Entertainment For Lively Minds
Chuck Berry, American poet
Listen to virtually any of his songs and you'll be confronted by a vivid snapshot of Americana and 50s popular culture.
I remember hearing Brown-Eyed Handsome Man for the first time and being simultaneously baffled and enchanted by the lyrics.
The last verse, for instance:
Two, three the count with nobody on
He hit a high flyer into the stand
Rounding third he was headed for home
It was a brown eyed handsome man
That won the game
It was a brown eyed handsome man
At the time I had no idea what Chuck was singing about there (I later found out it was baseball), but it really didn't matter, it scanned perfectly and sounded wonderful coming out of the Dansette. This was recorded in 1956, remember.
As one of the YouTube comments says "Chuck Berry - none more important"
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And, of course...
...there's always this:-
They furnished off an apartment with a two room Roebuck sale
The coolerator was crammed with TV dinners and ginger ale,
But when Pierre found work, the little money comin' worked out well
"C'est la vie", say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell
"Fridge" sounds just so pedestrian compared to a "coolerator" - what I saw in my mind's eye was all fins and chrome and American sleekness!
I wanted to praise a lyric on this blog once
(the opening of Springsteen's Tunnel of Love) and I said "It's worthy of Chuck Berry and there is no higher praise" and I meant it.
His use of language was so concise it was beautiful, he told complete, perfect stories in as few words as he needed. It's not the only way to write bit it is the best way.
My favourite line of his is from his most famous song. In Johnny B Goode he effortlessly depicts effortlessness in ten words, "He could play that guitar just like ringin' a bell." That is beautiful writing.
I love the way
he incorporated brand names into his songs - eg:
As I was motivatin' over the hill
I saw Maybellene in a Coup de Ville.
Cadillac a-rollin' on the open road,
Nothin' will outrun my V8 Ford.
Cadillac doin' 'bout ninety-five,
We's bumper to bumper rollin' side by side.
Pedant alert
Is it not "motorvatin'" or something similar? A made up word just like "coolerator" above.
.....and I always thought "brown eyed handsome man" really meant "black skinned handsome man".
Quite right
that's what I get for lazily cutting and pasting from one of those dodgy lyric sites.
It is, of course, motorvatin'. He also uses the word in No Money Down and there was even a 2/LP Chuck compilation of the same name in the 70s.
I've always admired...
...the beautifully concise set up of the story in Bye Bye Johnny:
She drew out all her money from the Southern Trust
And put her little boy aboard a Greyhound bus
He's leavin' Lou'siana for the golden West
Down came the tears from her happiness
Her own little son named Johnny B Goode
Was gonna make some motion pictures out in Hollywood
(also an example of a character turning up in two songs - like Peggy Sue)
John Fogerty
quotes a line from Brown-Eyed Handsome Man in his song Centerfield, which, of course, is also about baseball.