CHUCK BERRY - JAGUAR AND THUNDERBIRD

JAGUAR AND THUNDERBIRD

CHUCK BERRY

SONGWRITER: CHUCK BERRY

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: CHUCK BERRY ON STAGE

LABEL: CHESS RECORDS

GENRE: ROCKABILLY

YEAR:1963

Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. Nicknamed the "Father of Rock and Roll", Berry refined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive with songs such as "Maybellene" (1955), "Roll Over Beethoven" (1956), "Rock and Roll Music" (1957) and "Johnny B. Goode" (1958). Writing lyrics that focused on teen life and consumerism, and developing a music style that included guitar solos and showmanship, Berry was a major influence on subsequent rock music.

Born into a middle-class African-American family in St. Louis, Missouri, Berry had an interest in music from an early age and gave his first public performance at Sumner High School. While still a high school student he was convicted of armed robbery and was sent to a reformatory, where he was held from 1944 to 1947. After his release, Berry settled into married life and worked at an automobile assembly plant. By early 1953, influenced by the guitar riffs and showmanship techniques of the blues musician T-Bone Walker, Berry began performing with the Johnnie Johnson Trio. His break came when he traveled to Chicago in May 1955 and met Muddy Waters, who suggested he contact Leonard Chess, of Chess Records. With Chess, he recorded "Maybellene"—Berry's adaptation of the country song "Ida Red"—which sold over a million copies, reaching number one on Billboard magazine's rhythm and blues chart.

By the end of the 1950s, Berry was an established star, with several hit records and film appearances and a lucrative touring career. He had also established his own St. Louis nightclub, Berry's Club Bandstand. He was sentenced to three years in prison in January 1962 for offenses under the Mann Act—he had transported a 14-year-old girl across state lines. After his release in 1963, Berry had several more hits, including "No Particular Place to Go", "You Never Can Tell", and "Nadine". But these did not achieve the same success, or lasting impact, of his 1950s songs, and by the 1970s he was more in demand as a nostalgic performer, playing his past hits with local backup bands of variable quality. In 1972 he reached a new level of achievement when a rendition of "My Ding-a-Ling" became his only record to top the charts. His insistence on being paid in cash led in 1979 to a four-month jail sentence and community service, for tax evasion.

Berry was among the first musicians to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on its opening in 1986; he was cited for having "laid the groundwork for not only a rock and roll sound but a rock and roll stance." Berry is included in several of Rolling Stone magazine's "greatest of all time" lists; he was ranked fifth on its 2004 and 2011 lists of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll includes three of Berry's: "Johnny B. Goode", "Maybellene", and "Rock and Roll Music". Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" is the only rock-and-roll song included on the Voyager Golden Record.

Chuck Berry on Stage is the first live album by Chuck Berry, released in 1963 by Chess Records. Although promoted as a live album, it is a collection of previously released studio recordings (except for 5 songs..."All Aboard", "Trick or Treat", "I Just Want To Make Love To You", "Still Got The Blues", and a previously unreleased alternate take of "Brown-Eyed Handsome Man") with overdubbed audience sounds to simulate a live recording. One track on the album labelled "Surfin' USA", is "Sweet Little Sixteen", originally released in 1958, the melody of which was used in The Beach Boys' 1963 hit "Surfin' USA". Chuck's cover of Willie Dixon's "I Just Want To Make Love To You" was later re-recorded and released on the very rare Chess LP CH60032 Chuck Berry in 1975.

 

Chorus: Slow down, little Jaguar

Keep cool, little Thunderbird Ford

Ten miles stretch on an Indiana road

T'was a sky blue Jaguar and a Thunderbird Ford

Jaguar setting on ninety nine

Tryin' to beat the Bird to the county line

Just a half-a-mile from Ludenville

There had a speed sign sitting at the top of the hill

It said : "35 miles, and stay in line"

But the Jaguar and Thunderbird never read the sign

Chorus

Ludenville was a real small town

Had a hundred and two

And nine acres of ground

Some stool pigeon put the sheriff wise

Told him "Park down in Ludenville

And catch 'em guys"

Sheriff laid down, half hid in the weeds

Parked for eight days, didn't nobody speed

All of a sudden, dust rose on the road

Said "Here come the Jaguar and Thunderbird Ford"

Chorus

Sheriff doubled clutched second, put it in third

Took right after the Jaguar and Thunderbird

He knew he'd get a bonus and a big fat fine

If he caught 'em 'fore they crossed that line

Sheriff never drove his car a hundred and flat

But if he aimed to get 'em

He'd have to do more than that

Crest of the hill, is about a mile behind

There wasn't but two mor miles to the county line

Chorus

Old Sheiff was countin' on the downward grade

With the tall wind pushin', he had it made

Thunderbird saw the Jaguar gainin' speed

And waved "Goodbye, Jaguar" and pulled in the lead

Jaguar said "You ain't won the race yet"

And pulled back around the Bird like a sabre jet

Sheriff's front bumper was a yard behind

When the T-Bird, Jaguar crossed the line

Slow down little Jaguar,

Keep cool little Thunderbird Ford

(repeat and fade).