The large success of Chuck Berry’s Chess singles “Maybellene” and “Thirty Days” within the second half of 1955 had the label hurrying to convene one other recording session earlier than the tip of the yr. There, he taped his subsequent hit, and as soon as once more displayed his mastery of the pop-culture lyric, with the story of buying his dream automobile in “No Money Down.”
The tune didn’t cross over to the pop market as “Maybellene” had, however it entered Billboard’s Most Performed By Jockeys rhythm and blues chart on February 25, 1956 at No.12, climbing to No.8 in a five-week run. Airplay was restricted by its industrial references to Cadillacs and Fords, however Billboard nonetheless stated it was “as hot a novelty as has been seen in some time.”
These preliminary hits, and their respective B-sides “Wee Wee Hours” and “Together (We Will Always Be),” had been recorded at Chess in Chicago on Could 21, 1955. In December, Chuck, now turned 29, returned to report the brand new tune and its B-side “The Downbound Train.” The session additionally produced “Roly Poly” and “Berry Pickin’,” which didn’t emerge till the After College Session album of 1957. One other observe he lower that day, “I’ve Changed,” wasn’t issued in any respect till 1979.
Berry was impressed to jot down the supremely entertaining story of “No Money Down” by the pitch he would all the time hear from gross sales employees when he purchased his first few automobiles. As befits a person who coined the time period “motorvatin’” in “Maybellene” and used it once more in “No Money Down,” and who wrote a number of the greatest automobile songs in pop historical past, he was besotted with vehicles.
Chuck revealed in his autobiography that he went although a dozen automobiles in as a few years. However his first automobile, a 1934 mannequin V8 Ford, gave the misinform the tune lyric, costing him $10 down and $5 per thirty days on rent buy. The narrator in “No Money Down” fared significantly better.
Take heed to uDiscover Music’s Chuck Berry Greatest Of playlist.
Motorvatin’ again into city in his “ragged Ford,” he sees a Cadillac dealership providing the irresistible monetary phrases of the tune’s title. He asks for a four-door yellow de Ville convertible with all of the extras you might think about: continental spare, broad chrome wheel, energy steering, energy brakes, air-con, shortwave radio, TV and a cellphone, even a “full Murphy bed in my back seat.” The checklist goes on to comedian impact.
Because the tune ends, Berry is strolling out of the dealership with a automobile – we by no means be taught whether or not he bought all these extras – and is heading on down the street, no cash down. His days of worrying about that broken-down, ragged Ford are over. It’s one in all many songs by which a rock’n’roll pioneer who was almost 30 captured the golden age of {the teenager}.
Purchase or stream “No Money Down” on Chuck Berry’s Johnny B. Goode – His Full ’50s Chess Recordings.
