Rebel-'Rouser

This article is about the rock instrumental. For the 1970 film, see The Rebel Rousers. For the musical group, see Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers.

"Rebel-'Rouser" is an instrumental song written by Duane Eddy and Lee Hazlewood and originally released on Jamie Records in 1958 by "Duane Eddy and his 'twangy' guitar" as a single (Jamie 1104) as the 'B' side with the song 'Stalkin' listed as the 'A' side. Both tracks were produced by Lester Sill and Lee Hazlewood. In an interview with Radio DJ 'Wild' Wayne from Connecticut, Duane said that when the song was released the record company was pushing "Stalkin' as the 'A' side despite Duane's preference for Rebel Rouser. Eddy went on to say that Dick Clark was at a local dance in Philadelphia there to play records for the kids to dance to. He didn't realize until he arrived at the dance that he only had a short stack of records to play. As a result in order to help fill in with the music, he was forced to start playing the 'B' sides of the records he had with him. He had already played the 'Stalkin' side of the Duane Eddy record so when he played the 'B' side 'Rebel Rouser' there was an immediate response by the teens there to keep playing it over and over again. From there, Dick started plugging 'Rebel Rouser' on his American Bandstand show from which it became a national hit.

"Rebel-'Rouser"
Single by Duane Eddy and His 'Twangy' Guitar
from the album Have 'Twangy' Guitar Will Travel
B-side	"Stalkin'"
Released	May 1958 (1958-05)
Recorded	March 1958 [1]
Studio	Audio Recorders (Phoenix)
Genre	Rockabilly country instrumental rock
Length	2:23
Label	Jamie
Songwriters	Duane Eddy Lee Hazlewood
Producers	Lester Sill Lee Hazlewood
Duane Eddy and His 'Twangy' Guitar singles chronology
"Moovin' N' Groovin" (1958) "Rebel-'Rouser" (1958) "Ramrod" (1958)

It was Eddy's third single as a solo artist, following the 1957 release of the single "Ramrod"/"Caravan" on the Ford record label (a release that was credited to "Duane Eddy and His Rock-A-Billies", although Al Casey (who wrote "Ramrod") actually played lead guitar on both tracks) and which was followed in 1958 by the release of the "Moovin' n' Groovin'"/"Up And Down" single on Jamie (Jamie 1101), which was also released as "Duane Eddy and his 'twangy' guitar". "Rebel-'Rouser" also appeared on Duane Eddy's debut album, Have 'Twangy' Guitar Will Travel.

The song was originally called "Rabble Rouser" by Duane Eddy when it was recorded at Clay Ramsey and his son Floyd's "Audio Recorders" recording studio in Phoenix, Arizona, but the song's title was later changed by Lee Hazlewood to "Rebel-'Rouser" and the song charted at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100.^[2] On Billboard's R&B Best Sellers chart, "Rebel-'Rouser" went to number 8.^[3] It also made number 8 in Canada.^[4]

Personnel

• Duane Eddy, electric lead guitar
• Buddy Wheeler, electric "click" bass
• Jimmy Simmons, acoustic bass
• Bob Taylor, drums
• Al Casey, piano
• Donnie Owens, Corki Casey O’Dell, rhythm guitars
• Gil Bernal, saxophone
• The Sharps, background vocals, rebel yells, handclaps
• Lester Sill, Lee Hazlewood, producers
• Jack Miller, recording engineer (Audio Recorders studio, Phoenix, Arizona)

Song in popular culture

• Featured in 1993 movie The Sandlot.
• Featured in the 1994 movie Forrest Gump and on the film's soundtrack.
• Heard in the 2010 video game Mafia II.
• Appears in 2018 video game Far Cry 5.