Roll Over Beethoven (1956) (1963)

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By:
Chuck Berry (born Charles Edward Anderson Berry born October 18, 1926 in St. Louis, Missouri.)

One of the pioneers of rock and roll music and rock guitar. John Lennon said, "If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it 'Chuck Berry'."

Berry was one of the first musicians to be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame on its opening in 1986.

In 2004, Berry was rated #5 in Rolling Stone Magazine's 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked
"Roll Over Beethoven" at #97 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

During the mastering (final mixing) of "Roll Over Beethoven", the finished track was intentionally sped up half a step.


In 1973, "Tell Tchaikovsky the news" took on new meaning. The new owners of NYC classical music station WNCN announced a change of format to rock & roll by interrupting a performance of the Mozart Requiem with "Roll Over Beethoven". The station's classical audience was so outraged they successfully petitioned the FCC to force a return to the previous format.


Chart position:
#29 (US), #2 (US R&B).

Written by:
Chuck Berry.

Berry also wrote and recorded such songs as "Maybellene", "Johnny B. Goode", "Memphis, Tennessee", "Rock And Roll Music", "Sweet Little Sixteen", "School Days", "No Particular Place To Go" and "Promised Land".

Berry wrote the song as an affectionate dig at his sister Lucy, who spent so much time playing classical music on the family piano that young Chuck rarely got a turn.



Also by:
The Beatles, whose version (with lead vocal and lead guitar by George Harrison) reached #68 in the US in 1965.

Never intended to be released as a single, it was originally a track on their 1963 album With The Beatles, which had advance orders of more than 500,000 copies. It sold another 500,000 copies by September 1965, making it the second album to sell a million copies in the UK, the first being the South Pacific soundtrack.

With The Beatles
stayed at the #1 for 21 weeks, displacing their debut album Please Please Me. Because of this, the Beatles occupied the top spot for the equivalent of almost an entire year (51 consecutive weeks.)

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