Songs of Note: Chuck Berry
Man, I know I say this every week, but this list could be incredibly long. There are so many songs that are so essentially “Chuck Berry,” be they originals or covers, but here are some songs that I have heard him sing that hit me particularly strongly.
- No Particular Place To Go: To be honest, it’s the line about the safety-belt that sold me. “Ridin’ along in my calaboose/Still trying to get her belt a-loose/All the way home I held a grudge/For the safety belt that wouldn’t budge.” For some reason, these lyrics seem to me a lot more risque than they are probably meant, but that’s what’s so great about old music. They could never go out and say anything obvious, so they had to talk around what they wanted to say. I mean okay, it does say that he wanted to take a walk with her, but he couldn’t because the seatbelt wouldn’t come off, but come on? All of that cuddling, and then he didn’t want to get a little frisky with her in his car? I find that very hard to believe. Regardless, the song is really timeless, classic, awesome, all that. He’s so naughty.
- My Ding-A-Ling: Oh…the memories. The first time I ever got cultured on this amazing song was by the Simpsons, on their very first episode. After that, when I was a babysitter, I met some kids that were wild for this song, and played it ad nauseum to me one day when I came over to watch them. After that, I was pretty much hooked. Okay, yeah, this song is goofy, doesn’t really have a deep meaning, just an alternate dirty one, but that’s what makes it so great. Sometimes songs are just to be enjoyed, not interpreted. Nuff said.
- Route 66: This is the ultimate road trip song, so of course it had to make it on the list. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know this song, since it’s so much a part of our culture. I mean, Route 66 itself is so huge in Americana culture, so the song went right along with it. It’s been used on commercials, movies, everything you can imagine, but Chuck Berry did it best. No one song could symbolize a stretch of road like “Route 66″ does, and nothing ever will, in my opinion.
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1 opinion for Songs of Note: Chuck Berry
Gilan Israel
Oct 25, 2007 at 6:20 pm
My favourite Chuck Berry tune has to be “Johnny B. Goode”, with “You Never Can Tell” also high on the list.
-Gilan, from The Beatles Invasion
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