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Chuck Berry’s best deep cuts: 10 overlooked jewels
In addition to his well -known hits, Chuck Berry’s artistic flowering produced many other classics. He also recorded great songs in the 1970s and even in the 1980s. Here are ten unknown pearls from his entire career, which you should definitely hear:
“Oh baby doll” (1957)
A memory of a high school romance that ends at the beginning of the summer vacation. With perfect miniatures like this, Berry created the teen mythology of rock ‘n’ roll. A teacher leaves the room. The children switch on a portable radio. And dance in the corridors. Everything is normal again as soon as the teacher returns. Berry’s voice wears the melody. Everything else is rhythm, stamping, shaking and shaking. So close came Pop 1957 an drum circle.
Chuck Berry’s best deep cuts: 10 overlooked jewels
“Let it rock” (1960)
At the same time hectic and relaxed. Typical Berry. He tells the story of a steel worker in Mobile, Alabama, who is surprised in a dice game in the tipi when an unscheduled train drives past. “Can’t Stop the Train”, sings Berry and puts a solo. The story of America in 1:54 minutes. The Rolling Stones published a live version as a B-page of “Brown Sugar”.
Chuck Berry’s best deep cuts: 10 overlooked jewels
“Thirteen Question Method” (1961)
Perhaps the funniest and strangest of his sex songs. Berry explains a charming seduction strategy over a Latin beat. “The 13-question method is the right one if you want to have fun.” But it only comes up to question number 12. The door falls. Question 13 is left to the imagination.
Chuck Berry’s best deep cuts: 10 overlooked jewels
“Nadine” (1964)
After 20 months in prison, Berry wrote songs about the longed -for freedom. Like “Promised Land”, “No Particular Place to Go” and “Tulane”. “Nadine” also emerged during this time. The song describes the hunt for a woman who “moved like a moody summer breeze”. Linguistically brilliant because the unreachable rarely sounded so alive.
Chuck Berry’s best deep cuts: 10 overlooked jewels
“You Two” (1964)
A double data, hot dogs in the green, jazz music on the turntable. Inspired by Nat King Cole, Berry shows himself from his sentimental side. A gentle swinger about domestic happiness and modern leisure activities. One of his most beautiful songs.
Chuck Berry’s best deep cuts: 10 overlooked jewels
“I want to be your driver” (1965)
Recorded in London, packed with blues sex metaphors. Berry sings with a desperate voice and whipping guitars over a “Wheel-to-Wheel Limousine”. No coincidence that the Beatles published “Baby You Can Drive My Car” five months later.
Chuck Berry’s best deep cuts: 10 overlooked jewels
“Have Mercy Judge” (1970)
The continuation of “Tulane”. Johnny sits in jail, his lover doesn’t want to wait for him. Berry pleads: “Have Mercy on My Little Tulane.” A bluesy masterpiece with tears on the strings. What Berry tried since 1955 succeeded here.
Chuck Berry’s best deep cuts: 10 overlooked jewels
“Wuden’t Me” (1979)
A song about racism – bluntly this time. Our hero breaks out of prison, flees from dogs and Grand Dragon members. It is saved by a trucker with Swasti-KKK bracelet. A dark comment on American reality. Packed in Chuck Berry’s unmistakable narrative style.
Chuck Berry’s best deep cuts: 10 overlooked jewels
“Oh what a thrill” (1979)
Love, sex and music – celebrated with lines such as: “Squeezing and Teasing and Pleasing the Evening Away”. Later covered by Dave Edmunds, but without Berry’s genuine joie de vivre.
Chuck Berry’s best deep cuts: 10 overlooked jewels
“Wee Wee Hours” (1986)
Chuck Berry wanted to play blues. And here he succeeded. A live version with Keith Richards, Johnnie Johnson and Eric Clapton, recorded at the Berry’s 60th birthday concert. Clapton shines with a solo that stretches the time and shows what he learned from Berry.