Maybellene
"Maybellene" | ||||
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Universal Recording (Chicago)[1] | ||||
Genre | ||||
Length | 2:19 | |||
Label | Chess[4] | |||
Songwriter(s) | Chuck Berry[5] | |||
Producer(s) | Leonard Chess, Phil Chess | |||
Chuck Berry singles chronology | ||||
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Audio sample | ||||
30-second sample of Chuck Berry's "Maybellene" |
"Maybellene" is a rock and roll song by American artist Chuck Berry, adapted in part from the western swing fiddle tune "Ida Red". Released in 1955, Berry’s song tells the story of a hot rod race and a broken romance, the lyrics describing a man driving a V8 Ford and chasing his unfaithful girlfriend in her Cadillac Coupe DeVille. It was released in July 1955 as a single by Chess Records, of Chicago, Illinois.[6] Berry's first hit, "Maybellene" is considered a pioneering rock and roll song. Rolling Stone magazine wrote of it, "Rock & roll guitar starts here."[7] The record was an early instance of the complete rock and roll package: youthful subject matter; a small, guitar-driven combo; clear diction; and an atmosphere of unrelenting excitement.
The song was a major hit with both black and white audiences, reaching number 1 on Billboard's Rhythm and Blues chart and number 5 on the Popular Records chart.[8] It has received numerous honors and awards. Soon after its initial release, cover versions were recorded by several other artists. The title is misspelled "Maybelline" on several releases.
Origins and writing
"Maybellene" adapted parts of the
Chess wanted a bigger beat for the song and added a bass and a maracas player to Berry's trio at the recording session. He also thought the titles "Ida Red" and "Ida May" were "too rural".[11] Spotting a mascara box on the floor of the studio, according to Berry's pianist Johnnie Johnson, Chess said, "Well, hell, let's name the damn thing Maybellene", altering the spelling to avoid a suit by the cosmetic company (the song would be covered as "Maybelline" almost as often as with the altered spelling).[12] The lyrics were rewritten, also at the direction of Chess. "The kids wanted the big beat, cars and young love," Chess recalled. "It was the trend and we jumped on it."[11] According to Berry he abridged the song's lyrics (Chuck Berry quote:) "from memories of high school and trying to get girls to ride in my 1934 V-8 Ford", adding that "Maybellene" was his own choice as "Ida May"'s replacement title, Maybellene being a name he recalled from a third-grade reader in which it was the name of a cow.[13]
As Chess had predicted, the lyrics appealed to teenagers fascinated by cars, speed and sexuality. "Maybellene" was one of the first records to be a hit on the rhythm and blues, country and western, and pop charts. Featuring some inimitable Berry riffs, some blues-style picking on a guitar and Johnson's piano, which added a hummable rhythm to the steady backbeat, "Maybellene" was a pivotal song in the emergence of rock and roll. This exciting fusion of a rhythm-and-blues beat with a rural country style was the catalyst for the emergence of rock and roll in the mid-1950s.[14]
When Berry first saw a copy of the record, he was surprised that two other individuals, including DJ Alan Freed had been given writing credit; that would entitle them to some of the royalties. After a court battle, Berry was able to regain full writing credit.[15][16]
Personnel
- Chuck Berry – vocals, guitar
- Johnnie Johnson – piano
- Willie Dixon – bass
- Jerome Green – maracas
- Ebby Hardy – drums
Co-composers
In the 1950s, some record companies assigned publishing credits to disc jockeys and others who helped to promote a record, a form of payola by means of composer royalties. For this reason, the disc jockey Alan Freed received credit as a co-writer of "Maybellene". Robert Christgau's October 1972 essay on Berry suggests this was the case for Freed's publishing credit. Leonard Chess, in Christgau's words, "flipped" for Berry's "Maybellene" and "forwarded it to Alan Freed." "Having mysteriously acquired 25 percent of the writer's credit," Christgau writes, "Freed played 'Maybellene' quite a lot, and it became one of the first nationwide rock and roll hits."[17]
Russ Fratto, who had loaned money to Chess, also received credit.[18] (Some Chess insiders have said that Chess owed money to Fratto, a printer and stationer, for producing record labels. Other accounts describe Fratto as "a record distributor.") The Freed and Fratto credits, which do not appear on the original Chess single (see the photograph above), were withdrawn in 1986.[19] However, as of 2014, these credits still appear on some reissues of Berry's recordings.
The first edition of Charlie Gillett's The Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock and Roll in 1970 erroneously identifies Fratto as a disc jockey and suggests that both Freed and Fratto were present at the recording session in Chicago in May 1955.[20]
Bruce Pegg's Brown Eyed Handsome Man on the life and recording career of Berry identifies Fratto as the owner of Victory Stationery, a print shop next door to 4750 South Cottage Grove, the location of the first offices of Chess Records. Pegg identifies Victory Stationery's owner Fratto as "4750's landlord."[21]
In an interview with Patrick William Salvo for
Charts
In 1955, the song peaked at number five on the Billboard pop chart and was number one on the R&B chart.[23] Billboard's year-end charts in 1955 ranked "Maybellene" number 3 on the Top R&B Records Retail Sales and Juke Box Plays charts.[24]
The record sold one million copies by the end of 1955.[25]
Honors and awards
According to the Acoustic Music organization, "the song ushers in descending pentatonic double-stops, which becomes the essence of rock guitar".[8]
In 1988, "Maybellene" was inducted into the
Cover versions
"Maybelline" | ||||
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Single by Johnny Rivers | ||||
from the album Here We Go Again! | ||||
B-side | "Walk Myself on Home" | |||
Released | August 1964 | |||
Recorded | 1964 | |||
Genre | Rock and roll | |||
Length | 2:10 | |||
Label | Imperial Records | |||
Songwriter(s) | Chuck Berry, Russ Fratto, Alan Freed[30] | |||
Producer(s) | Lou Adler | |||
Johnny Rivers singles chronology | ||||
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Columbia Records released a version by Marty Robbins (21351), entitled "Maybelline," by the end of August 1955.[31] His version was the number 13 "Most Played by Jockeys" in the country-and-western market by mid-October.[32] and soon Columbia was touting it as one of its "Best Selling Folk Records".[33] By November, it was noted that the record had "won considerable pop play".[34] Other versions available in mid-October 1955 were by J. Long (Coral 61478), J. Lowe (Dot 15407), and R. Marterie (Mercury 70682) with the song listed as number 14 top selling in the nation.[35]
In 1964, a cover version by Johnny Rivers, entitled "Maybelline," reached number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100[37] and number 9 on RPM magazine's Top 40 Singles chart.[38]
Also in 1964, The Syndicats featuring guitarist Steve Howe, who would later play for the band Yes, recorded and published their own cover version of the song.
References
- ^ "The Chuck Berry Database: Details For Recording Session: 21. 5. 1955". A Collector's Guide to the Music of Chuck Berry. Dietmar Rudolph. Retrieved September 28, 2021.
- ISBN 978-0-7935-9142-8.
- ISBN 978-0-571-28198-5.
- ^ a b Leonard Chess interviewed on the Pop Chronicles (1969)
- ^ Arc Music
- ^ Rudolph, Dietmar. "A Collector's Guide to the Music of Chuck Berry: The Chess Era (1955–1966)". Retrieved March 1, 2007.
- ^ "Maybellene". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on December 28, 2006. Retrieved March 1, 2007.
- ^ a b "Timeline of Musical Styles & Guitar History". Acousticmusic.org. Retrieved April 29, 2021.
- ^ "The Story Of Chuck Berry's 'Maybellene'". Npr.org. Retrieved April 29, 2021.
- ISBN 0-316-33272-0.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-513943-3.
- ^ "Cover versions of Maybellene by Chuck Berry and His Combo | SecondHandSongs". SecondHandSongs.
- ISBN 978-1-31539482-4.
- ^ American Historical Review, characterizing the fusion of genres in the mid-1950s as a new American music.
- ^ "Son of DJ Alan Freed says Rock Hall of Fame no longer want his cremated remains". The Guardian. August 5, 2014. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
- ^ "Alan Freed". New York Times. October 14, 1999. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
Mr. Jackson, who wrote the Freed biography, said that two members of the virtuoso group the Moonglows told him that Mr. Freed had no involvement with their big hit Sincerely yet took a writing credit for it and received the royalties. Maybelline .... Mr. Berry went to court eventually and succeeded in having Mr. Freed's name removed as co-writer.
- ^ Christgau, Robert (2000). Any Old Way You Choose It: Rock and Other Pop Music, 1967-1973, Expanded Edition. p. 142.
- ISBN 9780517700501.
- ISBN 9780385674423.
- ^ Gillett, Charlie (1970). The Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock and Roll. p. 40.
- ^ Pegg, Bruce (2002). Brown Eyed Handsome Man: The Life and Hard Times of Chuck Berry. p. 31.
- ^ Herbst, Peter (1981). The Rolling Stones Interviews, 1967-1980. p. 227.
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942–2004. Record Research. p. 55.
- ^ "1955's Top R&B Records". Billboard. January 7, 1956. p. 20. Retrieved February 12, 2011.
- ISBN 9780028614472. Retrieved April 7, 2013.
- National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Archived from the originalon February 19, 2011. Retrieved February 12, 2011.
- ^ "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll by Artists (A–C)". Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on May 24, 2007.
- National Public Radio(NPR).
- ^ "Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time". Rolling Stone. April 2010. Retrieved September 18, 2015.
- ^ Arc Music
- ^ Billboard, Aug 27, 1955. page 47
- ^ Billboard, Oct. 15, 1955. p. 46.
- ^ Billboard, Oct. 29, 1955. p. 32.
- ^ Billboard, Nov, 12, 1955. p. 36.
- ^ Billboard, Oct. 15, 1955. p. 5.
- Allmusic. Archived from the originalon June 3, 2009. Retrieved March 1, 2007.
- ISBN 978-0-8230-8554-5.
- ^ "Top Singles — Volume 2, No. 5, September 28, 1964". RPM. Canada: Library and Archives Canada. October 1, 2004 [March 31, 2004]. Archived from the original (PHP) on August 17, 2017. Retrieved February 12, 2011.