If you want some real fun, check this out. Drummer starts in straight time but James Burton will have none of it swinging the 8ths from start to finish. During the instrumental, the drummer takes a 'can't beat 'em, join 'em' approach but when the vocal re-enters, tries to push it straight again — and JB is having none of that.

Susie Q — Dale Hawkins 1956

A lot of early rockabilly does this swing against straight.

In the mid-'60s, I heard The Golliwogs do the same song to a straight beat at a Rec Center dance where I first grew up. A few of my friends knew the original and were saying, That ain't right. as people do. Later, the record company made them change their name and they re-recorded it to some success—still with that rigid straight-8 feel.

Susie Q — CCR 1968


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