Chuck Berry – Little Queenie

There she is againStandin’ over by the record machineLooking like a modelOn the cover of a magazine

Every single time I post a Chuck Berry song I go on and on about how great a lyricist he was…and this one will be no different. The words in his songs have a flow to them that seems so natural.

Chuck Berry - Little Queenie B

This song has the Chuck Berry style all over it.  It appeared on the 1959 album Chuck Berry Is on Top and was released as a double A-side with “Almost Grown.” He has a line in the song that people seem to frown on these days. “She’s too cute to be a minute over seventeen” because of her age. What some forget is back then the target audience was teenagers. The singer whether it be Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Fats Domino, or Buddy Holly…they were the voice of the teens. They were the teenagers talking…the rock stars were the teen’s voices.

The song peaked at #80 on the Billboard 100 in 1959.

Later on in the late 60s and to the 2000’s he would tour by himself and in his contract…the promoter had to provide a backing band. He did this to save money but it affected the quality of the shows at times. He did have a super backing band at one of his gigs in 1973.

Berry’s contract stipulated that it was the promoter’s responsibility to supply him with a backing band for this concert. Apparently, Bruce Springsteen learned about a week before the show that the promoter was seeking a group to support Berry and immediately volunteered his band’s services for free, which the promoter gladly accepted.

There was no rehearsal or soundcheck with Berry, so Bruce and the band improvised as best they could. The show was Bruce’s first known appearance in Maryland. Bruce and the E-Street Band opened their part of the show with a 50-minute set, followed by a 60-minute set by Jerry Lee Lewis and his band. Chuck Berry (with Springsteen’s entire band backing him, including Bruce and Southside Johnny) closed the evening’s festivities with a 70-minute performance.

Springsteen asked Chuck what songs they were going to do. Berry said: “We’re going to do some Chuck Berry songs.” That is one of the funniest rock stories I’ve ever heard. Imagine being on stage and not knowing what song is coming. What makes it worse is that Chuck would change the keys of songs. So instead of playing in the universally known A chord to Johnny B Goode…he would start in an F# chord sometimes. Luckily the bass player Gary Tallent was a music historian so he led the band that night. He played in those keys because his former piano player Johnnie Johnson helped him write and arrange those songs so Chuck would play them in keys as a piano player would.

More than 20 years later, Springsteen again played backup for Berry, at a concert at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, celebrating the opening of the Rock and Roll Music Hall of Fame.

Bruce Springsteen when Chuck Berry died: “Chuck Berry was rock’s greatest practitioner, guitarist, and the greatest pure rock ‘n’ roll writer who ever lived. This is a tremendous loss of a giant for the ages.”

Little Queenie

I got lumps in my throatWhen I saw her comin’ down the aisleI got the wiggles in my kneesWhen she looked at me and sweetly smiledThere she is againStandin’ over by the record machineLooking like a modelOn the cover of a magazineShe’s too cute to be a minute over seventeen

Meanwhile I was thinkin’

If she’s in the mood no need to break itI got the chance and I oughta take itIf she can dance we can make itC’mon queenie let’s shake it

Go, go, go, little queenieGo, go, go, little queenieGo, go, go, little queenie

Tell me who’s the queenStandin’ over by the record machineLooking like a modelOn the cover of a magazineShe’s too cute to be a minute over seventeen

Meanwhile, I was still thinkin’If it’s a slow song, we’ll omit itIf it’s a rocker, then we’ll get itAnd if it’s good, she’ll admit itC’mon queenie, let’s get with it

Go, go, go, little queenieGo, go, go, little queenieGo, go, go, little queenie

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

42 thoughts on “Chuck Berry – Little Queenie”

  2. A couple great accounts Max. Unfortunate most of Chucks backing bands weren’t that good as you say, resulting in some very poor shows. I hadn’t heard that quote before, “we’re going to play some Chuck Berry songs”. Bruce has the best stories!

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    1. He says that in the documentary Hail Hail Rock and Roll…when Keith Richards got a great band together for Chuck…great documentary

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    1. I’m glad to hear that. He would mess with them sometimes which is funny. Changing keys…and I personally saw Bob Dylan do that to his band…Bob throws an audible and the guys are all looking at each other. Keeps everyone on their toes.

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      4. I do like that one also…it was original… I look at his and the early rockers as like a car frame. Other owners may paint it or put another engine it it…but they are still driving that car with the same frame…looks and sounds different but the same roots.

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  5. Never heard this one before, but it has that instantly recognizable sound of his. Fun song, though it probably wouldn’t be if re-recorded today…’he/she’s too cute to be a minute under 25…’ It’s remarkable that he didn’t have a normal backing band.

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    1. Nope…he traveled with a briefcase and that was it. Cash in a sack and he was out of there.
      Yea people take things so damn literal…

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  6. A really good read. I enjoyed it. Who doesn’t love Chuck?

    The Stones did a great live version of it included on the extended release of Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out and also at Leeds university in 19721, found of the Deluxe Version of Sticky Fingers.

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    1. Anything they did on that tour sounds great. I wish they would borrow some of that sound for concerts now. Mick Taylor was a big part of that I think. Thanks for commenting and sorry about the trouble.

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  7. How good was Mick Taylor, huh? My fav. Stones live sound is on 1973’s Brussels Affair.

    You are also dead right to say that Garry Talent was/is a music historian. He produced a great album for Southside Johnny called Messin’ With The Blues. You probably knew that! If not, check it out.

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    1. Now I liked Brian Jones because of the extra textures he addeed but Mick Taylor…they have never sounded better, to me anyway, since he has been gone.
      I need to check that Southside Johnny album out.

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  9. He nails the lyrics to the melody with perfect phrasing. ‘Nadine,’ f’rinstance ‘Saw her getting in a yellow cab heading up town, / I caught a loaded taxi, paid up everybody’s tab,/
    Flipped a twenty dollar bill, told him ‘catch that Yellow cab.” A story in his own style in a few perfect words.
    We saw Chuck play here in ’75, backed by an Aussie band the Angels. (I bet they had a devil of a time keeping up with whatever he was going to play.)

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    1. I’m glad you got to see a good show. I’ve heard from people that he was inconsistent only because of the backing bands.
      Obbverse I’ve seen Bob Dylan do the same thing to his own band. I was watching him and he turned around and said something and you should have seen the look on their faces…pure lost/fright…and these are pros…I think he wanted something in a different key…so you would have to transpose it on the spot…not an easy thing to do.

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  11. Another classic early rock & roll tune – you’re literally on a roll, Max!

    “Chuck Berry Is on Top” is an incredible album – almost like a greatest hits of early rock & roll.

    Berry was quite a character. The fact he didn’t have a standing touring band and instead relied on promoters finding local bands for him and performing with them without rehearsals does sound a bit coo coo. You can easily see why this could impact the quality of his shows.

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    1. I agree….I’ve heard some high school rock bands backed him up before…just to make more money and he got rid of Johnnie Johnson because of that.
      I’ve heard that there were some great shows but some lousy ones also…not consistent.

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  12. I love Chuck Berry, and this might be my favourite. It’s just so… smooth and full of attitude. But not telling his band what songs he was going to play, then changing the key… You need to be an untouchable rock god to get away with that, surely.

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    1. Yea and I’ve seen Mr. Dylan do it to his band….but they are pros….some of the bands Chuck played with…high school in some cases.

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