Chuck Berry: The Father of Rock and Roll
Chuck Berry was, in many ways, the crucial link between the blues and modern music. He’d take existing songs and rewrite them with lyrics about teenage life, fast cars, fame—and always with a heavy dose of sexual innuendo.
Instead of “woke up this morning, my baby was gone”, Chuck went with “All the cats wanna dance with Sweet Little Sixteen.”
Rather than complain, he made Rhythm N’ Blues fun—and that’s essentially what Rock N’ Roll is. For a Black man to want to party with your white teenage daughter in 1950s America was, to say the least, controversial—but somehow, it worked.
White radio loved Chuck Berry, whose best tunes include Maybellene, Roll Over Beethoven, Rock and Roll Music, Johnny B. Goode, Sweet Little Sixteen, You Can’t Catch Me, No Particular Place to Go, You Never Can Tell, My Ding-a-Ling, and Nadine.
Chuck essentially took piano boogie-woogie, adapted it for the guitar, sang about having fun, and became a worldwide superstar through the ’50s and ’60s.
His main influences included Nat King Cole, Muddy Waters, T-Bone Walker, country music tunes—and, unbeknown to most, his own boogie-woogie pianist Johnnie Johnson, who actually wrote most of Chuck’s tunes but never got the credit.
Aside from ripping off his bandmate, Chuck’s two best steals include the intro to Johnny B. Goode (lifted from Louis Jordan’s Ain’t That Just Like A Woman) and the traditional country tune Ida Red, which he transformed into his breakthrough hit Maybellene.
Chuck Berry: The Art of Borrowing and Showmanship in Rock ‘N’ Roll
Chuck didn’t expect that “borrowing” was a two-way street. In turn, Surfin’ U.S.A. by the Beach Boys was essentially Chuck’s Sweet Little Sixteen. Now that the tables had turned, Chuck was understandably annoyed!
What Chuck couldn’t see, however, was that this is exactly what rock ‘n’ roll songwriting is all about. You take a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and make it your own. It’s ironic, considering Chuck was the master of this technique. It was as if he didn’t want to take his own medicine.
If you want to follow this rabbit hole of Beach Boys and Chuck Berry, check out Back In The U.S.S.R. by The Beatles, where California Girls (The Beach Boys) becomes Ukraine Girls. This track is essentially a spoof on Back In The U.S.A., a Chuck Berry original!
But Chuck Berry wasn’t just about “borrowing” tunes—he was also a showman, pioneering the famous Duck Walk. Although some argue that many of his showmanship ideas were inspired by one of his heroes, T-Bone Walker.
It’s strange to think of an artist as seemingly original and one-of-a-kind as Chuck Berry as someone who “borrowed” from various influences. But that’s how things were done in the ’50s and ’60s when modern songwriting was taking shape. It’s only in more recent times that copyright infringement and lawsuits have become so prevalent.
Speaking of lawsuits, Chuck’s old piano bandmate, Johnnie Johnson, sued him in 2000, but the judge dismissed the case, citing that it was just too long ago. At least Johnnie was immortalised in Chuck Berry’s signature song, Johnny B. Goode.
What we can all learn from Chuck Berry is this: if you want to be a rock ‘n’ roll songwriter, all you need is a vast record collection (hello, Spotify!), a great work ethic, and—don’t forget—some sexual innuendo!
Chuck Berry Tunes | Related Pages
Johnny B. Goode | Chords + Lyrics
You can learn how to play Johnny B. Goode by Chuck Berry using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, and the original recording.
| Bb6 | Bb6 |
Deep down in Louisiana close to New Orleans…
Roll Over Beethoven | Chords + Lyrics
You can learn how to play Roll Over Beethoven by Chuck Berry using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, and the original recording.
| D7 | G7 | D7 | D7 |
Well, I’ma write a little letter, I’m gonna mail it to my local DJ…
You Never Can Tell | Chords + Lyrics
You can learn how to play You Never Can Tell by Chuck Berry using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, and the original recording.
| C (C6) | C (C6) | C (C6) | C (C6) |
It was a teenage wedding, and the old folks wished them well…
Chuck Berry on the web
