This is the B side of Chuck Berry's first single for Chess Records, Maybellene. It was recorded in 1955. I was listening to it today and thinking about how wonderful the tune was and how much it reminded me of the work of Berry's musical mentor, T Bone Walker.
Walker was one of those rare musicians who could sing as well as he could play, a virtuoso with incredible musicality who also was the first guitar player to engage in stage theatrics, which Berry took even farther later with his duck walk.
It is a slow blues number and so different then Berry's high electricity rocking stuff. The music was actually written and performed years prior by the keyboard player on the track, Jimmie Johnson. Berry added lyrics before they cut the record.
Chuck Berry started out as a blues player and he was a fine musician in that genre. As you can see here, he had a lovely voice.
I read an interview him once where he said that he played rock to feed his family but didn't take it seriously, his heart was always in Blues and Jazz (He actually played with Teagarden and Jo Jones at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival.) Wish he had recorded more of this type of work.
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