Maybellene
When a young Chuck Berry drove from St. Louis to Chicago to audition for Leonard Chess, he expected to record straight blues. Instead, Chess was fascinated by Berry's upbeat, hillbilly-flavored adaptation of the country...
When a young Chuck Berry drove from St. Louis to Chicago to audition for Leonard Chess, he expected to record straight blues. Instead, Chess was fascinated by Berry's upbeat, hillbilly-flavored adaptation of the country standard "Ida Red." During the May 1955 session, they renamed it "Maybellene." Berry cranked up his amplifier, laying down a heavily distorted, aggressive guitar solo over a relentless, swinging backbeat provided by Willie Dixon on bass. Berry's rapid-fire, brilliantly articulate lyrics about a hot rod car chase connected immediately with a newly emerging teenage demographic, essentially inventing the DNA of rock and roll.