Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode"

I'm currently listening to a compilation album of Chuck Berry (The Great Twenty-Eight).  Some of these songs are ones that I've started transcribing, so I'm making some progress on those.  I discovered something about a line in "Johnny B. Goode."  I'd always understood the last line of the first verse as "But he could play a guitar just like a-ringin' a bell," meaning that Johnny B. Goode could play guitar with the same ease with which anyone can play a bell, an extremely easy instrument to play.  However, in looking over my transcription, I realized that it could also be "But he could play a guitar just like a ring in a bell," meaning that he has an inherent ability.  Both are grammatically viable, but I think I actually like the second parsing better, since that inherent ability seems to be what the rest of the song is getting at.

Johnny Rivers' "Memphis"

I'm currently listening to a two-disc compilation album of Ricky Nelson.  The guitar part (doubled on harmonica) that's at the very beginning (and repeated in a few other sections) of his version of the Gershwins' "Summertime" sounded familiar to me.  I eventually placed it; I also know it from Johnny Rivers' version of Chuck Berry's "Memphis" (sometimes called "Memphis, Tennessee").

For the record, the part I'm talking about is E D B A G E.  I'm unsure, but Rivers might slide into that initial E from a D note (that's the way I've always played it, at least).

Nelson's version of "Summertime" is from 1962; Rivers' version of "Memphis" was released in May 1964, so it's possible that Rivers took the guitar part from Nelson's "Summertime."  That riff isn't in Chuck Berry's original, and I'd been wondering where it came from.  However, while the chronology works out, I'm not sure if this was the case; I don't know much about Johnny Rivers.

I feel it worth pointing out that the bass part from Nelson's "Summertime" was copied by Blues Magoos for their "(We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet," so there's a precedent of copying from it.

George Harrison's "Thanks for the Pepperoni"

I just finished listening to the 30th anniversary of George Harrison's All Things Must Pass.  I think I'd noticed before that the opening of "Thanks for the Pepperoni" seems to have been inspired by Chuck Berry, but after listening to it this time, I think I found a specific referent.  After the third phrase, there's a bit of string bending, and that same feature (also after the third phrase) is present on Berry's "Carol."

Bing Crosby's "Love Is Just around the Corner"

I'm listening to a compilation album of songs from the 1930s.  One of them is Bing Crosby's "Love Is Just around the Corner," written by Lewis E. Gensler and Leo Robin.  It includes the lines:

Venus de Milo was noted for her charms
Strictly between us, you are cuter than Venus
And what's more you've got arms.

Back in July, I found a reference to Venus de Milo in Ray Charles' "Ain't That Fine" (which, as far as I can tell, was written by Betty Hall, Dorsey Burnette, and H. Robert), and I said that "Grecian art doesn’t seem to be a very common topic in popular music."  Having found this, it looks as if I was wrong.  So now I'm not so sure that, as I posited in that post from July, Ray Charles' "Ain't That Fine" is connected to Chuck Berry's "Brown-Eyed Handsome Man," which also mentions Venus de Milo.

Johnny Rivers' "Memphis" and "Help Me, Rhonda"

Between yester-day and to-day, I listened to the two discs of a Johnny Rivers compilation titled Secret Agent Man: The Ultimate Johnny Rivers Anthology.  I found some interesting things about two of his covers.

The liner notes mention Rivers' "flair for interpreting and rearranging other people's material" and explain that he took the riff for his version of Chuck Berry's "Memphis" from "Tommy Tucker's recent R&B hit 'Hi Heel Sneakers.'"  Aside from Berry's original and Rivers' cover, the only other version of "Memphis" I'm really familiar with is a live version by the Searchers (slightly re-titled to "Memphis, Tennessee") that appears on the 40th Anniversary Collection.  (I have two versions by the Beatles, but I haven't listened to them that much.  They're both closer to Berry's original, so are irrelevant to my point here anyway.)  Until reading the liner notes for the Rivers anthology, I hadn't fully realized that his version and the Searchers' version have the same riff.  The liner notes for the Searchers album don't give an exact date for their version; they mention only that it's from a live appearance on Swedish radio from 1964, although based on the track listing - which is more or less chronological - it seems that it's from December 1964.  So Rivers' version, released in May 1964, is older, and the Searchers probably modeled their version after his.  (It seems unlikely that they would use the same riff - and in the same way - that Rivers did.)

It's hard for me to wrap my head around that because not only am I more familiar with the Searchers' version, but I've always thought that the Searchers were older than Johnny Rivers.  I knew that both had long careers, but I'd always placed the Searchers' pinnacle of success in the early '60s and Johnny Rivers' in the mid- to late-'60s.  The Searchers' taking inspiration from Johnny Rivers certainly illustrates that I was wrong and that they overlap more than I'd thought.

Secondly, I think Rivers' cover of the Beach Boys' "Help Me, Rhonda" is particularly interesting because it adheres more closely to the album version ("Help Me, Ronda," from Today!) rather than the single version (which was also released on the Summer Days (and Summer Nights!!) album).

Rivers' cover re-instates the harmonica that appears on the Today! version (it doesn't appear on the Beach Boys' single version), and he replaces shattered with ruined in the line "but she let another guy come between us and it shattered our plan," which - again - is what the Today! version has.  The Beach Boys changed it to "shattered our plan" for the single version.

According to the liner notes, Rivers' version of "Help Me, Rhonda" was released in 1975, which is well after the Beach Boys' versions and well after their single version became a hit.  The liner notes also mention that Brian Wilson contributed backing vocals to Rivers' version.  Rivers' basing his version on the older, album version and Wilson's appearance on the track both seem to suggest that Rivers recorded the song because he genuinely liked it and not because he was just trying to get a hit song (although it apparently did well in the charts anyway).

Buddy Holly's "Brown-Eyed Handsome Man"

I started listening to Buddy Holly's three-disc Memorial Collection to-day.  I'm currently on the first disc.  I noticed something interesting in his version of "Brown-Eyed Handsome Man."  Right after the lines "Well two-three the count, and nobody on / He hit a high fly into the stand," there's a drum hit that differs from what Jerry Allison (the drummer) had been playing.  Apparently, that hit is supposed to represent the bat hitting the ball - the high fly into the stand that the brown-eyed handsome man hits.

I think it's important to note that Buddy Holly also does this in "I'm Looking for Someone to Love."  There's a sudden drum hit after "foot slip" in the line "Drunk man, street car, foot slip, there you are."

According to the liner notes, "Brown-Eyed Handsome Man" was recorded sometime between December 1956 and January 1957, and "I'm Looking for Someone to Love" on 25 February 1957, so it seems that after inserting that musical detail into his Chuck Berry cover, Holly incorporated it into one of his own songs.

Ray Charles' "Ain't That Fine"

I'm currently listening to a live album of Ray Charles.  The first track is "Ain't That Fine."  One of the lines is "But my baby beats de Milo 'cause she's got a pair of arms."

This reminded me of an-other song that mentions the Venus de Milo - Chuck Berry's "Brown-Eyed Handsome Man."  Although he pronounces it more like "Marlow," so the verse is:

Marlow Venus was a beautiful lass
She had the world in the palm of her hand
She lost both her arms in a wrestling match
To meet a brown-eyed handsome man

I'm not sure if Chuck Berry mentioned the statue in his song in reference to the Ray Charles song, but Grecian art doesn't seem to be a very common topic in popular music, so I would think it's more likely to be a reference than just a coincidence.

Chuck Berry's "Havana Moon"

Two days ago, I listened to Chuck Berry's The Great Twenty-Eight.  While listening to it, I noticed some similarities between "Havana Moon" and "Louie, Louie," which has been done by many artists (most famously the Kingsmen).  I just listened to the version by Paul Revere & the Raiders, and I decided to finally write something about these connections, but in researching the songs, I've gotten a bit confused by the chronology.

According to the Wikipedia article for "Louie, Louie," Richard Berry who wrote the song "cited Chuck Berry's "Havana Moon" and his exposure to Latin American music for the song's speech pattern and references to Jamaica."  It also says that he wrote it in 1955.  The liner notes for The Great Twenty-Eight list the recording date for "Havana Moon" as October 1956.  The only way I can think of that these data can be reconciled is if Chuck Berry had performed "Havana Moon" on tours for a few years before he recorded it.  Otherwise, Richard Berry is listing as an influence a song that wouldn't have been written at the time he wrote "Louie, Louie."

In any case, there are similarities between the songs.  Paul Revere & the Raiders' version is a bit scant as far as lyrics go, and it's the only "complete" version I have, so this won't be exhaustive.  Lyrically, both songs employ a type of pidgin English, often substituting me for I.  "Louie, Louie" contains the lines, "Me gotta go" and "Me find little girl" (although I do have a version by the Troggs, done in a medley, in which the line is just "a fine little girl").  Chuck Berry's song carries this syntax throughout.  For example, here's the first verse:

Me all alone with jug of rum
Me stand and wait for boat to come
Is long the night, is quiet the dock
The boat she late since 12 o'clock

Both songs deal with trying to start a romance and talk about sailing, and I think they also mention rum.  Neither version I have contains a mention of rum, but from what I remember of hearing the Kingsmen's version on the radio, it's in there.

Electric Light Orchestra's "All Over the World"

I listened to Electric Light Orchestra’s All Over the World:  The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra early this morning, and I discovered something interesting.

I already wrote a post about how Chuck Berry’s “Sweet Little Sixteen” probably inspired Martha and the Vandellas’ “Dancing in the Street” as far as the catalogue of places, and I think ELO’s “All Over the World” takes it a step further.

"Sweet Little Sixteen" lists a bunch of cities in the United States, and "All Over the World" expands this and lists a bunch of international cities.  Where "Sweet Little Sixteen" includes places like Boston, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and New Orleans, "All Over the World" includes places like Detroit, LA, London, Hamburg, Paris, Rome, Tokyo, and Monte Carlo.  (There are others, but I can’t quite make them out.)

I considered the possibility that this was just a coincidence, but there are links between Chuck Berry and ELO.  ELO covered Chuck Berry’s “Roll Over Beethoven” and mention him by name in “Rockaria!”  So I’m fairly certain that the catalogue of places in “All Over the World” is a conscious expansion of what Chuck Berry did in “Sweet Little Sixteen.”

I think there are a fair amount of other references in ELO’s work - both to other musicians (they quote Beethoven in both “Roll Over Beethoven” and “Rockaria!”) and to themselves.  But I feel that that’s something I should spend some concentrated effort on before I write a post about it.

Chuck Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen"

I listened to the 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection:  The Best of Chuck Berry to-day.  It includes “Sweet Little Sixteen,” the chorus of which is:

They’re really rocking in Boston
And Pittsburgh, PA
Deep in the heart of Texas
And round the Frisco Bay
All over St. Louis
And down in New Orleans
All the cats wanna dance with
Sweet little sixteen

Or some variation of that.  Some repetitions substitute “Bandstand” for “Boston” and “Philadelphia” for “Pittsburgh.”

In any case, this reminded me of “Dancing in the Street.”  I don’t have the version by Martha and the Vandellas, but I do have versions by the Mamas and the Papas and by the Who (from The BBC Sessions).  ”Dancing in the Street” does this same sort of thing - a catalogue of various places:

They’re dancing in Chicago
Down in New Orleans
Up in New York City
All we need is music, sweet music
There’ll be music everywhere

And later:

Philadelphia, PA
Baltimore and D.C. now
Can’t forget the Motor City
All we need is music, sweet music
There’ll be music everywhere

As a poetic technique, cataloguing isn’t too uncommon.  But I think there’s some connection between the cataloguing in these two songs.  (For historical context, “Sweet Little Sixteen” is from 1958, and “Dancing in the Street” is from 1964.)  ”Dancing in the Street“‘s list of places includes some of the same places listed in “Sweet Little Sixteen” - New Orleans and Philadelphia, PA.  And while it could just be a coincidence because those places are certainly famous for other things, the whole spirit of both catalogues is the same - both illustrate that the dancing is all-encompassing.