Chuck Berry, reprise
I forgot to mention one very interesting part of the documentary. When asked how he would want himself to be remembered, Berry said (paraphrase), "Whatever they say, I just want it to be real. It could be good or bad or indifferent, but I hope that what people remember can relate to the truth."
I had always wondered how Berry could exhibit so little bitterness concerning the "Elvis stole black music" controversy. Because if you think about it, he was the person most directly robbed. I still have to say, his attitude about it all was pretty serene.
I had always wondered how Berry could exhibit so little bitterness concerning the "Elvis stole black music" controversy. Because if you think about it, he was the person most directly robbed. I still have to say, his attitude about it all was pretty serene.
posted by Rex at 2:12 PM
2 Comments:
Here's my theory: the reason Chuck Berry was never angry about the Elvis thing was he realized that white people getting into rock and roll simply meant more people covering his songs, and therefore more money for him. Case in point: Surfin' USA. If there hadn't been a white rock and roll messiah in the form of Elvis, there never would've been any Beach Boys. And if there never had been any Beach Boys, Chuck would never have gotten all those royalty checks for Surfin' USA.
And that's just one example: think of how many people have covered Johnny B. Good? Christ, Chuck could probably finance the half of Central America with the royalty checks from Back To The Future alone!
In short, Chuck is a pragmatist, not an idealist. And instead of an angry rich man, he's a happy rich(er) man.
I think you're right. At one point in the documentary, Chuck gives us a tour of his garage and shows us three of his Cadillacs from 75, 76, and 77 (this was in 89). He talks about how he tried to sell them once, but they only offered him about $3000 per car. Chuck said, fine; I'll let them sit here for 20 more years, and then I'll sell them to you for $50,000.
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