Chuck Berry

One of my favourite movies is American Graffiti, and one of my favourite scenes is the one where they smother some guy's car in shaving cream, while the ever-present radio plays Johnny B. Goode. Only a Chuck Berry song would do in that scene…

I’ve never been to a Chuck Berry concert, but I’ve seen TV clips of his live performances, and it strikes me that he always has contempt written all over him. It’s like he despises what he does, and he despises the audience. It’s quite bizarre.

I got an album with 10 songs, it was simply called Greatest Hits, and it was a Quality Records release, the same series as the Chordettes one, but later I found The Chess Box.

I think it may have been the first box set I ever saw. That was in the mid-80s and it was at Records On Wheels. And it was vinyl, which they still sold back then.

Box sets tend to be hit and miss affairs, but the Chess box sets, the ones I’ve seen, are extraordinary. This one covers everything you want by Chuck Berry during his tenure at Chess Records, which lasted from 1955 until 1966, then for a few years in the 70’s. He spent the interim years at Mercury, and so there is a gap here, and it’s too bad, but not fatal I guess. The songs are presented in the order in which they were recorded, not released, so, for example, Promised Land shows up before No Particular Place To Go.

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Chuck Berry:

• Maybelline – One of the greatest rock and roll songs ever. This song qualifies as the first true rock and roll song as much as anything Elvis did. This is supposedly based on a country song called Ida Red, but it doesn’t sound country at all, and only slightly R&B, and I think that it’s totally unprecedented. It’s the story of a car chase, whose chorus (Maybelline why can’t you be true) has nothing to do with the verses (as I was motorvatin’ over the hill…). And so, it was a hit for Johnny Rivers in 1964, his follow-up to Memphis, and it was covered by Foghat, and by the Du-Cats, and by dozens more. It was a top 10 hit for Chuck, his first hit, and that was in the fall of 1955. “Rainwater washin’ all under my hood, I knew that was doin’ my motor good…”
• Wee Wee Hours – A song of lost love, the flip of Maybelline, a slow blues
• Thirty Days – Chuck conspires to get his true love incarcerated, so as to get her home in 30 days. Ronnie Hawkins covered it as Forty Days. It is basically Maybelline redux.
• You Can’t Catch Me – A car song. The rolling Stones covered this on one of their early albums. Has the famous lines “here come old flat top” that John Lennon copped for Come Together
• No Money Down – Chuck buys a Cadillac. He goes through all the specs, down to the insurance deductible…
• Downbound Train – Not so different from Mystery Train. Savoy Brown copped this years later for Hellbound Train.
• Brown Eyed Handsome Man – More great rock and roll. Buddy Holly’s version of this was in the UK top 20 in 1963. Dave Marsh posits that “eyed” should really be “skinned” and I can’t argue. In fact, there’s no other explanation. Otherwise, I qualify…
• Drifting Heart – This one is kind of slow and Latino, with lots of piano.
• Roll Over Beethoven – THE great rock and roll anthem. Chuck’s version, amazingly, only made it to number 26, and that was in the summer of ’56. The Beatles covered this on their second album, and the best cover was by Electric Light Orchestra, on *their* second album. The Beatles’ version, though, as it appeared on The Beatles’ Second Album, was the first rock song I ever listened to on our home player. I was 7.
• Too Much Monkey Business – Vintage Chuck Berry, and maybe the best protest song to come out of the 50s. It wasn’t a hit for Chuck nor for anyone else, but there are so many versions of this: The Beatles, The Hollies, The Yardbirds, The Youngbloods, to begin with. Elvis did a criminally underrated version in the late 60s.
• Havana Moon – He sings this is a kind of fake Caribbean patois. This is reputed to have been the inspiration for Louie Louie, or maybe Louie Louie inspired this, a tale of a guy waiting for the boat carrying his girl, and who falls asleep (after partaking of quite a bit of rum), misses the boat, and she sails away. Carlos Santana covered this on the Havana Moon album, in 1982.
• School Day (Ring Ring Goes The Bell) – Another well known Chuck Berry classic. This was actually a top 10 hit in the spring of ’57. Jan & Dean covered this, and so did The Beach Boys. “The guy behind you won’t leave you alone.” Chuck was in his late 20s when he did this song about what a pain in the ass school was, probably the best song ever written about the subject. And as much as I like The Beach Boys, this stomps all over Be True To Your School.
• Rock & Roll Music – Another rock and roll tribute to rock and roll. A hit late in 1957. The Beatles covered this on Beatles ’65, John Lennon giving a powerhouse performance, and The Beach Boys put it back on the charts in 1976.
• Oh Baby Doll – This was actually a small hit in the summer of ’57. The Pretty Things covered this.
• I’ve Changed – So have I.
• Reelin’ And Rockin’ – The original. Chuck put a live version on the chart in 1973. This was a hit for The Dave Clark Five in 1965. Gerry & The Pacemakers covered it as well. Another tribute to rock and roll.
• Rockin’ At The Philharmonic – A rather extended instrumental.
• Sweet Little Sixteen – Probably the best tribute the teenage girl ever written. This has no more to do with reality than Boyd Bennett’s Seventeen, but that matters not at all. This is another perennial. Bobby Vee covered it, and so did Ten Years After, and so did The Beatles, and so did The Silicon Teens. The Beach Boys rewrote it and called it Surfin’ USA. It reached number 2 in the winter of 1958.
• Johnny B Goode – If rock and roll has a signature song this is it. The story of a “country” boy who makes good, plays guitar like ringin’ a bell (now who could that be?). This was from the spring of ’58 and only ever made it to number 8, which, considering its stature as an unmitigated classic, is surprising. So many versions, where to start: The Beatles, Freddie & The Dreamers, The Beach Boys, Jimi Hendrix, John Denver, Johnny Winter.
• Time Was – Not the Canned Heat song.
• Around And Around – Another song about dancing and partying. The Rolling Stones covered this and so did The Animals.
• Beautiful Delilah – Not to be confused with Delilah Jones by The McGuire Sisters, nor with Delilah by Tom Jones. Needless to say, I’ve never known a Delilah. The Kinks covered this on their first album. From the summer of ’58.
• The House Of Blue Lights – This is Chuck Miller’s song. Crowbar covered it in 1971.
• Carol – From the fall of 1958. There was a Carol at my last job place, no one special. Tommy Roe had a small hit with this, and the Stones covered it.
• Memphis – Another biggie, though Chuck did not put it on the charts. He does an understated version of this, and The Beatles recorded a similar arrangement; it appears on their BBC Sessions. Lonnie Mack was the first to put this on the chart; he did an instrumental version that seemed to be based more on the chord structure than the melody. Then Johnny Rivers put it out as his debut, and his version, which put words to Lonnie Mack’s idea, sizzled. And check out The Faces’ version. It is sometimes titled Memphis, Tennessee, and unlike the songs about school and dancing and rocking and rolling that was Chuck’s usual forte, this had a serious subtext going on, where we are hearing about a 6 year old child left to navigate the aftermath of marital separation.
• Anthony Boy – I knew an Anthony once, he was English so his name was pronounced “Antony.” A hit in the winter of ’59.
• Jo Jo Gunn – From the autumn of ’58. A group called Jo Jo Gunn named itself after this song. The flip of Sweet Little Rock And Roller.
• Sweet Little Rock And Roller – I knew this from a Gary Lewis & The Playboys album that we had when I was small. From the fall of ’58, this is vaguely a Christmas song.
• Merry Christmas Baby – A blues by Charles Brown, from late ’58. Elvis recorded this, years later.
• Run Rudoph Run – Here is Christmas music in the true Chuck Berry style. This was the flip side of Merry Christmas Baby, and it placed 2 positions higher (69).
• Little Queenie – Queenie was Brian Epstein’s mother’s name. But that’s not who this song is about; chronologically that wouldn’t make sense anyway. This was a small hit in the spring of ’59, and it was the b side of Almost Grown. The Stones covered it on the Get Your Ya Yas Out album, recorded at Madison Square Garden in 1969.
• Almost Grown – When do you become grown. This was on American Graffiti, and it was a hit in the spring of 1959.
• Back In The U.S.A. – From the summer of ’59. Linda Ronstadt covered this.
• Let It Rock – From winter 1960, the b side of Too Pooped To Pop.
• Betty Jean – Never knew a Betty Jean.
• Childhood Sweetheart – A song about a dream, a night time dream.
• Too Pooped To Pop – The man is too old, too old to stroll says Chuck, the clear message being that rock n roll is for the young only. I don’t know if I like that…. This was a hit in the winter of 1960.
• Bye Bye Johnny – The sequel to Johnny B Goode, in which Johnny goes to Hollywood. The song rocks like nobody's business.
• Jaguar And Thunderbird – Maybelline redux, without the girl, just the car…
• Down The Road Apiece – A song about a cool place to hang out, not sure if it’s a café, a bar, a disco, or a whorehouse. Kind of like Down At Lulu’s, or Sugar Shack. The Stones covered this.
• Confessin’ The Blues – Notwithstanding the title, this isn’t a blues.
• Thirteen Question Method – This may be one of the strangest songs Chuck ever did, although ultimately it’s nothing more than a step-by-step guide to courting. No relation to Thirteen Question by Seatrain, not that I can tell anyway.
• Crying Steel – An instrumental.
• I’m Just A Lucky So And So – A cover, this was also done by Ella Fitzgerald, and by Mose Allison. As I walk down the street…
• I’m Talking About You – Another cover. Lot of people did this: Ricky Nelson, The Stones etc.
• Come On – The Stones covered this and it was their first single. But they changed “some stupid jerk” to “some stupid guy.” The Chocolate Watch Band also covered it.
• Nadine (Is It You) – This is the song that put Chuck Berry back into the charts after he got out of jail. The fact that both The Beatles and the Stones were recording his songs didn’t hurt him. This is kind of a slower version of Maybelline, was a hit in the spring of ’64. And I do know a Nadine. Went to school with someone I live with, and they are still friends.
• Crazy Arms – A cover of a Ray Price song.
• You Never Can Tell – I never hear this song now without thinking about Pulp Fiction. The story of a young married couple, it was a hit in the fall of ’64. John Prine covered this.
• The Things I Used To Do – Reminiscing about an unfortunate relationship.
• Promised Land – It’s California. This is from early 1965. It was covered by James Taylor, and by Elvis Presley.
• No Particular Place To Go – The story of a disastrous date. This was a top 10 hit in the summer of 1964.
• Liverpool Drive – An instrumental tribute to the Liverpool groups (The Beatles, The Swinging Blue Jeans, Gerry & The Pacemakers etc) that put Chuck Berry’s name back in the public eye.
• You Two – A foursome go for a picnic, as far as I can tell…
• Chuck’s Beat – An instrumental, with Bo Diddley. It’s really more like Bo’s beat…
• Little Marie – The Sequel to Memphis. This was on the chart in the fall of ’64, I guess in response to Johnny Rivers’ success with Memphis. Little Marie here is the little girl daughter that was trying to reach poor Chuck in the other song, and here it seems that there is some attempt to reunite Mom and Dad.
• Dear Dad – I need a new car, sings Chuck. A small hit in the spring of ’65. The last song he was to put on the chart until My Ding-A-Ling in 1972.
• Sad Day, Long Night – A bluesy instrumental, complete with harmonica, unusual on a Chuck Berry record.
• It’s My Own Business – Chuck whines about people who won’t leave him alone, kind of similar to about 15 dozen songs that Van Morrison’s done.
• It Wasn’t Me – Yet another Johnny B Goode rewrite. It must have been some other body, sings Chuck, it wasn’t me…
• Ramona Say Yes – All in favour of Ramona’s Monkey say yes… I may have had a client once named Ramona. But then perhaps not.
• Viva Viva Rock ‘N’ Roll – Chuck didn’t quit, even long after it seemed that his time was done.
• Tulane II – Yet another Johnny B Goode rewrite. This one even has a character named Johnny, in addition to Tulane, the heroine. That’s a strange name, Tulane.
• Have Mercy Judge – I guess this hit pretty close to home.
• My Dream – Chuck describes his dream home, in a spoken narrative type song.
• My Ding-A-Ling – Juvenile in the extreme. This was Chuck’s big comeback. It came from The London Chuck Berry Sessions, and was the first, and only, number one that Chuck ever had. That was in the fall of ’72. They edited it down for the single, and that’s the version that showed up on the Chess Box. I remember hearing this on the radio, a lot.
• Reelin’ And Rockin’ (live) – This is also from The London Chuck Berry Sessions. It’s an expanded version of the original. As his follow up to My Ding-A-Ling, it was edited from the album (the box has the full length version) and it was his last hit ever, reaching number 27 on Billboard in early 1973.
• Johnny B. Goode (live) – A smoking live rendition from the same sessions. It actually starts with Bye Bye Johnny and morphs into Johnny B. Goode on the second verse.
• A Deuce – Chuck does a drug song.
• Woodpecker – Kind of take on the Woody Woodpecker theme, but not enough to get him sued.
• Bio – Just what is says, Chuck Berry sings his autobiography.