The song was released as the 18-year-old Carter's debut single (with "Back Home Blues" as the B-side) shortly after recording.

The track is considered by many sources to be the first rock and roll song,[1][2][3][4] and has been called a better candidate than the more commonly cited "Rocket 88", which was released two years later.

[1][2][5] The song features an over-driven electric guitar style similar to that of Chuck Berry years later.

The former New York Times pop critic, Robert Palmer,[6] made this comment about the recording in 1995:"The clarion guitar intro differs hardly at all from some of the intros Chuck Berry would unleash on his own records after 1955; the guitar solo crackles through an overdriven amplifier; and the boogie-based rhythm charges right along.

The subject matter, too, is appropriate -- the record announces that it's time to 'rock awhile,' and then proceeds to show how it's done.