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What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.
What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.
Dancing without shoes was surprisingly common in American high schools in the post-war period. Dances called “sockhops” were often held in the gymnasium, where the soles of sensible shoes could damage the floor.
That aside, this line is open for much interpretation because it is apparently unrelated to historical events.
Perhaps he’s not primarily upset about the deaths of the greats like we all thought. He is furious because the object of his affections went to the sockhop with someone else. This may be the most significant, operative lyric in the whole song: he has been jilted and the rest of the song is a way of rationalizing why he is so down.
Instead, the song could be seen as progressing forward through time as it goes. We started with the beginning of rock and roll and are now a little further on Don is a high schooler, seeing his girl dance with someone else.
The line refers to Elvis dancing with Ann-Margret in the movie Viva Las Vegas, in the gym of the University. They were clearly in love with each other.
If you take the song in chronological order, and we’re at the stage of sock hops, then rock music is still written as music you can dance to. This contrasts with “we all got up to dance / but we never got the chance”, a few years on.
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I think the girl is America. America fell in love with a new, edgier, darker rock n roll and lost its love for the sweet boy next door rock of the 50s.
Like a lot of us experienced in high school, losing our girlfriend to an older more mature man, experienced in the ways of causing trouble, when you were just 15-16 still learning how to obtain alcohol, or roll a doobie. And he was 19 with lots of adult privileges you didn’t have and lots of older friends to buy his alcohol, and he got better weed and had his own car. And she didn’t really love you, she just thought you were “hot” until she realized she could attract older “hotter” MEN, instead of wasting her time eating ice cream with a nearly virgin BOY who has a curfew & no car…
Sorry, I got off track a little, but you get the point. Rock got edgier, and America loved it. Older 50s style rock began to appear quite “corny” or cheesy, in comparison to the edgier rock with rebellious satanic imagery and such.
It could also be referring to his peers being in love with rock and roll stars. Not necessarily one person but everybody. Especially if the artists themselves ever performed without shoes on.
Couldn’t agree more on that rhythmic blues thing.
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This section could be about a boy who is jilted by seeing his sweetheart with someone else. If so, it fits well with the overall feeling of the song. It is a memory that I’m sure everyone shares. In this era, going to a sock hop and seeing your ex or someone you want with someone else had to be a common occurrence; just as it is today.