that bass player Marshall Lytle co-wrote it]. Originally published by Eastwick Music of Philadelphia and copyright 1953, it retailed for 40c. It was also published in the UK the same year, where it was recorded by Lita Roza (of "(How Much Is) That Doggie In The Window?" fame) with Ted Heath on Decca; this was a full orchestral arrangement, original score by Reg Owen, "Commercially Adapted by Gordon Rees," it retailed for one shilling from Leeds Music of London. >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Alexander Baron - London, England, for above 3