Thursday music corner: Chuck Berry (b. Missouri 1926, d. Missouri 2017) was a towering rock 'n roll pioneer whose brushes with legal pitfalls (armed robbery, transporting a minor across state lines, assault, accusations of illegal filming, and drugs charges) tarnish but do not overshadow his role as a champion of rhythm and blues music and a confident, trailblazing exponent of black musical excellence for national and international audiences.
Berry scored fifteen US pop chart (top 40) singles in three decades, opening with the effervescent Maybelline (US number 5 in 1955) and closing with the crass novelty number My Ding-a-Ling, which topped the charts in 1972.
No Money Down was Berry's third single, released in January 1956 and later appearing on his May 1957 album After School Session, which also included Too Much Monkey Business and Brown Eyed Handsome Man. The familiar consumerism of Berry lyrics is epitomised in No Money Down's lengthy catalogue of desirable premium features sought for a brand-new Cadillac, with the loan repayments presumably to be worried about at some unspecified future date.
Chuck Berry - No Money Down (1956)
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