Chuck Berry’s First Hit: “Maybellene”

In 1955, a young Chuck Berry recorded “Maybellene” in Chicago and then went back to his construction job until the song got a boost from DJ Alan Freed.

Maybellene On May 21, 1955, the relatively unknown Chuck Berry recorded “Maybellene” at Chess Records in Chicago. The 29-year-old part-time musician then returned to St. Louis and his construction job, while starting to train for a career as a hairdresser. But soon, through various circumstances, the song began climbing the charts so that Berry could pursue music full time.

Berry got the opportunity to record “Maybellene” when, during his visit to Chicago, he approached Muddy Waters after a show for an autograph and asked for career advice. Waters suggested Berry go to his label, Chess Records. Berry did.

Berry met with Leonard Chess at Chess Records and then auditioned, thinking Chess would like his blues music, and in particular his song “Wee Wee Hours.” But Leonard Chess noticed something else in Berry’s music. Chess liked Berry’s R&B version of the traditional country song “Ida Red,” which had been recorded by performers such as Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, who had recorded the song in the 1930s.

So, Chess recorded Berry’s take on “Ida Red,” although by the time Berry’s song was recorded, the song had new lyrics and a new name: “Maybellene.” Reportedly, Chess thought that Berry’s title of “Ida Mae” sounded too rural, so he found inspiration for the name from a mascara box nearby (changing the spelling of the Maybelline cosmetics to avoid a potential lawsuit).

With the new name and lyrics, the 2-minute and 18-second song was recorded, although it took 36 takes to get it right. In addition to Berry, the recording featured other musicians who would become legendary in their own right, including Johnnie Johnson on piano and Willie Dixon on bass.

Less than a year earlier in 1954, Elvis Presley similarly had recorded a Bob Willis song as one of his first recordings for Sun Studios. Presley’s version of “Blue Moon of Kentucky” kept the name and the lyrics of the original, while bringing the same rock and roll spirit that Berry brought to his interpretation of “Ida Red.”

In Berry’s version of his song, he not only added a driving R&B sound, he incorporated youthful energy in his lyrics. The lyrics captured the spirit of the emerging rock and roll music, connecting love and cars. In the song, the singer drives his V8 Ford seeking out his unfaithful girlfriend in her Cadillac Coupe DeVille (“Maybellene, why can’t you be true”).

As I was motor-vatin’ over the hill,
I saw Maybellene in a Coup de Ville;
A Cadillac a-rollin’ on the open road;
Nothin’ will outrun my V8 Ford.

But Berry at first did not know what would become of “Maybellene,” which eventually was released in July with “Wee Wee Hours” as a B side. So Berry returned to St Louis.

In the meantime, Leonard Chess in a marketing move that was not unusual at the time, gave radio DJ Alan Freed co-songwriting credit and one-third of royalties in exchange for promoting the song. In retrospect, the deal seems unfair at the least, but assistance from the legendary DJ did not hurt.

One night on station WINS in New York, Freed played “Maybellene” for two hours straight. And the great sound of the song sent it to number ten on the pop charts and to number one on the R&B charts.

“Maybellene” helped launch the career of Chuck Berry, one of the holy creators of rock and roll along with his yellow Gibson ES-350T guitar. Below, Chuck Berry performs “Maybellene” live in 1958.

Although the song boosted Berry’s popularity, it also led to some hurdles for the young singer-songwriter. Some venues discriminated against Berry when they were surprised to find out the singer was not white. And, Berry had to fight for years to eventually get sole songwriting credit for the song in 1986.

Berry, of course, persevered with a long career and other hits. But “Maybellene” was a key turning point in the history of rock and roll. “Maybellene” is now listed as the 18th greatest song of all time by Rolling Stone magazine.

And that is the story behind the song.

Photo via public domain. Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Merle Haggard: “Kern River”

    Kern River

    On April 6, 2016, Merle Haggard passed away from complications from pneumonia on his 79th birthday in the state where he was born, California. Along with the likes of Johnny Cash and George Jones, Haggard was one of real legends of country music.

    In my younger years, I learned of Haggard’s music through songs like 1969’s “Okie from Muskogee” and 1970’s “Fightin’ Side of Me,” which may have made me resistant at first due to the apparent political nature of those songs. But eventually as an adult, I fell in love with his music, his voice, and his Bakersfield influence. I found fondness for the above songs and fell in love with many others, like “Tulare Dust” and “They’re Tearing the Labor Camps Down.”

    Heck, the man not only did a tribute album to Jimmy Rodgers, he learned the fiddle just so he could do a tribute album to Bob Wills, The Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World (1970). He was the real deal, both as a singer and as a songwriter.

    One of my favorite Merle Haggard songs is “Kern River.” The lyrics written by Haggard tell a mysterious and haunting tale about loss and regret. In it, the singer is an old man in the mountains looking back on his life and a river from his youth, Kern River, which he will never swim again. He recalls that “It was there I first met her / It was there that I lost my best friend.” And it is only later in the song where you realize that the “her” was also his best friend who got swept away by the river.

    The most beautiful line in the song, for me, is in the chorus. The singer now lives on a lake, and he laments, “And I may drown in still water / But I’ll never swim Kern River again.” Something about that line breaks my heart every time, just the way my heart is breaking today at the loss of the country great.

    In this video, Merle Haggard performs “Kern River” on a country talk show in 1984 before the song was even released the following year. Check it out.

    What is your favorite Merle Haggard song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    The Great Nameless Country Voice of Texas Playboy Tommy Duncan

    Tommy Duncan Bob Wills Texas Playboys On January 11, 1911, Thomas Elmer Duncan was born in Whitney, Texas. Tommy Duncan, as he would become known, went on to become perhaps the most-recognized voice in country swing. If you have ever enjoyed a country swing song, you recognize his voice, but you probably do not know his name.

    Until fairly recently, I had incorrectly thought that Bob Wills sang lead on the classic country swing songs he recorded with the Texas Playboys. While band leader, fiddle-player, and entertainer Bob Wills is rightfully credited for his great work, the lead vocals on most of the songs you recognize were sung by Tommy Duncan. You may hear Bob Wills’s high-pitched voice throwing in an occasional “Ah-ha” or something like that, but it is Duncan who does the lead singing.

    Some folks have been working to get Duncan the credit he deserves, and there is a film in the works about him called In the Shadow of a King – The Tommy Duncan Story. I look forward to watching the film, but until then, I hope this birthday post helps a little bit in spreading the praises of the voice of Tommy Duncan, who passed away in 1967. Check out Duncan singing lead on “Ida Red” in this performance with Bob Wills and The Texas Playboys in the movie Blazing the Western Trail.

    Tommy Duncan did some work separate from the Texas Playboys, as he and Wills had an on-again off-again professional relationship reportedly due partly to Wills’s drinking issues. But both men are known for their peak work when they were together. Duncan, as part of The Texas Playboys, was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as an “Early Influence” in 1999.

    What is your favorite Tommy Duncan and Bob Willis collaboration? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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