29 thoughts on “Chuck Berry – Let It Rock”

  1. We didn't have a tribute post to the legend.

    I mean, he only was the greatest original rock & roller.

    A little rock & roll trivia:

    How many #1 hits did Chuck Berry have on Billboard Top 100 , and what were the titles? Bonus: Name the year each song charted.

    'Answer' SelectShow

  2. Saturday we were intentional about including Chuck Berry in our nursing home set. We sang #2 hit "Memphis Tennessee", #8 hit "Johnny B Goode", and #8 hit "Rock and Roll Music"

    And we intentionally didn't sing any of his #1 hits 😉

    1. "Memphis, Tennessee" is a genius bit of songwriting. (I love the "my uncle took the message and he wrote it on the wall" line.) The reveal in the last verse is a bit of a gut punch, particularly for the early Sixties.

  3. My Chuck Berry Top Four:

    Promised Land
    You Never Can Tell
    Brown Eyed Handsome Man
    Maybellene

    I remember the moment I realized 'Promised Land' was a revved up reconception of "The Wabash Cannonball," the steam engine's reciprocating chug of the folk tune replaced by the jet afterburner of the guitar licks and Chuck Berry's clipped twang. One of the many facets of Chuck Berry's genius was his ability to synthesize – in a way that nobody else did or could – the mass of American Blues, Country, Jazz, Western, and folk musical traditions and forge something new from them, a music simultaneously resonant with tradition and fiercely independent of it

    1. My Top 5 would probably be something like this

      Johnny B Goode (I will ALWAYS air guitar and tap my feet to that song. I look a little goofy when mowing greens and it pops up on my mp3 player)
      You Never Can Tell
      Roll Over Beethoven
      Memphis
      School Days

  5. We didn't have a tribute post to the legend.

    Perhaps because he had just been celebrated hereabouts.
    I wrote this at the time:

    When I was a child, my mom would go with her friends to see Neil Diamond every time he came through MN.
    I asked her if she ever went to any other concerts and she said no, only Neil.
    A few minutes later she corrected herself that she had gone to see Chuck Berry in college.
    It must have been around this time... I see "My Ding-a-Ling" (his only #1 single) was from 1972.

    Wowza... he hasn't released a new album since 1979, but he's got a new one coming this year.
    He just turned 90. (And he shares my birthday.) I hope it sounds good.

    This song: Same year, same shirt, but with an audience behind him instead of a blue screen.

    1. The previous clip was from "Beat Club", a German program.
      So I assume it was the same tour of [Britain and] Europe, and probably one or two rotations of laundry later.

    2. Another difference: purple pants here, red in Germany.
      Here's another clip from this show recorded for the BBC:

      1. Another clip from the set, he's really having fun with his hit novelty song. I wish I had time to watch it all (and these others).
        (Weakly NSFW gesture)

          1. Apologies for that. For some reason all I remembered was the answer, not the video in the spoiler.

            As for the warning, I've only gotten to that point of the vid before I went back to the others. See my comments about " I wish I had time..."

    3. How many Prince videos were played last year? (Prince was pretty damn good, and yes, he was a Minnesotan, and yes, he was an all-time great, but he still wasn't Chuck Berry.) When a living legend passes, you don't go "Gee, we just showed a video of theirs last month..."

      If one of the favorites kicks the bucket a month after a video of theirs is featured, my guess is we'd see the little flame trotted out.

      1. I think there's a bit of difference as the guy was also quite old (he was playing his hits from an earlier era when he played to my mother in her college days).
        Prince's death was shocking because of his age (and at least my expectations that he'd have another tilt or two at making albums that I cared deeply about).
        If Chuck Berry's passage hadn't followed his video here, my reaction would have been more "I didn't realize he had survived til this year".
        I don't mean that to be cruel, nor to minimize his impact on rock or the enjoyment his music has given me.

        1. Also, in fairness, March is a bit of a theme month. We had designs to give a more deserving memorial in the near future. You'll notice we haven't had a remembrance of Chuck Barris either.

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