Raunchy (instrumental)

• 1. Introduction

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  "Raunchy" is an instrumental by Bill Justis, co-written with Sidney Manker and produced by Sam Phillips, released on the 23rd of September 1957. It arrived on Phillips International Records, a sub-label of Sun Records, tucked inside an era when rock and roll was still finding its shape. What makes this two-minute tune remarkable is not how it performed on the charts, though it reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100. What makes it remarkable is what happened on the top deck of a bus in Liverpool, in 1958, when a fifteen-year-old played it note-perfect for two young men who would change music forever. How did a single guitar instrumental become the audition piece that helped assemble the Beatles? And what is the "twangy" guitar sound it introduced, the one that spread through popular music for years afterward?

• 2. The Sound That Started It

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  "Raunchy" is widely recognized as one of the first rock songs to use the "twangy" lead guitar effect. Sam Phillips, who produced the recording, captured something in that guitar tone that was genuinely new at the time. The sound was immediately imitable, and soon others began developing it further. Guitarist Duane Eddy and producer Lee Hazlewood took it upon themselves to push the style as far as it would go. They greatly enhanced the reverberation in their recordings, producing a deep, resonant lead guitar quality. Eddy's first major contribution to that developing sound was "Rebel Rouser" in 1958, the year after "Raunchy" charted. He later recorded "Raunchy" himself, for the RCA Records album Twangin' the Golden Hits in 1965, a tribute to where his own signature sound had begun.

• 3. A Bus in Liverpool

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  George Harrison was fifteen years old when he played "Raunchy" for John Lennon and Paul McCartney on the top deck of a bus in Liverpool in 1958. His performance was note-perfect. Lennon had reservations about Harrison's age, but the playing was persuasive enough to override them. Harrison was admitted into the Quarrymen, the early band that would eventually become the Beatles. The story of that audition was not forgotten. In 1994, while working on the Beatles Anthology project, the three surviving Beatles, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, played the tune together during a jam session. It was a deliberate callback to the song that had first earned Harrison his place in the group decades earlier.

• 4. The Rival Versions

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  Ernie Freeman's version of "Raunchy" competed directly with Justis's release in 1957. For Freeman, it became his biggest solo success. His recording reached number four on the Billboard Hot 100, climbed to number one on the R&B singles chart, and landed at number eleven on the Country singles chart in 1958. Justis's original charted in the United Kingdom in 1958, reaching number eleven and outperforming a version by Ken Mackintosh, which peaked at number twenty-three. Billy Vaughn also released a rendition in 1957, entering the competition around the same single-year window. In 1957, Red Sovine and Wayne Walker wrote lyrics to the instrumental, and under the title "The New Raunchy," country star Webb Pierce recorded it under the pseudonym "Shady Wall."

• 5. Justis Returns to It

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  Bill Justis recorded "Raunchy" again in 1962, this time in stereo and with a considerably different guitar arrangement, for his album Bill Justis Plays 12 More Big Instrumental Hits. Seven years later, in 1969, he recorded the tune a third time for his album Raunchy and Other Great Instrumentals. The song attracted a wide range of artists beyond Justis. Among those who recorded versions were the Ventures, Bill Black, Tom and Jerry, Al Caiola, Ace Cannon, Billy Strange, the Bill Smith Combo (also known as Tommy and the Tom Toms), Santo and Johnny, Glen Campbell, and the Incredible Bongo Band. The Jimmy Bowen Orchestra and Chorus issued their own version as the B-side to their 1967 single "It's Such a Pretty World Today." Justis's chart positions in Canada also deserve note: his original recording topped the CHUM Chart for three weeks.