I met the legendary Chuck Berry three times in my rock ‘n’ roll life. All three occasions were at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco in the mid to late ‘60s after his performances with pick-up bands, which never were anywhere near the caliber of his studio band in Chicago.
But I didn’t care. It was worth experiencing his showmanship and reliving his Gibson guitar twang along with his incredible lyrics. I got to thank him in person for all the memories right after his shows when he scooted over to the bar to collect his payments. Chuck was a teenager’s dream but also an astute businessman. He didn’t go for too much monkey business:
“Workin’ in the fillin’ station, too many tasks
Wipe the windows, check the tires, check the oil, dollar gas
Uh-uh, too much monkey business, too much monkey business
I don’t want your botheration, go away, leave me be
Too much monkey business for me.”
No other songwriter could come up with a word like “botheration,” or for that matter, “motivatin:”
“Maybelline, why can’t you be true
Oh Maybelline, why can’t you be true
You’ve started back doin’ the things you used to do
As I was motivatin’ over the hill
I saw Maybelline in a Coup de Ville
A Cadillac a rollin’ on the open road
Nothin’ will outrun my V8 Ford
The Cadillac doin’ about ninety-five
Bumper to bumper, rollin’ side by side
Maybelline why can’t you be true
Oh Maybelline, why can’t you be true
You’ve started back doin’ the things you used to do.”
Maybelline was Chuck’s first hit in 1955. It was originally a country western tune called “Ida Red.” But you’d never know it, not after Chuck added his rhythm and blues guitar to the mix. Most of his fans thought he was white. Far from it:
“Way back in history three thousand years
In fact ever since the world began
There’s been a whole lot of good women sheddin’ tears
For a brown-eyed handsome man
It’s a lot of trouble was brown-eyed handsome man.”
Chuck even wrote a song about himself:
“Deep down in Louisiana close to New Orleans,
Way back up in the woods among the evergreens
There stood a log cabin made of earth and wood,
Where lived a country boy named Johnny B. Goode
Who never ever learned to read or write so well,
But he could play a guitar just like a ringin’ a bell.
Go, Go Johnny, go, go, go, Johnny B. Goode…
His mother told him, “Someday you will be a man,
And you will be the leader of a big ol’ band.
Many people coming from miles around
To hear you play your music when the sun go down.
Maybe someday your name will be in lights
Saying ‘Johnny B. Goode tonight’.”
Chuck Berry was the pioneer of rock ‘n’ roll. He influenced every band from the Rolling Stones to the Beatles, even the Beach Boys. Need proof?
“I’m gonna write a little letter,
gonna mail it to my local DJ
It’s a rockin’ rhythm record
I want my jockey to play
Roll Over Beethoven, I gotta hear it again today
You know, my temperature’s risin’
and the jukebox blows a fuse
My heart’s beatin’ rhythm
and my soul keeps on singin’ the blues
Roll over Beethoven and tell Tchaikovsky the news.”
Or: “Just let me hear some of that
Rock And Roll Music,
Any old way you choose it;
It’s got a back beat, you can’t lose it,
Any old time you use it.
It’s gotta be Rock And Roll Music,
If you want to dance with me,
If you want to dance with me.
I’ve got no kick against modern jazz,
Unless they try to play it too darn fast;
And change the beauty of the melody,
Until they sounded like a symphony,
That’s why I go for that
Rock And Roll Music…”
Elvis may have been the heartthrob of the ‘50s, but Chuck Berry was the master. No matter what part of the country you came from, it was easy to relate:
“They’re really rockin’ in Boston in Pittsburgh, Pa. Deep in the heart of Texas and round the ‘Frisco Bay,
all over St. Louis and down in New Orleans. All the cats wanna dance with Sweet Little Sixteen. Sweet Little Sixteen she’s just got to have about half a million famed autographs. Her wallet filled with pictures she gets them one by one. Becomes so excited watch her, look at her run. All the cats wanna dance with
Sweet Little Sixteen.”
Chuck Berry died at the age of 90 on March 18, 2017. I am thankful for seeing him perform his famous duck walk at the Fillmore, and watching him pick up his well-deserved pay. I told him he should get more. He really was Johnnie B. Goode.
By King Harris
