Brown Eyed Handsome Man
Berry wrote it after watching an arrest in California, then cut it in Chicago with Johnnie Johnson and Willie Dixon.
Berry wrote it after watching an arrest in California, then cut it in Chicago with Johnnie Johnson and Willie Dixon.
Willie Dixon on bass, Lafayette Leake on piano, Chicago in May 1957, and Berry arguing the case for backbeat.
Written in federal prison, cut at Chess in January 1964, and the happiest wedding song rock and roll made.

Lafayette Leake's piano, Willie Dixon's bass, and a melody Brian Wilson borrowed so closely he lost the copyright.

His sister Lucy monopolized the family piano for classical, so Berry wrote his rebuttal, with Johnnie Johnson answering back.

Ida Red, a 1938 Bob Wills fiddle tune, turned into a car chase, with Johnnie Johnson's piano running underneath.
Chuck Berry's intro lick is rock's opening statement, a country boy's origin myth now drifting past the solar system.