Chuck Berry, 1926 – 2017

“Chuck Berry, the perpetual wild man of rock music who helped define its rebellious spirit in the 1950s and was the sly poet laureate of songs about girls, cars, school and even the ‘any old way you choose it‘ vitality of the music itself, died March 18 at at his home in St. Charles County, Mo. He was 90.”

— “Chuck Berry, wild man of rock who helped define its rebellious spirit, dies at 90,” Terence McArdle, Washington Post [links added]

More:

“‘Shakespeare of rock ‘n’ roll’ Chuck Berry dies at 90,” Bonnie Kristian, The Week

“Chuck Berry tributes pour in: ‘Greatest rock‘n’roll writer who ever lived,'” James Tapper, The Guardian

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Mack Rice, 1933 – 2016

Singer and songwriter Mack Rice died Monday. He was 82. He wrote and recorded “Mustang Sally” in 1965, but it was a bigger hit the following year for his former bandmate Wilson Pickett, and it’s still a Rock & Roll standard.

I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll

“I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll,”  written by Alan Merrill and Jake Hooker, and recorded in 1975 by their group, The Arrows. Produced by Mickie Most. Joan Jett’s 1982 version is better known.

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The Beatles DC Concert, 1964

At Noon on February 11, 1964, two days after their live telecast on the Ed Sullivan Show in New York, John, Paul, George and Ringo braved a snowstorm and took a train to the Nation’s Capital for a concert that night. The Beatles were seen as a menace by Washington’s barbers and the Second Coming by DC’s squealing teens.

Happy Holiday

“Happy Holiday” by The Shells, from Brooklyn, NY. We don’t know who wrote this tune, but it sure wasn’t Irving Berlin.

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Hound Dog History

(“You Ain’t  Nothin’ But a) Hound Dog” first became a hit 6o years ago.

“The song was born in the famed Brill Building of New York, written by two Jewish teenagers named Mike Stoller and Jerry Leiber. They had intended it, Leiber later recalled, for a female blues singer, and though they had several candidates in mind, it was Willie Mae Thornton who first took it into the studio on August 13, 1952. Big Mama, as she was known, growled that the songwriters were ‘a couple of kids,’ but the great bandleader Johnny Otis put her through her paces with several takes even as she tinkered with the lyrics, threw in a few suggestive howls, and changed the accent to make ‘Hound Dog’ wholly her own.”

— “‘Hound Dog’: An Old Dog That Keeps on Running,” Gregory McNamee, Britannica blog

Related:

“Mama’s Voice: The lasting influence of Willie Mae ‘Big Mama’ Thornton,” Maureen Mahon, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

“Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller,” Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

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Levon Helm

Levon Helm (Mark Lavon Helm), best-known as the drummer in The Band, died a year ago this week. We’ve just come across this 1971 video of him singing “Baby Don’t You Do It,” the Holland-Dozier-Holland song that was a hit for Marvin Gaye in 1964. The horn charts here are by Allen Toussaint.

h/t Ed Kilgore

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British Senior Citizens to Visit North America

Some elderly English blokes plan to spend their hols pottering around the Colonies. The Paddington Pigeon Fanciers Rolling Stones will visit Los Angeles, Oakland, San Jose, Las Vegas, Anaheim, Toronto, Chicago, Boston, and Philadelphia in May and June. Whilst in ‘Vegas, will they motor out to Lake Havasu and visit London Bridge? What jolly fun!

Happy Birthday, Jimi Hendrix

James Marshall Hendrix, November 27, 1942 – September 18, 1970.

“Golden rose, the color of the dream I had
Not too long ago
Misty blue and lilac too
Never to grow old.”

More: 

“Jimi Hendrix at 70: Rock Stars Remember the Late Guitar Legend,” ABC News

“Happy 70th Birthday, Jimi Hendrix: Seattle’s EMP Museum Celebrates Guitar Hero,” Huffington Post

Official website: jimihendrix.com

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Mick Jagger, Other Senior Citizens Begin World Tour

“The Rolling Stones began their 50th anniversary tour with the biggest possible bang on Sunday night, as a host of special guests joined them for a hit-packed show in London’s O2 Arena. Former Stones comrades Bill Wyman and Mick Taylor returned to the ranks, while Mary J. Blige and Jeff Beck were also on hand to help with the celebrations.