"Flip, Flop and Fly" is a jump blues

Jump blues

Jump blues is an up-tempo blues usually played by small groups and featuring horns. It was very popular in the 1940s, and the movement was a precursor to the arrival of rhythm and blues and rock and roll...

-style song recorded by Big Joe Turner

Big Joe Turner

Big Joe Turner was an American blues shouter from Kansas City, Missouri. According to the songwriter Doc Pomus, "Rock and roll would have never happened without him." Although he came to his greatest fame in the 1950s with his pioneering rock and roll recordings, particularly "Shake, Rattle and...

 in 1955. Called a "prototypical rocker", the song was a hit reaching number two in Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

magazine's R&B chart. "Flip, Flop and Fly" has been recorded by a variety of artists, including early rock and roll performers such as Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley

Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....

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Original song

"Flip, Flop and Fly" has an arrangement similar to Big Joe Turner's 1954 number one R&B hit "Shake, Rattle and Roll

Shake, Rattle and Roll

"Shake, Rattle and Roll" is a prototypical twelve bar blues-form rock and roll song, written in 1954 by Jesse Stone under his assumed songwriting name Charles E. Calhoun. It was originally recorded by Big Joe Turner, and most successfully by Bill Haley & His Comets...

" and it has been suggested that "leftover verses [from the 'Shake, Rattle and Roll' recording session] were then recycled into Turner's follow-up hit, 'Flip, Flop and Fly'". Both are up-tempo twelve-bar blues with a strong backbeat. Accompanying Turner (vocals) are the song's writer Jesse Stone

Jesse Stone

Jesse Stone was an American rhythm and blues musician and songwriter whose influence spanned a wide range of genres...

 (piano), Al Sears

Al Sears

Al Sears was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and bandleader.Sears's first major gig came in 1928 when he replaced Johnny Hodges in Chick Webb's ensemble. Following this he played with Elmer Snowden , then led his own groups between 1933 and 1941...

 (tenor sax), Connie Kay

Connie Kay

Connie Kay was an American jazz drummer.Kay was a member of the Modern Jazz Quartet from 1955 until the group's dissolution in 1974...

 (drums), and unidentified trumpet, alto sax, baritone sax, guitar and bass. Turner subsequently recorded several live versions of the song.

Elvis Presley versions

Elvis Presley performed "Flip, Flop and Fly" during his first television appearance on January 28, 1956. It was included with a medley of "Shake, Rattle and Roll" and "I Got a Woman

I Got a Woman

"I Got a Woman" is a song co-written and recorded by American R&B/soul musician Ray Charles and released as a single in December 1954 on the Atlantic label as Atlantic 45-1050 b/w "Come Back Baby." Both sides later appeared on his 1957 album Ray Charles .-Origin:The song builds on...

" and released on his posthumous compilation album A Golden Celebration. A live version from 1974 was included on Elvis: As Recorded Live on Stage in Memphis

Elvis: As Recorded Live on Stage in Memphis

Elvis: As Recorded Live on Stage in Memphis is an album of recordings by Elvis Presley released by RCA Records in 1974 and recorded on March 20, 1974, in front of a live audience at the Midsouth Coliseum in Memphis, Tennessee, Presley's hometown. Elvis' home, Graceland, is pictured on the cover...

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Other versions

Several artists have recorded their versions of "Flip, Flop and Fly", including Johnnie Ray

Johnnie Ray

Johnnie Ray was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Popular for most of the 1950s, Ray has been cited by critics as a major precursor of what would become rock and roll, for his jazz and blues-influenced music and his animated stage personality.-Early life:John Alvin Ray was born in...

 (1955), Bill Haley and His Comets from the album Rock Around the Clock

Rock Around the Clock (album)

Rock Around the Clock was the third album of rock and roll music by Bill Haley and His Comets. Released by Decca Records in December 1955 it was, like the two albums that preceded it, a compilation album of previously issued singles. Most of album's contents were in fact previously issued by Decca...

(1956), Downchild Blues Band

Downchild Blues Band

The Downchild Blues Band is a Canadian blues band, described by one reviewer as "the premier blues band in Canada". The band is still commonly known as the Downchild Blues Band, though the actual band name was shortened to "Downchild" as of the early 1980s....

 (1973), and the Blues Brothers from Briefcase Full of Blues

Briefcase Full of Blues

-External links:* *...

(1978).