Wow! I’m surprised at what little love one of the original paterfamilias of rock ‘n’ roll has gotten here on the site [shakes head].
OK, I did some idle thinking about Chuck Berry today and his importance to pop music. He is one of those rare musicians who stands out not only for his library of music, but also for the large numbers of others who copied and imitated him over the years. That would include his style of music and his style of guitar playing. Anyone from the 1960s onward who wanted to play rock guitar learned Chuck Berry songs first, before they learned anything else. It was simple and became essential to most everything that followed. If you couldn’t play Johnny B. Goode, you probably shouldn’t be playing guitar at all.
Earlier today (Saturday afternoon), I heard a local radio station do a 2-hour tribute to Chuck Berry. It included a large number of covers of his music by others. It’s safe to say that Chuck Berry may have been largely forgotten if not for the attention he got from the Beatles and the Rolling Stones early in their careers. By 1965-66, this created a widespread renewal of interest in Chuck Berry among young American musicians.
I took some notes while listening to the radio show, and it inspired me to look through my collection to see what else I could come up with.
Brown Eyed Handsome Man – Taj Mahal; Nina Simone; and others?
Maybelline – Elvis (!)
No Money Down – Duane Allman or Allman Brothers
Chuck’s Boogie – The Yardbirds (instrumental titled Jeff’s Boogie, as played by Jeff Beck)
Roll Over Beethoven – The Beatles
Too Much Monkey Business – The Youngbloods
Sweet Little 16 – Beatles; Beach Boys (Speaking of monkey business, the Beach Boys recorded ‘Surfing USA’ in 1963 with a melody & rhythm identical to Sweet Little 16 without attributing it to Chuck Berry. Under pressure, they later gave the copyright to Berry’s publisher.)
Rock & Roll Music – Beatles
Johnny B. Goode – The Grateful Dead; Johnny Winter; and probably many others.
There are 160 cover versions of JBG, done by most everyone from Conway Twitty to the Sex Pistols. The Grateful Dead have performed it 281 times in concert, and released their version on multiple live albums. It was featured in at least one movie, Back to the Future. This scene was revisited in Back to the Future Part II. (I sought help from the internet for these tidbits.)
Carol – Rolling Stones
Memphis – Sandy Bull
Lil’ Queenie – Jerry Lee Lewis;
Rolling Stones (missed it & I have that CD!)
Almost Grown – Loving Spoonful
Nadine – John Hammond
13 Question Method – Rye Cooder
You Can Never Tell – Emmy Lou Harris; Aaron Neville
It Wasn’t Me – George Thorogood & the Destroyers
Talking About You – Rolling Stones
Bye Bye Johnny – Rolling Stones
Promised Land – Grateful Dead
(One hopes the Promised Land is where Chuck Berry can now be found.)
Three songs I heard on this broadcast, Nadine, Too Much Monkey Business, and No Money Down had some very clever lyrics that I had once known and liked, but had forgotten – until today.
This is certainly not a comprehensive list, I hope others can add to it. I’m pretty certain Bruce Springsteen recorded Chuck Berry covers. Who else?