The 10 Greatest Chuck Berry Songs Chuck Berry Never Wrote
Published May 10, 2005
7) Eddie Clearwater - "Hillbilly Blues"
Another 45 and another bluesman gone on the sound of Berry chucked riffs and rhythms. This one is on the small "Atomic" label out of Chicago and is the label that Eddie "The Chief" Clearwater started cutting music on at the onset of his career back in the late 1950's. Very few black bluesmen have acknowledged the influence of Chuck the way that Eddie has. Eddie incorporated not only Chuck's guitar style and songs into his repertoire but also the "Duck Walk" Chuck was so famous for (and that he stole from Carl Hogan, Louis Jordan's guitarist). "Hillbilly Blues" is a jumping C & W inflected rocker a la "Thirty Days" & "Maybelline."
If you're so inclined Eddie did an ass rocking CD not long ago with Nashville nuts "Los Straitjackets" you may just want to pick up. He and Straitjackets guitarist Jerry Angel unleash a barrage of Berry licks on several tracks that'll have you up and jumping in no time flat.
8) Dave Edmunds/Nick Lowe - "I Knew The Bride"
Both Edmunds and Lowe have recorded this LP's of their own and it was a staple of their collaborative band "Rockpile" in their live shows. This a bouncy catchy pop type tune and it is not unlike a sped up take on Chuck's "You Never Can Tell" (used in the twist contest scene in "Pulp Fiction." The Louisiana Swamp Pop king Johnny Allan even did a great Cajun styled take on this that surpasses even Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe's respective takes of this tune.
9) Bo Diddley - "Hey Good Lookin'"
Chuck wrote this one for Bo and it is the title of Bo's 1965 LP of the same name on Checker Records. Since Chuck wrote this one, I'm stretching the concept a bit here I'll admit. It's just such a great song though and since these guys have been friendly competitors for years I've always found it odd that Chuck would've given this up. It's a rocker and it's just as good as the best of Chuck's early 60's sides such as "Nadine, It Wasn't Me, No Particular Place To Go," etc. This one is not easy to find. It's on a couple of out of print CD collections and the LP can be found but it'll lighten your wallet anywhere from $50-75 approximately, at most used record stores.Should you be lucky enough to find it in the first place that is.
10) Johnny Thunders - "Too Much Junkie Business"
Bo D. and Chuck become entangled once again."TMJB" is a thinly veiled revamp of the main riff to "Pills" a Bo Diddley tune covered on the 1st N.Y. Dolls album. The title of this tune is, of course, a play on words of Chuck's "Too Much Monkey Business" and is full of Johnny Thunders crash and burn Chuck Berry on Meth riffage. It's an extremely hi-energy tune that's got Johnny and Walter Lure on a serious Berry bender, bouncing sloppy assed Berry cum Keith Richards meets Wayne Kramer licks all over the place.With Johnny doing this tune and his being a disciple of Keith's and of Chuck's, this is a case of the 3rd generation chickens coming home to roost.
- The 10 Greatest Chuck Berry Songs Chuck Berry Never Wrote
- Published: May 10, 2005
- Type: Opinion
- Section: Music
- Filed Under: Music: Blues, Music: Country and Americana, Music: Rock, Music: Roots Rock
- Writer: HW Saxton
- HW Saxton's BC Writer page
- HW Saxton's personal site
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Comments on this articleComments
What, no Beach Boys?
Crooked Spine,Thanx fer reading this man
it's much appreciated. Honestly, I had
both "Surfin' U.S.A." & "Fun, Fun, Fun"
both down on the list but nixed 'em in
the final re-write of this."Surfin USA"
is a rewrite of "Sweet Little Sixteen"
of course and the whole concept of the
good looking babe in a hot rod driving
(pun intended)the boys crazy seems to
be at the least,inspired by Chuck Berry.
I had several more songs that were to be
included on the list here but since many
were by artists already noted I've filed
them for inclusion on a part two of the
above list.Have you got any suggestions?
Again, Thanks for reading this.
for
Much of Chuck Berry's '50's stuff has been overlooked. Songs like 'Wee Wee Hours'...'Blue Feeling'...'Havana Moon', or 'Rockin' at The Philharmonic' just to name a few. I played these years ago when I lived 'down under' and the usual response I got from someone who heard these tunes for the first time was..."who the hell is that?" Many of my friends were amazed that Chuck Berry put out such a fine body of work in this style. His blues was impecable, always haunted by the piano style of Johnnie Johnson. Chuck Berry was also much at home doing fine numbers like 'Rockin' At The Philharmonic' combining blues licks with a big band flavour! If you can hear the 50's originals of these, do so! The re-makes (if there are any of these songs) would NOT do them justice, I am sure. Forget what they call "commercially viable" today.
Pop these tunes on your turntable for an unforgetable experience.
Not to belabor the obvious, but don't forget the Beatles "Back in the USSR"
Went Bo Diddley collecting crazy last year and read your blog in the KL airport a few weeks ago. It helped me sort out the fact that I hadn't previously seen/heard the song "Hey Good Lookin" and so I now own another Bo Diddley collection cd and "Hey Good Lookin".
Thanks, Gerry
Dearest DSGA,
To the best of my knowledge Chuck is still alive
and kicking,playing the(very)occasional live gig.
He's a reclusive,cranky old guy.But after all he's
been through it's understandable and forgivable.
"...and keeping Chuck's name alive even if it was for a crowd of 20,000+ stoned out headbangers."
So what youre saying is that we metalheads dont have the taste for music? "Even if it was for a bunch of metalheads .." ... And why stoned out? Just cause you have long hair and you're drunk doesnt mean you dont appreciate good old music. I love rock'n'roll ... [Personal attack deleted by Comments Editor]
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"Go,Johnny,Go!!! Good post.Nice to know
that Chuck's not forgotten.You should've
mentioned that his song "Johnny B Goode"
was taken up into Outer Space in 1977 on
spaceship "Voyager" by astronauts from
N.A.S.A. It was one of the only "Rock N
Roll tunes included on the time capsule
playlist.If I remenber correctly,I think
the list was at least partially compiled
by Dr. Carl Sagan.