Memphis

Chuck Berry wrote this and recorded it in 1959 as "Memphis, Tennessee." It languished as the B-side of his Back In The U.S.A. single, but was revived when the white blues guitarist Lonnie Mack covered it in 1963. With the title shortened to "Memphis," his version went to #5 in the US. Johnny Rivers, who had some success as a songwriter (Rick Nelson's "I'll Make Believe"), but had yet to score a hit as an artist, landed a regular gig in 1963 at the Whisky a Go Go, a popular club on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles (The Doors would later make their mark playing shows at The Whiskey). In 1964 he released a live album recorded at the club called Johnny Rivers At The Whisky a Go Go, with "Memphis" issued as a single. It became a huge hit for Rivers, going to #2 in America and launching a career that included nine Top 10 singles. He also had tremendous influence on the business side; he started a record label called Soul City which signed the Fifth Dimension and Jimmy Webb.

This song tells quite a story and has an interesting twist ending. We hear about the singer getting a phone call from a girl who wouldn't leave a number, but he knows it came from Memphis, Tennessee. He calls the operator, trying to locate his girl Marie (which conveniently rhymes with "Tennessee"), who he thinks is the one trying to reach him. At the end of the song, we find out that Marie is his six-year-old daughter, and that he is a divorced father trying desperately to get in touch with her. Chuck Berry drew on accounts he heard from friends and acquaintances to craft his lyric. "I had known couples who had divorced and the tragedies of the children," he said.

Rivers followed up this song with another Chuck Berry cover: "Maybellene," which went to #12 in the US.