DISQUS

newcritics: A Reason to Go On Living: The Poor Boy’s on the Line

  • Jason Chervokas · 1 year ago
    Great post. Phenomenal song. Chuck Berry is rock's greatest songwriter. Never gets his due anymore.

    Imagining rock w/o Chuck Berry is like imagining English lit w/o Shakespeare. For a kick, check out Chuck's autobiography, really peculiar language.

    BTW, for the reference standard version of the song, please dig Elvis' Dec 1973 recording--probably his last great studio performance, and a blistering one, one of the King's greatest records. A lot of Chuck's songs fit Elvis like a custom Nudie suit, but none more so than Promised Land.
  • Neddie Jingo · 1 year ago
    A-and you'll never convince me that rock's coolest song isn't "You Can't Catch Me" -- how much hipper can you be than to own a flying car?

    I did read Chuck's autobio, years ago, and I thought it barely disguised a very peculiar man. Great songwriter, sure, the most influential guitarist who ever picked up a Gibson ES-355, but a mighty odd duck (walker).
  • Jason Chervokas · 1 year ago
    I'm not sure how disguised it was. Very peculiar, but a much better read--more entertaining and more revealing--than the Bruce Pegg bio, and fascinating language.

    Can't get any hipper than the Flight Deville!
  • Tom Watson · 1 year ago
    Hey Ned, thanks for being here! I love this song, Chervokas is right, ole Chuck doesn't get his proper due.
  • Kevin Wolf · 1 year ago
    Long, long ago I heard somebody (no idea who) talking about Chuck Berry's "Johnnie B Goode" on NPR. His take was that the song seems to have always been around, as if it had existed back when there was nothing else but primordial ooze.

    You can take that a couple of ways, some of which are pretty insulting to Mr Berry. I think he's not only taken for granted but that his craft, in both songwriting and guitar playing, is often barely taken into account.

    Thanks for the reminder Neddie. Sometimes it seems Keith Richards is the only one acknowledging the master.
  • Emo Icons · 5 months ago
    They are great musicians. I very much love such music.
    Their songs are unusual and force to endure and test emotions.