JOHHNY B. POLLED: chuck berry's great twenty-eight

It was inescapable in my youth listening to "Fox 97," at the time a 60s pop-rock oldies station - consider yourself lucky.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I don't like Chuck Berry because he bastardized the blues.

Just kidding. I would've gone for the disquieting "Let It Rock" if the metaphor didn't overwhelm the narrative, e.g. why on earth did they build a teepee right on the tracks? So I chose "Roll Over Beethoven" because you can really hear rock & roll animate the world. Or rather, one very vocal portion thereof.

'cause his uncle (what a great detail) took her message

Gawd yes! How redolent. With just one word, he gives the song a vivid socioeconomic setting.

I saw Chuck Berry play last month. He did a short version of Memphis, lasting only a minute or so.

Blonde hair, good lookin'
tryin' to get me hooked
want me to marry get a home settle down
- write a BOOK!

Beautiful Delilah
bathin' in the suuun
Audience of seventeen
and noticed not a one
Lo!cal Casanova
who wouldn't be outdonne
Let her steal his heart away
and break it just for fun!

Seriously, like 3/4 of these songs, after you get done listening to them, you go "Shit, I should've voted for THAT!"

none for Around and Around.... shame

I love the way he spits out "Twelve o CLOCK!" in the verse about the police busting in. Great drumming on that one, too.

none for Around and Around.... shame

yep and!

15. Carol 0
19. Little Queenie 0
22. Let It Rock 0

:(

"Memphis" is a fantastic song, even though his recording of it isn't terribly spectacular. So, not that one...

-- Myonga Vön Bontee, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 14:37 (2 days ago) Link

Explain, please. I love the recording -- slow, soft, steady blues, no Johnny B. guitar solos necessary. Also, Doctor Casino OTM.

― Jake Brown, Wednesday, August 6, 2008 8:17 PM

I've reevaluated, and you're right, I take it back! It was the cardboard-box drums that made the thing sound like a demo (plus a lingering fondness for Jan & Dean's cover, first version of the song I'd known). I've since come to love those drums for their own ramshackle sake.

(Is there a statute of limitations wrt replying to years-old direct questions that you completely missed first time around?)

No! This is the great thing about ILX.

Her home is on the south side,
High up on a ridge
Just a half a mile from the Mississippi Bridge....

Songs where it's fun to say HOOS in place of the actual lyrics

chuck playing 'johnny b. goode' on the mike douglas show with john and (on tambourine?) yoko. it's adorable how thrilled john looks to be there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYTqzcc-WNk&feature=related

awwwwwwwwwwwwwww that is pretty great for exactly that reason. Makes me think of that thing of how - and maybe this is just me misremembering Hail! Hail! Rock n Roll, but wasn't Chuck's cost-cutting touring practice, for ages and ages, to just pull into town and scoop up whatever local musicians were available, on the grounds that any musician with a pulse could play his entire catalogue by heart? There must be thousands of people out there who made an okay living playing whatever gigs and teaching guitar lessons and tending bar on the side, and whatever else happened in their life they can still tell the story that they backed up Chuck Berry once. Hard to imagine Lennon not thinking of it as a life highlight.

god damn though - dude STILL plays one show a month at that club in st. louis. Thirty-five dollars a head. Any ilxors ever gone? I'm starting to feel like I should coordinate some kind of big cross-country road trip soon just to say I saw the guy once.

holy shit I didn't know he gigged regularly like that in STL. I live pretty close by American standards, maybe I'll arrange a trip to see him. still shocks me that he's alive & all those other rockers afterward are long dead; same with Little Richard. like these giants are still in our midst & we care about such trivialities by comparison.

It's like when I was last in NY, I walked past a gig board that had "Les Paul, Live" and I was like "Wow, he still goin?", and yeah about 3 months later he died.

Not that long ago, I saw a LPaul live gig on SkyArts, a celeb guest version of what I would have seen, doubtless, and I enjoyed it but the kids would have, um, been refused entry actually. But yeah. or something.

Will Chuck someday become the first of the original rock n rollers to die of natural causes?

but wasn't Chuck's cost-cutting touring practice, for ages and ages, to just pull into town and scoop up whatever local musicians were available, on the grounds that any musician with a pulse could play his entire catalogue by heart?

iirc, all he says to his musicians is, "When I put my foot down, start. When I put it down again, stop."

chuck playing 'johnny b. goode' on the mike douglas show with john and (on tambourine?) yoko. it's adorable how thrilled john looks to be there.

― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Wednesday, October 17, 2012 6:59 PM (Yesterday)

I love ILM! That is a conga drum that Yoko's playing.

Will Chuck someday become the first of the original rock n rollers to die of natural causes?

― Faster than food (Myonga Vön Bontee), Thursday, October 18, 2012 9:42 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Bo Diddley beat him to it

no vote for school days! one of my fav tracks

Turned 85 today.

Saw him twice. The first time was in Rhode Island, at a free concert in the parking lot of a shopping mall. Saw him get off a helicopter and meet the band right before hitting the stage. Also stopped the show for a few minutes because he spotted a video camera in the crowd. "Chuck Berry will play no until that camera is gone."

I've got him down as turning 86. Showed this to the class today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDV_GDuJaUQ

no vote for school days! one of my fav tracks

― flopson, Thursday, 18 October 2012

one of mine too "RING ring goes the bell" "DROP the coin right into the slot" "HAIL hail rock n roll"! it's probably hurt by its similarity to "no particular place to go" which is a great song and has an evocation of cars & girls & aimlessness youth culture which probably feels more authentic than the high school and juke spot one. i might be the vote for "almost grown" if i was here then, which is also along the latter lines. "memphis" is a fine song and performance but its winning puts me vaguely mind of noz and tim f. musings about innovation "transcending" a genre being prized above innovation within a genre or something

still shocks me that he's alive & all those other rockers afterward are long dead; same with Little Richard. like these giants are still in our midst & we care about such trivialities by comparison.

this amazes me every time i think about it. jerry lee lewis too!

i've always wanted to see him live too -- i mean, i have a hard time imagining little richard can put on anything resembling his old act anymore, but chuck can probably still kick anyone's ass when he feels like it.

FWIW, I am a huge fan of working within a genre and if I voted for "Memphis" it was just because it really gets me sometimes and I think it's just a fantastic performance. I would just as happily vote for "Nadine" (which I may have in fact done?) for being the apex of Chuck-as-Chuck, the propulsive, inventive, urgent rock-and-roll storyteller.

FWIW, I am a huge fan of working within a genre and if I voted for "Memphis" it was just because it really gets me sometimes and I think it's just a fantastic performance

yeah obv i accept this totally

I've got him down as turning 86.
I stand corrected.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTnoSsaeOn0

That's awesome! What a showman. Love the naughtier work-through of the lyrics. And the Coca-Cola bit is something else.

I've almost always confined myself to Chuck's "classic period," but I gotta say I'm really digging this comp of the 1969-1974 material on Spotify. Loose and often silly; he sounds like he's having fun which carries Chuck a long way with me even when the songwriting's not writ in lightning. "My Ding-A-Ling" sorta tests the limits of that, but it's generally very good listening.

"Tulane" rules.

Top 10:

1. "Come On"
2. "Almost Grown"
3. "Promised Land"
4. "Johnny B. Goode"
5. "Brown Eyed Handsome Man"
6. "No Particular Place to Go"
7. "Maybellene"
8. "Too Much Monkey Business"
9. "Sweet Little Sixteen"
10. "Reelin' and Rockin'"

Love this thread.

A possible way of broadening the conversation: while I grew up with The Great Twenty-Eight and would without question put it forward as THE collection for anybody remotely curious about Chuck Berry and his place in history, for the last many years what I actually have in my collection is its predecessor, the three-volume, six-disc The Golden Decade, put out by Chess in '67, '73, and '74. The first, heavy with hits, overlaps a lot with TG28, while the latter two start loading up on b-sides and lesser-known cuts, and paint a much more complete picture of his work, in particular his allegiance to the blues and to guitar instrumentals. Admittedly, they're a lot to take in, there are some duds, and there's something to be said for the chronological organization of TG28. And of course, the restriction to 1955-64 cuts out a lot of stuff, including "I Wanna Be Your Driver" (an album track from 1965's Chuck Berry In London)... though conveniently "My Ding-A-Ling" is doomed in the process. I'd pick TG28 for the car and any musically curious kids, but all three of these together for an afternoon of dedicated Chuck listening.

Anyway, I just figured I'd post the tracklist here (with TG28 tracks in bold) and see if people have thoughts about any of the other songs! Dates and source information started from Wikipedia, but relied heavily on Dietmar Rudolph's great discography site - Wiki uses this as a source but several times scrambles the A- and B-sides. Most if not all of the A-sides also appeared on LPs at the time, but I only bothered noting album source for non-single tracks. Interestingly, even all these discs together don't give you a complete slate of his sides from this period as there are plenty of missing B-sides. But man, what an output.

Chuck Berry's Golden Decade

Maybellene 1955
Deep Feeling 1957 (b-side to "School Day")
Johnny B. Goode 1958
Wee Wee Hours 1955 (b-side to "Maybellene")
Nadine 1964
Brown-Eyed Handsome Man 1956 (b-side to "Too Much Monkey Business")
Roll Over Beethoven 1956
Thirty Days 1955
Havana Moon 1956 (b-side to "You Can't Catch Me")
No Particular Place To Go 1964
Memphis 1959
Almost Grown 1959
School Day 1957
Too Much Monkey Business 1956
Oh, Baby Doll 1957
Reelin' and Rockin' 1958 (b-side to "Sweet Little Sixteen")
You Can't Catch Me 1956
Too Pooped to Pop 1960 (b-side to "Let It Rock")
Bye Bye Johnny 1960
Around and Around 1958 (b-side to "Johnny B. Goode")
Sweet Little Sixteen 1958
Rock and Roll Music 1957
Anthony Boy 1959
Back In the U.S.A. 1959

Chuck Berry's Golden Decade Volume 2

Carol 1958
You Never Can Tell 1964
No Money Down 1955
Together We Will Always Be 1955 (b-side to "Thirty Days")
Mad Lad (Davis) 1960 (b-side to "I Got To Find My Baby")
Run Rudolph Run 1958 (Marks, Brodie) (b-side to "MerrY Christmas Baby")
Let It Rock 1960
Sweet Little Rock and Roller 1958
It Don't Take But A Few Minutes 1958 (from One Dozen Berries)
I'm Talking About You 1961
Driftin' Blues" (Brown, Moore, Williams) 1960 (from Rockin' at the Hops)
Go Go Go 1961 (b-side to Come On)
Jaguar and the Thunderbird 1960
Little Queenie 1959
Betty Jean 1960 (from Rockin' at the Hops)
Guitar Boogie 1958 (from One Dozen Berrys)
Down the Road Apiece (Raye) 1960 (from Rockin' at the Hops)
Merry Christmas Baby (Baxter, Moore) 1958
The Promised Land 1964
Jo Jo Gunne 1958 (b-side to "Sweet Little Rock and Roller")
Don't You Lie to Me 1961 (from New Juke Box Hits)
Rockin' at the Philharmonic 1958 (from One Dozen Berrys)
La Juanda (Espanola) 1957 (b-side to "Oh Baby Doll")
Come On 1961

Chuck Berry's Golden Decade Volume 3

Beautiful Delilah 1958
Go Bobby Soxer 1964 (b-side to "Little Marie")
I Got to Find My Baby 1960
Worried Life Blues (Big Maceo Merriweather) 1960 (b-side to "Bye Bye Johnny")
Rolli Polli aka Roly Poly 1957 (from After School Session)
Downbound Train 1955 (b-side to "No Money Down")
Broken Arrow (E. Anderson) 1959
Confessin' the Blues (Walter Brown, Jay McShann) 1960 (from Rockin' at the Hops)
Drifting Heart 1956 (b-side to "Roll Over Beethoven")
In-Go (author unknown) 1958 (from One Dozen Berrys)
Man and the Donkey 1961 (prev. with fake crowd noise on Chuck Berry on Stage)
St. Louis Blues (W.C. Handy) 1965
Our Little Rendezvous 1960 (b-side to "Jaguar and Thunderbird")
Childhood Sweetheart 1959 (b-side to "Broken Arrow")
Blues for Hawaiians 1958 (from Chuck Berry Is On Top)
Hey Pedro 1958 (b-side to "Carol")
My Little Love Light 1965 (from Chuck Berry In London)
Little Marie 1964
County Line 1959 (prev. unpublished)
Viva Viva Rock And Roll 1966 (chronology cheat!)
House of Blue Lights 1958 (Don Raye, Freddie Slack) (prev. unpublished)
Time Was 1958 (prev. unpublished)
Blue on Blue 1959 (prev. unpublished)
Oh Yeah 1958 (prev. unpublished)

...and, to start the ball rolling, a few must-hears off the top of my head:

You Never Can Tell - I mean, duh.

Wee Wee Hours - from his very first session (along with "Maybellene," "Thirty Days" and "Together We Will Always Be" - damn, what an afternoon!) and a good glimpse of the sort of blues he arrived from.

No Money Down - interesting variant on his automobile material, here a catalogue of desired car features rendered as a stop-time blues in the vein of "I'm Your Hoochie Koochie Man" (put out by Chess in January 1954) and "I'm A Man" (ditto, April 1955). Chuck's recording was in December 1955.

Bye Bye Johnny, Little Marie - sequel songs to "Johnny B. Goode" and "Memphis" respectively.

Broken Arrow - departure from his usual subject matter and with a much more laid-back rhythm and backing vocals - feels kinda lo-fi compared to most of his stuff from this period to be honest but that makes it interesting imo

Downbound Train - great little "vision of hell" narrative.

Down the Road Apiece, Jaguar and the Thunderbird, Jo Jo Gunne, Our Little Rendezvous, Go Bobby Soxer, St. Louis Blues - pretty good numbers in the vein of Chuck's main line. The last, as Handy's name might suggest, is a blues standard dating back to 1914 but here made over with Chuck's most familiar guitar stylings and, typical of Chuck Berry In London, a slightly rougher, louder rhythm section. I don't think any of these are quite the equal of the Great Twenty-Eight, but who knows - maybe if they'd been on there and I'd grown up with them they'd be just as obviously classic.

Oh, and fair warning: most of the "Latin" numbers feature Chuck trying on some sort of usually cringe-inducing accent. :-/

My #1 above, "Come On," is brilliant. Whenever I play it for students, they love the line "I wish somebody'd come along and run into it and wreck it." I've got the three Golden Decades too--got Vol. 2 as a cutout somewhere, one of my greatest finds ever.

Would love to hear more about students reacting to Chuck! The "run into it and wreck it" line is fantastic, though it's "some stupid jerk tryin' to REACH ANOTHER NUMBER" that always comes to mind for me.

Another obscurity from GD III: "Viva Viva Rock and Roll," which isn't a great composition but is nonetheless cute, as the lyric tries to cram in as many Chuck Berry song titles as possible ("Sweet little sixteen, you will soon turn twenty-one; no more reelin' and a rockin', your school days will soon be done," et cetera).

I love the stupid jerk line too. What's so amazing about "I wish somebody'd come along and run into it and wreck it" is how he makes such a wordy line rhythmic.

I don't know Vol. 3 at all--played it once and shelved it. I'm sure there are good songs in there worth salvaging.

I've been working through it today - it's good listening but less of a "great songs" kind of deal. If they'd known they were going to eventually do six discs maybe they'd have spread the hits around more evenly - as it is, it feels like two packages of mostly hits, with some oddities and b-sides, and then one that's overwhelmingly the latter. Feels suddenly more "box-set-like" if you know what I mean.

This has been my go-to Chuck song these days — absolutely cooks. Those drums!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQ2Z1oG1EEs

Wow, that's good. Man, if they were gonna put "I Wanna Be Your Driver" on these comps they could have slotted that in. Maybe I need to pick up Chuck Berry In London ... between that and his "St. Louis Blues" it sounds like a pretty hot session.

Recently discovered the Rolling Stones' "Come On" - their debut single! - and boyyyyyy is it lame. Kind of a skiffley/Merseybeat kinda version I guess, but it just makes the whole thing way too chill and pleasant-feeling. Also they change it to "some stupid GUY" which is really distracting (especially since they sing that part twice). In general I'd trust these guys to do some roaring covers but I'll take the Beatles' "Roll Over Beethoven" any day.

They did also do "Bye Bye Johnny," and it's got a little more grit and noise to it.

but I'll take the Beatles' "Roll Over Beethoven" any day.

Ditto. It took the Stones a while to do a decent Chuck cover...and it took the Beatles a while, too, but they'd been hammering away at Chuck's songs for years before they recorded any (and before the Stones even formed).