DEATHS ; Notable Passings; The Thread to Pay Last Respects

[Fading Fast]

Mick Jagger's tribute is prehaps the best epitaph we're gonna see;

"I am so sad to hear of Chuck Berry's passing. I want to thank him for all the inspirational music he gave to us. He lit up our teenage years, and blew life into our dreams of being musicians and performers.
His lyrics shone above others & threw a strange light on the American dream. Chuck you were amazing & your music is engraved inside us forever."

And a couple of great Chuck moments..

The Stones always loudly proclaimed their debt to and inspiration from Chuck. There's a story in Stones' lore that teenage Mick and Keith (who had known each other briefly as young boys) accidentally met on a train platform and started talking about the "American rhythm and blues" records Mick was carrying (which included some Chuck Berry albums) that they both were fans of. That - with many steps in between - led to the founding of The Rolling Stones.

That "Pulp Fiction" scene is outstanding and shows what two things combined - timeless music and true star-power personalities - can do with material that could have looked incredibly goofy in lesser hands.

 

[Trenchfriend]

 

[Worf]

A few months ago I bought a collection of his greatest hits along with Little Richards as well. This is what I wrote in my review of that collection:

"The look he's givin' you on the cover says it all. Chuck is the ringmaster, the baddest man alive, THE Devil's Son in Law. Slick, fast, urbane, profane and truly the poet laureate of RocknRoll. He didn't invent it but his claim is as good as anyone else's. His records were the lexicon, the bible, this is the teat they all sucked from, black, white, brown, yellow, English, American, Ukrainian... Martian. If you wanted to learn how to rock it HE was the one you learned from, the Sith Lord you followed. And Lord could he play that f****n' guitar! He's still around, heaven won't have em and the devils skurd he'll kick him out. Black snake basterd! All hail the true King of Rock and Roll!"

Worf

Sorry all but I HATE "My Ding a Ling" - My faves are "Almost Grown" and "Roll Over Beethoven". Who else would have the balls to tell Beethoven to roll over and tell Tchaikovsky the news...

 

[2jakes]

A few months ago I bought a collection of his greatest hits along with Little Richards as well. This is what I wrote in my review of that collection:

"The look he's givin' you on the cover says it all. Chuck is the ringmaster, the baddest man alive, THE Devil's Son in Law. Slick, fast, urbane, profane and truly the poet laureate of RocknRoll. He didn't invent it but his claim is as good as anyone else's. His records were the lexicon, the bible, this is the teat they all sucked from, black, white, brown, yellow, English, American, Ukrainian... Martian. If you wanted to learn how to rock it HE was the one you learned from, the Sith Lord you followed. And Lord could he play that f****n' guitar! He's still around, heaven won't have em and the devils skurd he'll kick him out. Black snake basterd! All hail the true King of Rock and Roll!"

Worf

Sorry all but I HATE "My Ding a Ling" - My faves are "Almost Grown" and "Roll Over Beethoven". Who else would have the balls to tell Beethoven to roll over and tell Tchaikovsky the news...

I luv'd "My Ding a Ling" as a kid
because all the "grownups" hated it.
But then I also thought "Jingle Bells by the "singing dogs" was
a riot back then!

 

[Frunobulax]

A few months ago I bought a collection of his greatest hits along with Little Richards as well. This is what I wrote in my review of that collection:

"The look he's givin' you on the cover says it all. Chuck is the ringmaster, the baddest man alive, THE Devil's Son in Law. Slick, fast, urbane, profane and truly the poet laureate of RocknRoll. He didn't invent it but his claim is as good as anyone else's. His records were the lexicon, the bible, this is the teat they all sucked from, black, white, brown, yellow, English, American, Ukrainian... Martian. If you wanted to learn how to rock it HE was the one you learned from, the Sith Lord you followed. And Lord could he play that f****n' guitar! He's still around, heaven won't have em and the devils skurd he'll kick him out. Black snake basterd! All hail the true King of Rock and Roll!"

Worf

Sorry all but I HATE "My Ding a Ling" - My faves are "Almost Grown" and "Roll Over Beethoven". Who else would have the balls to tell Beethoven to roll over and tell Tchaikovsky the news...

I still like "Ding-a-ling" a lot. But "Promised Land" and "Memphis" are probably my faves. The latter for it's poignancy, the former for catching a piece of the American Spirit.


Sent directly from my mind to yours.

 

[2jakes]

I still like "Ding-a-ling" a lot. But "Promised Land" and "Memphis" are probably my faves. The latter for it's poignancy, the former for catching a piece of the American Spirit.


Sent directly from my mind to yours.

Never could play this tune without tapping my foot!

I know Heaven is 'rocking' tonight!

 

[GHT]

Today is the day the music died.

It might sound controversial, but I don't see it like that. Chuck Berry has died and that's a sad loss for fans and musicians alike, but Chuck's music is a legacy that will live forever. You only have to look at past legends to see how they are still played, enjoyed and revered.
My favourite Chuck numbers are the fast, tub thumping, heart stopping, fast beat, Rock & Roll songs like 30 Days, Rock & Roll Music, Johnny B Goode.
One song everyone seems to like is Memphis Tennessee, not for me. First time I heard it I said: "That's School Day."
Most of sixties Britain was in thrall of the Brit sound, my cohorts hadn't even heard of School Day, released in 1959, but didn't reach our ears until 1963 with a cover version by Dave Berry. The song's lyrics, capture perfectly, the angst of teenage years.
On Frank Sinatra's headstone is the inscription: "The Best is Yet To Come." So be it for Chuck. Rock on my man.

 

[Fading Fast]

One thing I really like about Chuck - which I learned from his many comments in "Hail! Hail! Rock N Roll -" is that he doesn't hide who he is.

Like many people, he's not all good or all bad. He looks out for Chuck - and protects those in his circle - but isn't worried about the morality of everything. Chuck definitely has a lot of the view that I'll beat you in a deal if I can and, pretty much, any way I can if you're not in my circle and, to Chuck, that's just the way life is as you'd do the same to him. Some of his troubles with the law - especially his tax issues - also reflect a view that says I have no respect for the morality of your (the government's) authority.

I grew up knowing many people like this. They protected their families and wouldn't cheat a friend, but everyone else, the law included, was fair game. Many of these people were or had been poor and kicked around and, to them, bigger issues of morality, what you owe your fellow man, what makes a civil society were all-but laughable - you took care of your family and friends and got what you could out of a tough world otherwise.

I'm not defending this philosophy, just acknowledging that it exists - even if it isn't spoken of in "polite" society - and I respected that Chuck, basically, didn't hide that he shared this philosophy when he was interviewed. He, IMHO, showed a lot about himself and that has a certain integrity that we rarely see in interviews of public figures.

 

[MisterCairo]

I don't see it like that.

Uh, okay.

 

[MisterCairo]

Author and columnist Jimmy Breslin of New York has died, aged 88:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/jimmy-breslin-columnist-obit-1.4032165

 

[GHT]

Uh, okay.

Now that's what I so like about this forum, a reasoned response that agrees to disagree. I thought hard as to how I could disagree with the mainstream thinking, I also had in mind that when you only have the written word, no nuance, no inflection, no body language, something that's written can be sensitive, even ambiguous. But MisterCairo, you're are one after my own heart. Thank you.

 

[Worf]

One thing I really like about Chuck - which I learned from his many comments in "Hail! Hail! Rock N Roll -" is that he doesn't hide who he is.

Like many people, he's not all good or all bad. He looks out for Chuck - and protects those in his circle - but isn't worried about the morality of everything. Chuck definitely has a lot of the view that I'll beat you in a deal if I can and, pretty much, any way I can if you're not in my circle and, to Chuck, that's just the way life is as you'd do the same to him. Some of his troubles with the law - especially his tax issues - also reflect a view that says I have no respect for the morality of your (the government's) authority.

I grew up knowing many people like this. They protected their families and wouldn't cheat a friend, but everyone else, the law included, was fair game. Many of these people were or had been poor and kicked around and, to them, bigger issues of morality, what you owe your fellow man, what makes a civil society were all-but laughable - you took care of your family and friends and got what you could out of a tough world otherwise.

I'm not defending this philosophy, just acknowledging that it exists - even if it isn't spoken of in "polite" society - and I respected that Chuck, basically, didn't hide that he shared this philosophy when he was interviewed. He, IMHO, showed a lot about himself and that has a certain integrity that we rarely see in interviews of public figures.

I've known a lot of people like that over the years... and I avoid em like the plague. It don't cost you nuthin' to be nice and on the fair and square... you might not make millions... but you can sleep the sleep of the righteous at night.

Worf

 

[Worf]

Say's the "Brown Eyed Handsome Man"....

"Top of the ninth, three two the count, he hit a long ball into the stands....
Roundin' third and comin' home it was a brown eyed handsome man, that won the game... A Brown Eyed Handsome Man...."

Whenever I hear this line I see Willie Mays trottin' home.

Worf

 

[LizzieMaine]

Author and columnist Jimmy Breslin of New York has died, aged 88:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/jimmy-breslin-columnist-obit-1.4032165

Breslin was more New York than New York itself. He's also the guy who started the famous "Hitler, Stalin, Walter O'Malley" joke.

 

[Zombie_61]

One thing I really like about Chuck - which I learned from his many comments in "Hail! Hail! Rock N Roll -" is that he doesn't hide who he is.

Like many people, he's not all good or all bad. He looks out for Chuck - and protects those in his circle - but isn't worried about the morality of everything. Chuck definitely has a lot of the view that I'll beat you in a deal if I can and, pretty much, any way I can if you're not in my circle and, to Chuck, that's just the way life is as you'd do the same to him. Some of his troubles with the law - especially his tax issues - also reflect a view that says I have no respect for the morality of your (the government's) authority.

I grew up knowing many people like this. They protected their families and wouldn't cheat a friend, but everyone else, the law included, was fair game. Many of these people were or had been poor and kicked around and, to them, bigger issues of morality, what you owe your fellow man, what makes a civil society were all-but laughable - you took care of your family and friends and got what you could out of a tough world otherwise.

I'm not defending this philosophy, just acknowledging that it exists - even if it isn't spoken of in "polite" society - and I respected that Chuck, basically, didn't hide that he shared this philosophy when he was interviewed. He, IMHO, showed a lot about himself and that has a certain integrity that we rarely see in interviews of public figures.

This is one of the things I appreciate about Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll--it shows Mr. Berry as he was, a real human being who could be perceived as "unpleasant" at times. He was definitely a "My way, or the highway" type of person if circumstances called for it.

 

[Stearmen]

Worf

Sorry all but I HATE "My Ding a Ling" - My faves are "Almost Grown" and "Roll Over Beethoven". Who else would have the balls to tell Beethoven to roll over and tell Tchaikovsky the news...

The greatest thing about the Ding A Ling song is, truth truly is stranger then fiction! I member back in the late 70s one of my friends told me that it was his only number one hit, I said he was wrong. Of course, we could't pull out our phones and ask for the answer, later that afternoon, he showed me a magazine articular about Chuck, sure enough, he was right. Still, hard to believe, with all his great songs, the goofy one made it to number 1. What songs was he up against?

 

[HudsonHawk]

The Stones always loudly proclaimed their debt to and inspiration from Chuck. There's a story in Stones' lore that teenage Mick and Keith (who had known each other briefly as young boys) accidentally met on a train platform and started talking about the "American rhythm and blues" records Mick was carrying (which included some Chuck Berry albums) that they both were fans of. That - with many steps in between - led to the founding of The Rolling Stones.

That "Pulp Fiction" scene is outstanding and shows what two things combined - timeless music and true star-power personalities - can do with material that could have looked incredibly goofy in lesser hands.

I believe it was Richards who said about Berry "he'll always be the most important guitarist in rock and roll history, because before him there was nothing." Or something to that effect.

 

[Worf]

The greatest thing about the Ding A Ling song is, truth truly is stranger then fiction! I member back in the late 70s one of my friends told me that it was his only number one hit, I said he was wrong. Of course, we could't pull out our phones and ask for the answer, later that afternoon, he showed me a magazine articular about Chuck, sure enough, he was right. Still, hard to believe, with all his great songs, the goofy one made it to number 1. What songs was he up against?

Remember, radio play at that time was rife with racism, payola and multitude of other sins. An RnB song had to be No.1 on the black charts before most AM radio stations would even consider it. There could be a lot of reasons he never made it to number one... primarily Elvis, every single he ever made usually debuted at No.1 on the charts and the Billboard charts called black music "Race Music" for an awfully long time. Still, despite all that his legacy is secure, his place in the Rock n Roll firmament is higher than high.

Worf

 

[GHT]

Colin Dexter has passed away, he died at his Oxford home, he was 86. Dexter, an author of some note, was the creator of Inspector Morse.

 

[MisterCairo]

Colin Dexter has passed away, he died at his Oxford home, he was 86. Dexter, an author of some note, was the creator of Inspector Morse.

This is sad news. I love both the novels and the long-running tv show.