426 PART 4 | SINCE WORLD WAR II
timing section text comments
0:00 introduction One bar of repeated triplet chords sets the
tone, followed by 1-bar break that is fi lled
with the pickup notes that begin chorus 1.
0:02 chorus 1 Up in the morning and out to
school...
Each short vocal phrase is answered by
a response in the guitar, over a chugging
beat in the rhythm section.
0:24 chorus 2 Ring, ring goes the bell... Each vocal chorus begins with pickup
notes sung during a break in bar 12 of the
previous chorus.
0:46 chorus 3 Soon as three o’clock rolls
around...
1:08 chorus 4 Drop the coin right into the slot...
1:30 chorus 5 Guitar solo: a series of blues licks
emphasizing repeated notes.
1:52 chorus 6 Drop the coin right into the slot... Repeat of chorus 4.
2:14 chorus 7 Hail, hail rock and roll...
songwriter: Chuck Berry
date: 1956
performers: Chuck Berry, vocal and
electric guitar; Johnnie Johnson, piano;
Willie Dixon, bass; Fred Below, drums
genre: rock and roll
meter: duple
form: strophic 12-bar blues
WHAT TO LISTEN FOR
- 12-bar blues structure
- emphatic rhythm to encourage dancing
- teen-oriented lyrics
- prominent blues-based electric guitar
playing
CD 3.15 Listening Guide 17.4 “School Day” CHUCK BERRY
Listen & Refl ect
- How do Berry’s vocal and guitar styles compare with those of Robert Johnson (see LG 14.1)?
Likewise, how does his singing with a band compare with Wynonie Harris’s (see LG 17.3)? - What arguments could be made for and against the following statement? “When the
thirty-year-old Chuck Berry wrote a song about high school, he was selling out by merely
pandering to the teen market instead of expressing his own artistic ideas.”
172028_17_412-439_r3_sd.indd 426 23/01/13 10:58 AM