Monday, December 24, 2007

Chuck Berry



Not a christmas song, shock. For I'm sure, dear listener you are struggling to find ANY christmas-related mp3 blog fayre...

Instead, a song to cheer up even the most humbuggy of yuletide-deniers (of which I am one I'm said to report) - I found this stunning instrumental track in my parents old stash of 7" singles (which believe me, is NOT the treasure trove I wish it was).
It's the b-side to Chuck's big hit "No Particular Place To Go", but it's definitely the proverbial hidden gem.

Essentially just a standard boogie, but Chuck lets loose and sounds like..well..like he doesn't know what he's going to be playing in the next bar. There are endless flubs and missed notes, but play it nice and loud and you can picture the beaming (and probably a little bit merry on magic booze) smiles. It's the sound of people enjoying themselves.

About 1:18 Chuck accidentally writes Rocket From The Crypt's "On A Rope" and from about 1:40 until about 2:05 he plays pretty much the same note for 16 bars. That they ever make it through 2:50 to the end is a little christmas miracle in itself.

And of course Liverpool is where the second messiah was born yeah?


Chuck Berry - Liverpool Drive

1 comment:

stevedomino said...

strange - one of my favourite finds amongst my dads singles is the b-side of 'Memphis. Tennessee' called 'Let It Rock' - i used to play it all the time when i was a nipper - this is cool, it sounds like a "10-minutes-of-studio-time-left" b-side...