"You Never Can Tell" by Chuck Berry
We live in a world of Chuck’s making.
“It was a teenage wedding and the old folks wished them well / You could see that Pierre did truly love the Mademoiselle / And now the young Monsieur and Madame have rung the chapel bell / "C'est la vie" say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell”
This might have been the first song I ever heard performed by a live band. It’s a vague childhood memory, but there was a backyard party with some of my parents’ friends and out of nowhere a band set up and started rockin. I was transfixed, but I never found my way back to this song.
The next time I came in contact with “You Never Can Tell” wasn’t until my thirties, when someone requested it of my wedding band. C’est la vie.
“They furnished off an apartment with a two room roebuck sale / The coolerator was crammed with TV dinners and ginger ale / But when Pierre found work, the little money comin' worked out well / "C'est la vie" say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell”
Didn’t know you had a coolerator in your house, did you? What do you cram yours with? Everything’s just going so right in this song. Anxiety-ridden listeners might be waiting for a shoe to drop, but not this time. We’re gonna stay happy today for Pierre and the lovely Mademoiselle. Sometimes things just work out.
“They had a hi-fi phono, boy did they let it blast? / Seven hundred little records all rock, rhythm, and jazz / But when the sun went down the rapid tempo of the music fell / "C'est la vie" say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell”
Folks overlook Chuck Berry all day long. But as Allen Toussaint said, the man’s a mountain. I call him the Shakespeare of rock. Poets may abound in America, but Berry had a way with meter that just shook music out of the words. People don’t realize this. They see the duckwalk, the guitar-shaped swimming pool and the sailor cap and write him off as a novelty act. But he’s the actual father of rock n roll. We live in a world of Chuck’s making.
“They bought a souped-up jitney was a cherry red '53 / And drove it down New Orleans to celebrate their anniversary / It was there where Pierre was wedded to the lovely Mademoiselle /"C'est la vie" say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell”
It’s a tough song to play because it has to sound and look easy. Musicians get wound up in the mechanics and the meaning, but you have to give in to the story, live in it. Chuck wanted you to have a shot at this version of America, not some overcommoditized surveillance state where the only thing harder than getting a job is getting a date. But you never can tell.
“It was a teenage wedding and the old folks wished them well / You could see that Pierre did truly love the Mademoiselle / And now the young Monsieur and Madame have rung the chapel bell / "C'est la vie" say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell”
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Good one! And so hopeful in a time of despair.