The one musician Paul McCartney called a “magician”
The aim of the majority of musicians, whether they like to admit it or not, is to have their name either written up in lights or emblazoned across the tomes of musical memory. Sadly, the truth is, the hopes of the vast majority of would-be singers, guitarists, producers and likewise are dashed on the shoreline every day. There are plenty of names in the annals of rock history worth remembering. But when the work on the tome of rock and roll, the history books are finally sealed, and the volumes are complete, one man will have a rather large footnote — Paul McCartney.
One half of the greatest songwriting partnerships pop music has ever seen, Macca’s work with John Lennon, The Beatles, and his own solo projects make him one of the true greats. But he’s just a music lover at heart, and like most music lovers, the mercurial musician still has his heroes. He may be an icon, but he spent a large chunk of time completely in awe of musicians.
Famed for having once called Bob Dylan the Fab Four’s “idol” – something Dylan reciprocated by sharing he was “in awe” of McCartney — he often decried Brian Wilson as one of the world’s greatest songwriters ever. For McCartney, and, in truth, the rest of The Beatles, there was one man who truly embodied everything that the four lads from Liverpool wanted to be. He wasn’t just an expert songwriter but a fame-loving showman, the kind of performer that would lay the blueprint for the Beatles, Stones and everyone else who followed in the 1960s. That man was the swashbuckling, duck-walking grandaddy of rock ‘n’ roll himself, Chuck Berry.
“If you had to give rock and roll another name, you might call it Chuck Berry,” remarked John Lennon during an interview. It was a remark that the rest of the band were all in agreeance with. For them, Berry wasn’t just the beating heart of rock ‘n’ roll but the swaying hips, thrusting waist and dancing feet of it too. With a proverbial library of incredible rock anthems, Berry’s influence can be heard all over the band’s early output, least of all their cover of ‘Roll Over Beethoven’, which the band performed on one of their television debuts.
Later, as Lennon welcomed Berry to perform alongside him, he said of Berry, “He was writing good lyrics and intelligent lyrics in the 1950s when people were singing ‘Oh baby I love you so, it was people like him that influenced our generation to try and make sense out of the songs rather than just sing ‘do wah diddy.’”
Across their careers, the band often doffed their cap to the rocker, with Lennon inviting him on to his TV special to perform ‘Johnny B. Goode’ having also battled Berry in court over his song ‘You Can’t Catch Me’. Likewise, McCartney leaned on Berry’s song ‘Back in the USA’ when he wrote the White Album classic ‘Back in the USSR’. But McCartney’s real outpouring of affection came following the singer’s death in 2017.
Speaking with Rolling Stone, McCartney was full of admiration for the forefather of rock: “We learnt so many things from him which led us into a dream world of rock & roll music.” Though he confirmed that it was “not really possible to sum up what he meant to all us young guys growing up in Liverpool,” Macca delivered a fitting eulogy for the influential guitarist and songwriter. “From the first minute we heard the great guitar intro to ‘Sweet Little Sixteen,’ we became fans of the great Chuck Berry,” continued McCartney. “His stories were more like poems than lyrics – the likes of ‘Johnny B. Goode’ or ‘Maybellene.’”
“To us, he was a magician making music that was exotic yet normal at the same time,” recalled the songwriter. “We learnt so many things from him which led us into a dream world of rock ‘n’ roll music.
“Chuck was and is forever more one of rock ‘n’ roll’s greatest legends all over the world,” Macca concluded. “I was privileged to meet him in his home town St Louis when I played there on tour and it’s a memory I will cherish forever. It’s not really possible to sum up what he meant to all us young guys growing up in Liverpool but I can give it a try.”
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out Beatles Newsletter
All the latest stories about The Beatles from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.