The Chuck Berry song Keith Richards couldn’t live without
Looking back through the annals of rock and roll history, one name pops up more than most. Keith Richards and his band, The Rolling Stones, have been such a vital part of the industry for over six decades that his name, and collection of imperious riffs, notably find themselves taking top billing on almost every page of music’s figurative tome. However, there can be no doubt that without Chuck Berry, Richards would have been merely a footnote.
The Beatles’ own John Lennon once proclaimed: “If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it ‘Chuck Berry.” That’s a fitting assessment of the empirical rock and roller. Duck-walking his way across the internal history books of rock, while Elvis Presley received the plaudits from white America, Berry was slowly influencing a new generation of talent. In fact, there are few names in the context of the cultural revolution in the 1960s that wouldn’t cite Berry as one of their main inspirations, including Keith Richards.
So, it’s perhaps expected that when allowed to select a handful of songs he couldn’t live without, Richards would pay homage to his hero. The situation arose when Richards participated in the BBC Radio stalwart Desert Island Discs. The show, originally created in 1942, has welcomed everybody from world leaders to acclaimed directors into the studio to select one book, one luxury item and eight single discs to take away with them to an inescapable desert island.
While also discussing the impact of reggae on his life and noting other icons such as Etta James and Hank Williams, only one name came to mind when discussing the first choice. The first pick for the anarchic guitarist was a no-brainer: “‘Wee Wee Hours’ Chuck Berry, first off a great inspiration to me, and I thought also that I would like to hear something that is not obviously Chuck Berry, to be surprised. And it’s always surprised me this track, such a supple blues, almost Nat King Cole in style with the brilliant piano of Johnny Johnson.”
The song showcases just how much Richards loved Berry, but he did have his run-ins with him too. The Rolling Stones man has performed with the well-known cantankerous guitarist and has felt his wrath on at least one occasion. That came when Richards saw the icon’s guitar in the dressing room only to receive a pointed thwack for even daring to pick up the instrument. It was an incident that Richards eventually conceded was deserved.
Elsewhere, however, Richards has often effused his love of the performer: “To me, (Berry’s music) had sort of a crystal clear clarity of what I wanted to hear, and what I was aiming for,” Richards said regarding the influence of Berry on his adolescent self to the LA Times. “And they were having fun — that was the underlying aspect of it all,” he added. “There was an exuberance, and they were not too serious. What was serious was what was going down — they weren’t serious about it.”
Speaking with Rolling Stone, he went further and shed some light on the moment Berry truly connected with him. Rather than a single song, it was the performance he gave in a landmark film. “When I saw Chuck Berry in Jazz on a Summer’s Day as a teenager, what struck me was how he was playing against the grain with a bunch of jazz guys,” the avid jazz-lover himself, the dissent sparked life into an idea for Richards. “They were brilliant — guys like Jo Jones on drums and Jack Teagarden on trombone — but they had that jazz attitude cats put on sometimes: ‘Ooh… this rock and roll…’ With ‘Sweet Little Sixteen,’ Chuck took them all by storm and played against their animosity.
“To me, that’s blues. That’s the attitude and the guts it takes. That’s what I wanted to be,” Richards mused. During the same interview, the guitarist also mentioned a few other notable guitarists from whom he got “it”. What that “it” really is, is anyone’s guess. But we’d guess it was connected directly to the soul.
“I listened to every lick he played and picked it up. Chuck got it from T-Bone Walker, and I got it from Chuck, Muddy Waters [whom Keith has played with], Elmore James and B.B. King. We’re all part of this family that goes back thousands of years. Really, we’re all passing it on.”
Listen to the one Chuck Berry Song Keith Richards couldn’t live without below.
