Does Chuck Berry's "Great 28" Cover ALL The Greats?

'You Never Can Tell' absolutely, and for mine 'It Wasn't Me' should be on there too.



The lyrics are pure Berry gold.

It wasn't me, baby, no it wasn't me, baby
It must have been some other body, uh uh, baby, it wasn't me

It was cold, tired and hungry, came a-beggin' for bread
The lady took him and fed him breakfast in bed
It wasn't me, Boss, uh uh Boss, it wasn't me
It must have been some other body, uh uh, Boss, it wasn't me

You say you saw my car parked in the drive-in one night
Came over to speak to me, I was out of sight
I wasn't me, baby, uh uh, baby, it wasn't me
It must have been some other body, uh uh, baby, it wasn't me

Yes, a shrewd young whipper snapper love to run and play
But the draft board got him, they inducted him today
It wasn't me, Sargeant, uh uh, Sarge, it wasn't me
It must have been some other body, uh uh, Sarge, it wasn't me

I met a German girl in England who was goin' to school in France
Said we danced in Mississippi at an Alpha Kappa dance
It wasn't me, Officer, no, Officer, it wasn't me
It must have been some other body, uh uh, Officer, it wasn't me

Wailin' down the freeway, testing out the cruisin' power
State trooper trailing, clocked it ninety miles per hour
It wasn't me, Sheriff; Uh huh, Sheriff, it wasn't me
Ah! It must have been some other body, uh uh, Sheriff, it wasn't me

Calling for brave young soldiers, needed on the front row
Lieutenant said, "Which one of y'all volunteer to go?"
It wasn't me, Captain, uh uh, Captain, it wasn't me
It must have been some other body, uh uh, Captain, it wasn't me

-----------------


'My Ding-a-ling' can do one though.

 

No Chuck 'greatest'should omit Promised Land, it's his songwriting craft at its finest.

 

The Rarities volumes are worth getting for the SQ - first rate.

 

As much as I love Chuck Berry, I'm with Dave Marsh when it comes to his music: Two hours of it is just about right, but two full CDs of it is probably too much. (Marsh said this in his review of Berry's Chess Box.)

 

Only if "My Ding-a-Ling" is on it.

 

There are several releases of this.
1982, 1984 and 1987. I have the 1987 Chess Originals reissue cut at TrueTone by Phil Austin, apparently done already in 1983.

 

Not of fan of the remixes.


Does anyone know if any of the songs on the Great 28 were re-recordings or are they all originals?

 

They're all originals

 

Will try to work on a track list for a 2 CD set in Chronological order. Will not use Gold or any other comp as my guide.

Darryl

 

I feel like the Great Twenty-Eight should have been expanded from 2 LP discs to 3 LP discs, and retitled. Awesome as it is (and such a welcome blessing to have real mono back on LP after Golden Decade being rechanneled Stereo most of the time). Do remember that the chart history does not reflect the influence and relevancy of much of Chuck's output then.

 

No Dear Dad = no party

 

It's always a quandary with the Chuck Berry compilations about whether minor chart hits should be included versus songs and covers that were not chart hits but may be well-known because they were covered by other artists.

 

"Tulane" should've been on there too. On the other hand, they did US fans a favor by including the great "I Wanna Be Your Driver" which they probably didn't know.

 

I love 'I Wanna Be Your Driver'! After that I will play 'Designated Driver' by NRBQ.

 

Agree on both counts. "Tulane" -- regarded by many as his last great tune.

 

My "Great 28" collection was slightly different, in that it is a 28 track collection, but with a different line-up.

From the Charly label, I picked this up in the late 80s (I think, maybe early 90s):

Chuck Berry - Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll



Tracklist
1 Maybellene 2:21
2 Thirty Days 2:22
3 No Money Down 2:56
4 Roll Over Beethoven 2:23
5 Brown Eyed Handsome Man 2:16
6 Too Much Monkey Business 2:54
7 You Can't Catch Me 2:44
8 School Day (Ring! Ring! Goes The Bell) 2:40
9 Rock And Roll Music 2:31
10 Sweet Little Sixteen 3:00
11 Reelin' And Rockin' 3:14
12 Johnny B. Goode 2:38
13 Around And Around 2:40
14 Beautiful Delilah 2:07
15 Carol 2:46
16 Sweet Little Rock And Roller 2:20
17 Almost Grown 2:20
18 Little Queenie 2:40
19 Back In The U.S.A. 2:26
20 Memphis, Tennessee 2:12
21 Let It Rock 1:44
22 Bye Bye Johnny 2:03
23 I'm Talking About You 1:50
24 Come On 1:50
25 Nadine (Is It You?) 2:32
26 No Particular Place To Go 2:40
27 You Never Can Tell 2:41
28 Promised Land 2:23

 

Here is the track listing for a 2 cd set I compiled a while back.

Disc 1

1. Maybelline
2. Thirty Days
3. You Can't Catch Me
4. No Money Down
5. Brown Eyed Handsome Man
6. Roll Over Beethoven
7. Too Much Monkey Business
8. Havana Moon
9. School Days
10. Rock And Roll Music
11. Oh Baby Doll
12. Sweet Little Sixteen
13. Guitar Boogie
14. Reelin' And Rockin'
15. Johnny B. Goode
16. Around And Around
17. Beautiful Delilah
18. House Of Blue Lights
19. Carol
20. Jo Jo Gunne
21. Memphis
22. Sweet Little Rock And Roller
23. Run Rudolph Run
24. Little Queenie
25. Almost Grown
26. Back In The U.S.A.
27. Let It Rock
28. Too Pooped To Pop
29. Don't You Lie To Me
30. Our Little Rendezvous
31. Bye Bye Johnny

Disc 2

1. Jaguar And Thunderbird
2. Down The Road Apiece
3. Confessin' The Blues
4. Route 66
5. I'm Taking About You
6. Come On
7. Nadine
8. The Little Girl From Central
9. You Never Can Tell
10. Promised Land
11. No Particular Place To Go
12. Liverpool Drive
13. Little Marie
14. Go Bobby Soxer
15. Dear Dad
16. I Want To Be Your Driver
17. St. Louis Blues
18. It Wasn't Me
19. Ramona Say Yes
20. Viva Viva Rock 'N' Roll
21. Club Nitty Gritty
22. Back To Memphis
23. Louie To Frisco
24. Tulane
25. I'm A Rocker
26. Festival
27. My Ding-A-Ling
28. Bio
29. Shake Rattle And Roll

 

Nice compilation, however 60 tracks is a bit too rich for me. I would never include My Ding-A-Ling by the way.

 

No comp is absolutely complete and perfect but The Great 28 does not include "My Ding-A-Ling" and therefore it was my choice!

 

Right On!!! When I bought the Great 28 sometime around 1988 I wanted a decent Chuck Berry CD with original hits - there was a Mercury CD with rerecorded hits on the market at that time. I recognized all the songs except "I Wanna Be Your Driver". But when I heard it "WOW" the man could really rock. I don't have to worry about whether I'm missing any Chuck Berry now since I have the Bear Family box as well.

 

I've had this two-CD collection (below) for several years and been satisfied with it. It contains the bulk of his classic material.



That said, I'm now starting to think that the best Berry collection overall is actually the three-disc Chess box set (below) from the 1980s. It contains a few tracks I like that aren't on "Gold," including "Viva Viva Rock and Roll" (a cool song that I wasn't even aware of until I heard Steely Dan's Donald Fagen play it at a 2006 solo show) and "Run Rudolph Run." At three discs, it seems to cover all the classics plus some worthy obscurities but isn't so exhaustive that it would make for tedious listening. I'll probably try to track down a good copy at some point.

 

Except for the strange omission of "I Want To Be Your Driver". Not sure how that song was completely overlooked. Even if you don't think it belongs among the Great 28, it should be among the Top 71 (which is the number of songs included in the Chess Box).

 

That's an interesting omission. I didn't realize that "I Want To Be Your Driver" was missing from the Chess box set. That definitely should have been included. Great song.

 

It's the edited single version.

I also included some of the Mercury singles which most Chuck Berry compilations neglect.