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The best songwriters of all time (4): Chuck Berry
He was not only the first songwriter, but also the first guitar hero that rock’n’roll would produce. Chuck Berry was a Muddy Waters fan, but quickly learned that his own “songs of novelties and feelings of fun and frolic” were even better received by audiences.
He took the country song “Ida Red” and rewrote it into a rocking number called “Maybellene.” And was able to celebrate a top 5 hit with his first US single.
Fast cars in “Maybellene”, social mobility in “No Money Down” or the country itself in “Back In The USA”
His songs were concise, but also mythical and celebrated all-American achievements. Fast cars in “Maybellene”, social mobility in “No Money Down” or the country itself in “Back In The USA”. If he was denied these freedoms, he could also protest loudly. Even if he never openly addressed potential racial tensions in songs like “Brown Eyed Handsome Man” or “Promised Land.”
Jagger & Richards got the idea of the missing “satisfaction” from “30 Days”
He wrote the latter song, inspired by the peace marches of the civil rights movement, in prison. Dylan took the phrasings of “Too Much Monkey Business” and used them for his “Subterranean Homesick Blues.” Jagger & Richards got the idea of the missing “satisfaction” from “30 Days”. And Lennon didn’t want to overstate Berry’s influence. “If you wanted to give rock and roll another name, you could call it Chuck Berry.”