If I hadn’t seen and heard it myself I might not have believed it.

Last Friday night, three guys who were there when rock ‘n’ roll was born came to wine country to show they can still get it done.

Three original members of Bill Haley’s Comets are still gigging around the world, entertaining those of us who remember how to “shake, rattle and roll” as well as those intent on seeing what early rock ‘n’ roll was all about.

They include 84-year-old drummer Dick Richards and a pair of “kids” — both 74 — saxophonist Joey Ambrose and bassist Marshall Lytle.

Bill Haley and the Comets broke onto the scene after renowned Cleveland deejay Alan Freed gave lots of airplay to the group’s first hit, “Rock This Joint,” which sold an unprecedented 75,000 copies.

Two years later, in 1954, Haley and the Comets signed with Decca Records and recorded the group’s mega-hit, “Rock Around the Clock.” The fact that it was used as title track for the film, “The Blackboard Jungle,” helped it achieve charttopping status.

Haley’s next record — a cover of Joe Turner’s “Shake, Rattle and Roll” — was a Top 10 hit, and was the first rock ‘n’ roll record to sell a million copies. The next really big hit came with “See You Later, Alligator,” which sold a million copies within a month.

With keyboardist David Byrd and guitarist Jackson Haney rounding out the quintet, Bill Haley’s Comets lit up the stage of Yountville’s Lincoln Theater just like they did at Atlantic City’s Steel Pier half a century ago.

Haley died in 1981 and was inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, the same year that the original members reunited. They’ve been performing for appreciative crowds ever since.

And last Friday night’s gig at Lincoln Theater was no exception. For more than an hour, Ambrose wailed on tenor sax (which gave those early rock ‘n’ roll combs a signature sound), in a style reminiscent another early rocker, Mike Pedicin, bolstered by Lytle’s excellent vocals (and corny jokes), Richards’ magnificent drums (he played more like 24 than 84), plus the on-the-road chops of Byrd and Haney.

In addition to the songs associated with Haley, the Comets offered hits from Louis Prima, Sam Cooke, Little Richard and Bobby Day, as well as revisiting some of their own hits of the ’50s and ’60s, such as “Dim, Dim the Lights” and “Rock A Beatin’ Boogie.”

“We’re gonna rock till we drop,” Lytle told the appreciative, albeit meager crowd. I’m sure everyone believed him.

The less said about the opening act — an Elvis impersonator named Chance Tinder — the better. For most of the night, he sang off key. Uuuuuugggghhhh!