Where Did the Term Rock 'n Roll Come From?

Rock 'n roll is such a staple in American life that most of the time we don't even give it a second thought. When somebody says something about rock 'n roll we think about the fifties and artists like Elvis who made rock 'n roll a household term, but where does the term "rock 'n roll" come from? What does the phrase rock 'n roll mean? Why do we call it rock and roll?

Some people claim that the phrase comes from sailors who used the phrase to describe the movement of a ship on the ocean. The rock is the fore and aft movement of the ship and the roll is the port and starboard movement. Others claim that the term rock and roll is used to explain movement of the sailors as they weighed the anchor. If the ship had been in port for awhile and the anchor was stuck into the silt really deep then the sailors would have to rock and roll the windlass in order to bring up the anchor. They would use a barrel shaped crank with holes in it into which you inserted a wooden dowel called a man-spike. The process was to tug really hard to get the crank to turn one or two notches and then lock. Then you would remove the dowel and reinsert it up where you started and repeat the process. This process over time would bring up the anchor inch by inch until it worked free of the silt or mud. The motion of the sailor as he employed this process could be described as "rocking and rolling" because he would rock his body weight in order to roll the windlass and crank up the anchor from the sea floor. An old sea shanty called "Rock and roll me over" by Johnny Boker that was sung by sailors doing precisely this task says "One more time, me Johnny, One more time. Oh rock and roll me over, Johnny, One more time" (Freeman).