Memphis, Tennessee (song)

"Memphis, Tennessee"
Single by Chuck Berry
A-side	"Back in the U.S.A."
Format	7" single B-side
Label	Chess 1729
Writer(s)	Chuck Berry
Chuck Berry singles chronology
"Almost Grown" "Back in the U.S.A." (1959) "Broken Arrow"

"Memphis"
Single by Johnny Rivers
from the album At the Whisky à Go Go
B-side	"It Wouldn't Happen With Me"
Format	7" single A-side
Label	Imperial 66032
Writer(s)	Chuck Berry
Johnny Rivers singles chronology
"Memphis" (1964) "Maybellene"

"Memphis, Tennessee" is a song by rock & roll singer-songwriter Chuck Berry. It is sometimes shortened to "Memphis". In the UK, the song charted at #6 in 1963, at the same time Decca Records issued a cover version in the UK by Dave Berry and the Cruisers, who came from Sheffield, Yorkshire. Dave Berry's version also became a UK Top 20 hit single, the first of a string of British hit singles which ended with a cover of BJ Thomas' "Mama" reaching #5 in 1966. "Memphis, Tennessee" was most successfully covered by Johnny Rivers whose version of the song was a #2 US hit in 1964.

Berry later composed a sequel, "Little Marie", which appeared in 1964 as a single and on the album St. Louis to Liverpool.

Lyrics

The vocals are the dominant feature of the song. The lyrics of the song depict the speaker's conversation on the phone to the "long distance information" operator. The lyrics are deceiving and the true roles of characters unfold as the story goes on.

As the song starts, the speaker is asking to get in touch with the people who have phoned him. It is not known who they are yet, but his uncle is mentioned. In the next verse, he speaks of a girl named 'Marie'. From this point in time, she could be in any way connected to him.

In the third verse, it is revealed that the speaker was close to this girl, and says that they were pulled apart because "her mom did not agree". From here the listener is led to believe that the girl was his lover, and her mother did not agree with the speaker, for some reason. When the speaker moves to the next verse he explains his last time seeing her, as having "hurry home drops on her cheek that trickled from her eye".

He continues by revealing that she is only six years old, and pleads that he get in touch with her. This unfolds the story, as we are now aware that the girl is his daughter, and the mother was in fact his own wife.

An alternative reading of the song is: The speaker is the slightly older brother of Marie. This interpretation fits with the naive hope that the call can be traced or that the operator might know how to find Marie from the general location of her house.

Also the speaker knows that there was disagreement but seems vague on details. The estranged husband is not likely to view the home as “happy” but two children might, especially in retrospect. Also, the boy now lives with an uncle indicating the family may have dissolved in the absence of the father or that a stepfather has entered and the boy has been sent to live with relatives.

Covers

The song has been covered by many artists, including Hasil Adkins, The Animals, Paul Anka, Count Basie, The Beatles, Dave Berry, John Cale, Riblja Čorba, The Dave Clark Five, Bo Diddley, The Faces, Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs, The Grateful Dead, Al Green, The Hollies, Jan and Dean, Tom Jones, Sammy Kershaw, Fred Knoblock, Jerry Lee Lewis, Lonnie Mack, Mrs. Miller, Roy Orbison, Buck Owens, Elvis Presley, Johnny Rivers, The Rolling Stones, Del Shannon, Silicon Teens, The Statler Brothers, Izzy Stradlin, Gene Summers, George Thorogood, Ernest Tubb, Conway Twitty, The Ventures, and Hank Williams Jr..

In an interesting twist on a song composed around the lyrics of a dominant vocal line, in 1963 guitarist Lonnie Mack recorded a fast-paced, full-length instrumental improvisation inspired by Berry's melody, and named the tune "Memphis". Mack's instrumental skyrocketed to #5 on Billboard's Pop chart and #4 on Billboard's R&B chart. Mack's version was later recognized as the start point of the Blues-Rock guitar genre. (See Lonnie Mack). Mack's version does list Chuck Berry as being the author of the song. ^[1] In 1964 singer Johnny Rivers recorded another version of the tune (which he, following Mack, called "Memphis"), copying Mack's pacing and some of his instrumental improvisations, and reinstating the vocal line from Berry's original.^[2] That version hit #2 on Billboard's Pop chart.

After that, Berry's own live performances of the tune resembled the Mack and Rivers versions as much as his own original recording. In the years following, many other artists (see names above) covered the tune, and it became one of Berry's most commercially successful compositions.

In Wim Wenders' 1974 film Alice in the Cities, there is a brief scene where the main character stops at a Chuck Berry concert where "Memphis" is played.

The song is traditionally played at University of Memphis Tigers home games by the school's marching band, the Mighty Sound of the South.

References

1. ^ ‘’25 Rockin’ Instrumentals’’, Varese Vintage CD, 2003
2. ^ "Show 21 - Forty Miles of Bad Road: Some of the best from rock 'n' roll's dark ages. [Part 2]". Digital.library.unt.edu. 2011-08-05. http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19772/m1/. Retrieved 2011-08-21.