Bob Dylan – "Maggie's Farm" (1965)

She’s 68

But she says she’s 54

My 69th birthday is tomorrow, so this is my last chance to feature “Maggie’s Farm.”

Like Maggie, I’m 68.  Unlike Maggie, I don’t claim to be 54.  (The last time I claimed to be 54 was in 2006-2007, when I really was 54.)

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“Maggie’s Farm” was released in 1965 on Bob Dylan’s fifth studio album, Bringing It All Back Home:  

It included several of Dylan’s best songs, including “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue,” and “It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” – which may rank second to only “Like a Rolling Stone” in the Dylan oeuvre.  (“Tambourine Man” is really lame, but no one’s perfect.)

Click here to listen to “Maggie’s Farm.”

Click on the link below to buy the song from Amazon: 

Gruppo Sportivo – "P. S. 78" (1979)

 

We are American kids

Rich daddies and big t*ts

If you pay the genetic-testing company 23andMe $99 and send it a saliva sample, you’ll get back a report that tells you a lot about yourself based on your DNA.  

For example, 23andMe told me that there was an 81% probability that I would think my urine smelled funny when I ate asparagus and a 72% chance that I have little or no back hair.  (One of those is true.)

It also gave me the names of 1501 other people who had sent their DNA to 23andMe for analysis and who were likely first, second, third, or fourth cousins of mine.

That’s all well and good, but the most interesting part of my 23andMe report BY FAR was the “ancestry composition” part, which told me (sort of) where my ancestors came from.

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According to 23andMe, I am 100% northwestern European in ancestry:  

In other words, I’m 0.0% eastern European, 0.0% southern European, 0.0% central and south Asian, 0.0% east Asian and native American, 0.0% western Asian and northern African, 0.0% sub-Saharan African, and 0.0% Melanesian.  

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Somehow, 23andMe provides the names of particular cities and regions where your ancestors likely came from.

For example, the location with the strongest evidence of my ancestry is greater London.  (I have no knowledge of any particular ancestors from Greater London, although the sheer size of that region increases the odds that some of my English forebears came from there.)

My DNA also indicates that there’s a good chance that I had ancestors from Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, and/or West Yorkshire – four adjacent counties located in the northwestern part of England, far from London.

It’s also possible that I had ancestors from three non-English metropolitan areas – namely, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Belfast.

It’s less likely – although not impossible – that I had Irish ancestors.  (Until someone can prove that, I’m entering a plea of “Not guilty!” to that charge.)

*     *     *     *     *

If I have German ancestors, 23andMe believes they came from North Rhine-Westphalia, which is the most populous of Germany’s 16 states.

As its name indicates, that densely populated state borders the northern part of the Rhine River.  Its largest city is Cologne (home to one of my favorite beers, kölsch).  The state capital and second-largest city is Düsseldorf (home to another of my favorite beers, altbier).

23andMe also thinks I have Swiss ancestors from Grisons, the largest and easternmost of Switzerland’s 26 cantons.  Grisons is the least densely populated Swiss canton – it is quite mountainous, and home to a number of Alpine resorts (including St. Moritz and Davos).

*     *     *     *     *

The genealogical research I’ve done to date indicates that most of my ancestors were British.  But two or three of my 16 great-great-grandparents seem to have had German roots.

I had thought that one of those great-great-grandparents was of Dutch ancestry because her great-great-great-grandfather was born in the Netherlands.  But I recently realized that he was born in the U.S.  (He wasn’t born in Utrecht, which is a large Dutch city.  He was born in New Utrecht, which is now part of Brooklyn, New York.) 

That ancestor’s father, Willem Klinckenburg – the name was later Anglicized to Clinkingbeard – was born in Aachen, Germany, which is located in North Rhine-Westphalia, just a stone’s throw from the Dutch border.  

However, the woman that Willem’s son married was of Dutch ancestry.  So maybe at least part of that 12.0% of my DNA that 23andMe classified as simply “western European” is Dutch.

*     *     *     *     *

I’m intrigued by the 5.8% of my DNA that 23andMe thinks is Scandinavian.  I see no one in my family tree who appears to have Scandinavian ancestry.  However, my genealogical research has a lot of holes in it, so who knows?

*     *     *     *     *

 

In honor of my putative Dutch ancestry, today’s featured song is by a Dutch group, Gruppo Sportivo.

Of course, the name “Gruppo Sportivo” sounds more Italian than Dutch – and the band sings in French and English.  All of which makes them perfect for a post about the melting pot that is the good ol’ U. S. of A.

Click here to listen to “P.S. 78.”  It’s guaranteed to put un sourire sur votre visage!

Click on the link below to buy the record from Amazon:

Elastica – "Connection" (1994)

 

I don’t understand how the last card is played

But somehow the vital connection is made

For $99, the genetic-testing company 23andMe will send you a vial to spit into so it can analyze your DNA.

By comparing your DNA to that of the zillions of other people who have sent in their saliva sample, 23andMe can figure out which of those people are related to you.

To date, 23andMe has sent me the names of no fewer than 1501 of its customers who are related to me.

The closest relatives that 23andMe has identified are five first cousins, once removed.  

First cousins, once removed are from different generations.  For example, your first cousin’s child would be your first cousin, once removed because you are from different generations.  

Likewise, your parents’ first cousins are your first cousins, once removed.  

Because my mother is only child, I have no first cousins on her side of the family.  But she has a number of first cousins, who are my first cousins, once removed.  

By contrast, my father was one of eight children, so I have quite a few first cousins on my father’s side – which make their children my first cousins, once removed.  All five of the first cousins, once removed I’ve learned about through 23andMe are children of my paternal first cousins.

This chart should clear everything up:

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23 andMe has also given me the names of ten second cousins (people with whom I have a great-grandparent in common), 168 third cousins (people with whom I have a great-great-grandparent in common), and a whopping 1318 fourth cousins (people with whom I have a great-great-great-grandparent in common).

Given that each of us has 32 great-great-great-grandparents, it’s not surprising that I have over 1300 fourth cousins among 23andMe customers alone.  According to my calculations, the average American of my generation has about 50,000 fourth cousins.  (Don’t ask me how I came up with that number – it’s a l-o-n-g story.)

Which means that you very well may be acquainted with one or more of your fourth cousins and not even realize that you’re related.

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Elastica released “Connection” as a single in 1994, which was the year that Britpop really got off the ground.  (Britpop giants Blur and Oasis both released their debut albums that year.)

“Connection” kicks off with a really catchy riff.  Unfortunately, it appears that riff was “borrowed” from “Three Girl Rhumba,” one of the tracks on Wire’s legendary Pink Flag album. 

Click here to listen to “Three Girl Rhumba.”

Click here to see the official music video for “Connection.”

And click on the link below if you’d like to buy “Connection” from Amazon:

Joseph – "Green Eyes" (2019)

Those green eyes

Are my green light

Some time ago I sent a saliva sample to the genetic testing company 23andMe, which analyzed my DNA and sent me a report chock full of interesting information about me.

One of the things I learned from 23andMe was that some people can smell a distinctive odor in their urine after they consume asparagus, while others can’t.  Whether you can or can’t smell that odor is determined by your genetics.

A 23andMe test kit

Fewer than half the people in the world can detect the chemical that is believed to cause your pee to smell funny after you chow down on asparagus.  I’m in that group – based on my DNA, 23andMe said I had an 81% chance of being able to pick up that odor, and they were correctimundo.

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My DNA reveals a lot about me that’s more interesting than whether my pee has an odd odor after I eat asparagus.

According to 23andMe, my DNA says that there is a 62% chance that I have straight hair, a 65% chance that I have few or no freckles, a 68% chance that my hair is light brown or dark blond, a 71% chance that I have very fair or moderately fair skin, and a 73% chance that I don’t have a unibrow.  

My DNA also says that there is a 66% chance I don’t have dimples, an 83% chance I don’t have a cleft chin, a 91% chance I don’t have stretch marks, and a 93% chance I have wet, sticky earwax (as opposed to dry, flaky earwax).

My DNA had it right each time – you would have gone nine-for-nine if you had wagered on the favorites.  

On the other hand, 23andMe says there is a 72% chance that I have little or no back hair.  

No one’s perfect.  

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23andMe also says that there is a 51% chance I have blue eyes, a 21% chance I have greenish blue eyes, a 17% chance I have green eyes, a 9% chance I have light hazel eyes, and almost no chance that I have dark hazel or brown eyes.  I would describe my eyes as green, but you might describe them as greenish blue or light hazel – in any event, they aren’t blue.

But as any of the ladies who know me will attest, they are stunningly attractive.

If you don’t believe me, e-mail at 2or3lines@gmail.com and we can arrange to meet some afternoon so you can see for yourself.  (Proof of vaccination required, of course!)

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There are a lot of songs about blue eyes, but I’ve only found a couple about green eyes – one by the very successful British band Coldplay, and one by a lesser-known indie trio from Oregon that calls itself Joseph:

Sisters Allison, Natalie, and Meegan

Joseph’s three members are sisters – Natalie Closner Schepman and twins Allison and Meegan Closner.  (I’ve been unable to pin down whether Allison and Meegan are identical or fraternal.  I’ve found a couple of things on the Internet that indicate they’re identical, but they don’t look very identical in most of the photos of Joseph I’ve been able to find.)

Joseph’s “Green Eyes” was released in 2019 on Good Luck, Kid, the group’s third studio album.

Click here to listen to “Green Eyes.”

Click on the link below to buy the song from Amazon:

Meghan Trainor – "Genetics" (2020)

My DNA is graded A

You see this face? 

I was born with it

According to Henry Ford, “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty.  Anyone who keeps learning stays young.”

Actually, Henry Ford didn’t say that.  There are dozens, perhaps hundreds of websites that attribute that quote to Ford – but I’ve been unable to verify that he ever spoke those words.

And even if Ford did say that, he’s full of sh*t.  I’ve never stopped learning.  But it’s nonsense to say that it’s kept me young – I’m old as hell, and there’s no use pretending otherwise. 

*     *     *     *     *

Nevertheless, I love to learn – and I spend a good deal of my time doing just that.

One thing I’ve learned is that you can pick up new things from the most unexpected places.  To wit, from the genetic testing company, 23andMe.

Among the things I’ve learned from 23andMe is that not everyone’s pee smells funny after they eat asparagus.

Actually, that statement isn’t completely accurate.  As I understand it, asparagus affects the smells of everyone’s urine.  But some noses don’t detect that smell because of genetics.

Based on my DNA, 23andMe told me that there was an 81% chance that I would notice the distinctive odor that asparagus produces in urine.

23andMe hit that one out of the park: I definitely notice that odd smell whenever I eat asparagus.  Frankly, I’d just as soon not be able to detect that odor, but you can’t change your DNA.

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It turns out that 23andMe knows a lot about me based on my DNA.

For example, 23andMe says that there is a 70% chance I prefer chocolate to vanilla ice cream.  I like vanilla ice cream as much as the next guy, but I would never choose it over chocolate.  So chalk up another one for the folks at 23andMe.

Also, 23andMe also says that it’s more likely that I prefer salty snacks than sweet ones, but only by a 51% to 49% margin – essentially, it’s a genetic coin flip.  

To be honest, I can’t say whether I prefer salty or sweet snacks.  I like ‘em both – I’d say it’s six of one, half a dozen of the other.  So 23andMe pretty much nailed that one as well.

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“Genetics” was released last on Meghan Trainor’s third studio album, Treat Myself:

Click here to listen to “Genetics.”

Click on the link below to buy the song from Amazon:

Beatles – "Oh! Darling" (1969)

Believe me when I tell you

I'll never do you no harm

This summer, I plan to read all the books by the late author Larry McMurtry that I didn’t manage to read while he was still alive – as well as re-read some of his books that I have previously read.

In addition, I’m going to do a lot of reading about the Beatles.  Photos of a number of the books about the Beatles that I’ve checked out from my local library appear above.  

Put them all together and you have quite a pile:

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The classic Broadway musical, The Sound of Music, includes a song sung by a group of nuns who don’t know what to make of an unconventional young postulant named Maria:

How do you solve a problem like Maria?

How do you catch a cloud and pin it down?

I feel somewhat the same way about the Beatles as those nuns felt about Maria.  

 It’s an article of faith among baby boomers that the Beatles were the greatest band of all time, and that belief is shared by many younger people who weren’t even born when the Beatles bestrode the sixties like the Colossus of Rhodes supposedly bestrode the entrance to that city’s harbor:

But figuring out just what it was about the Beatles that made them so special is akin to catching a cloud and pinning it down.

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It defies reason that three seemingly unremarkable teenagers from an unremarkable neighborhood in a  nondescript English city would become such a phenomenon.  (No disrespect to Ringo, but he was not a songwriter like the other three Beatles, who had become a well-established unit before Ringo appeared on the scene.)

If the Beatles aren’t the most convincing proof ever that a whole can be greater than the sum of its parts, I don’t know what is.  (Let’s face it: the Beatles’ work as solo artists pales in comparison to their oeuvre as a group.)

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Earlier this year, I wrote a series of posts that analyzed the structure and lyrics of a dozen or so Beatles records that were released in 1963 or 1964.

I pointed out that the typical Lennon-McCartney song from that era consisted of only about a minute’s worth of original material.  These “songlets” were stretched to an acceptable length through shameless repetition.  For example, “Love Me Do” – one of twenty #1 hit singles released by the Beatles – had only one verse (which was repeated with almost no variation four times) and an eleven-word bridge (which was repeated twice).

I expected the Beatles worshippers among my readers to react badly to what I knew they would view as criticism of their musical demigods.

But describing my writing as as “anti-Fab Four diatribe,” “an unrelenting smear job,” and an “endless vendetta” seemed a little over the top, 

Don’t have a cow, man!

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One of my critics described my posts thusly:

You dissect (those songs) like a high-school biology teacher with a frog, and are disgusted by the innards.

I plead guilty to the charge that I took those songs apart and analyzed them like a scientist might dissect and examine a specimen.

And I admit that I find some of them a bit meh . . . but feeling meh about a record is a far cry from feeling the way most of us would feel if we were confronted by a heapin’ helpin’ of frog innards.  

It’s more than a little hyperbolic to say that I’m “disgusted” by the Beatles records I wrote about in those posts.  Just because you fail to fall on your knees to worship something doesn’t indicate that you’re disgusted by it. 

*     *     *     *     *

Maybe all the reading I plan to do over the next few months will enable me to figure out what made the Beatles so special.

That assumes, of course, that the Beatles actually were that special.  Everyone I know thinks they were, and they’re probably right – but I’m going to try to keep an open mind until I’ve completed my research and taken some time to mull things over.

I’ll report back to you sometime this fall.  (I see you shiver with antici- . . . -pation!)

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Today’s featured song does nothing for me except give me a headache.  (I doubt that the Beatles were trying to make a fingernails-on-a-chalkboard record when they recorded “Oh! Darling,” but they certainly succeeded in doing exactly that.)

“Oh! Darling” was written by Paul McCartney, and he handled lead vocal duties when the song was recorded.

It was released on Abbey Road in 1969.  It was never issued as a single in the U.S. or UK – the Beatles weren’t stupid – but was released as a single in Central America, Portugal, and Japan.  (No, I don’t know whether it was a hit in any of those places.)

John Lennon had this to say about the song in a 1980 interview:

“Oh! Darling” was a great one of Paul’s that he didn’t sing too well.  I always thought I could have done it better – it was more my style than his.  He wrote it, so what the hell, he’s going to sing it.

Lennon very well might have done a better job with “Oh! Darling.”  But that’s only because the record is so bad that John probably couldn’t have made it worse if he had tried.

Based on this song, you might conclude that Paul McCartney didn’t learn a thing about songwriting between 1963 and 1969.  For one thing, the lyrics are utterly generic.  In addition, “Oh! Darling” is a classic Beatles “songlet”: it consists of only two short verses and a bridge, each of which is repeated mechanically in order to stretch the song from 1:40 to a more respectable length.

Sources differ as to whether John or Paul played the piano on “Oh! Darling.”  (If I was McCartney, I’d blame it on Lennon – he’s dead, so he couldn’t sue Paul for defamation.)

Click here to listen to “Oh! Darling.”  But before you do, I’d recommend that you get a jump on the headache that is guaranteed to follow by knocking back a couple of aspirin first.

(I’m not going to bother to include a link so you can buy the song from Amazon – I have too much respect for you to do that.)  

Katy Perry (ft. Snoop Dogg) – "California Gurls" (2010)

California girls, we’re unforgettable

Daisy Dukes, bikinis on top

Sun-kissed skin so hot, we’ll melt your popsicle

Here are the ten states that the folks at the Musicoholics website believe had the most impact on American popular music.  (Drum roll, please!)

10.  Minnesota

  9.  Illinois

  8.  Texas

  7.  Michigan

  6.  Mississippi

  5.  Tennessee

  4.  Georgia

  3.  Louisiana

  2.  California

  1.  New York

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2 or 3 lines thinks that Musicoholics ranked a few of those states too high.

One of those states is Minnesota, which was assigned the #10 ranking based almost entirely on the strength of Bob Dylan and Prince.  But two musicians are not enough to justify a spot in the Musicoholics top ten, especially when one of them is Prince.  (Sorry, but I never got Prince.)

Illinois was home to a lot of great jazz and blues musicians, but those aren’t my favorite musical genres – I’m more interested in pop, rock, and hip-hop.  Chicago and Cheap Trick are very good but I would say they are great – there are quite a few rock groups I would rank ahead of them.  And while Kanye West is truly a genius, you need more than one genius for a state to be ranked in the top ten.

The one, the only Kanye West

A lot of great blues musicians (including B. B. King, Muddy Waters, and especially Robert Johnson) came from Mississippi, but Musicoholics ranked that state #6 mostly because Elvis Presley spent the first 13 years of his life there.  I think Elvis is the most overrated American popular musician of all time, so I would drop Mississippi way down in the rankings.

Two of the states ranked in the top five by Musicoholics – Georgia and Louisiana – probably don’t belong there.  A lot of great rappers have come out of Atlanta, and Little Richard and Otis Redding were one-of-a-kind talents.  I’d rank Georgia in the top ten, but #4 is a little high.

Louisiana’s #3 ranking is even harder to defend.  New Orleans produced a lot of great music back in the day, but has been resting on its laurels for quite a few years – what have you done for me lately, New Orleans?  The greatest Louisiana musicians – e.g., Louis Armstrong, Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis – are older than me, and I’m pretty old.

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That leaves five states standing.

I’m going to leave Tennessee right where Musicoholics put it – ranked fifth.  After all, Nashville is the center of the country music universe, and Memphis is almost as significant when it comes to R&B.  

I’d rank Texas ahead of Tennessee by a nose because Texas produced musical standouts in every musical genre – also, a lot of the great country and soul music to come out of Nashville and Memphis was recorded by artists from other states.

I would put Michigan at #3.  I’d like to rank it even higher because so many of my personal favorites – including the MC5, Iggy Pop and the Stooges, and the White Stripes – came from there.  Of course, Detroit was the home of Motown and its mind-boggling roster of recording greats.  

One possible Mt. Rushmore of Detroit musicians

But I don’t see how anyone can argue that New York and California don’t deserve the top two spots.

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I don’t agree with Musicoholics’ ranking of New York ahead of California.

My decision to rank California #1 comes not from my head, but from my heart – especially that part of my heart that hasn’t changed much at all since the sixties, when I was a teenager.  

If you had asked the teenaged me to choose between Los Angeles and New York City, I would have picked Los Angeles in a heartbeat.  

That choice would have been influenced by southern California’s natural beauty and balmy weather – also by the fact that the prospect of life in New York City was more than a little intimidating for a 16-year-old kid who had lived his whole life in Joplin, Missouri.  

But a lot of the appeal of California derived from music that came from there – the music of the Beach Boys, Buffalo Springfield, the Byrds, the Doors, the Jefferson Airplane, Arthur Lee and Love . . . the list goes on and on.

 *     *     *     *     *

I was going to feature “California Girls” by the Beach Boys – the quintessential California pop group – but decided at the last minute to switch things up and go with Katy Perry’s “California Gurls.”

Katy Perry was born in Santa Barbara, and spent most of her formative years in California.  (Her parents were Pentecostal ministers who referred to deviled eggs as “angled eggs.”) 

Snoop Dogg, who contributed a couple of verses to “California Gurls,” is also a California native.

“California Gurls” was the first of four consecutive #1 singles that Perry released in 2010.  Each one of them went 8X platinum – meaning that each of them sold at least eight million copies.

But compared to “California Girls,” “California Gurls” is fool’s gold – or, more accurately, fool’s platinum.

Barbi Benton

“California Girls” is like an all-natural Playboy centerfold from the sixties – it’s the Barbi Benton of pop singles.

“California Gurls,” by contrast, is a little like a reality-show star who has had lip augmentation and breast implants – she looks good from a distance, but isn’t entirely convincing when you examine her more closely.

Click here to watch the oh-so-over-the-top official music video for “California Gurls.”

Click on the link below to buy the song from Amazon:

Chuck Berry – "Come On" (1961)

Everything is wrong since

Me and my baby parted

All day long I’m walking ’cause I 

Couldn’t get my car started

We’ve been working our way through the Musicoholics website’s ranking of states based their relative contributions to popular music.

Last time, we covered the states ranked from #30 to #21.  Today, we’re going to discuss the states that Musicoholics ranked #20 through #11.

*     *     *     *     *

Arkansas holds down the #20 spot on the Musicoholics list mostly because the great Johnny Cash grew up there.  I might flip Arkansas with Alabama – the home of Hank Williams – which was ranked 21st. But Cash is comparable in importance to Williams . . . so no harm, no foul.

Next in the Musicoholics rankings is Missouri.  The most notable pop musician to hail from Missouri was St. Louis native Chuck Berry, a truly great songwriter and performer – Elvis Presley can’t hold a candle to him but was a much more popular figure than Berry because Chuck was (1) older, (2)  black, and (3) a perv.  

#19 (with a bullet!)

Jazz great Charlie “Bird” Parker also spent his formative years in Missouri – he was from Kansas City, which was home to a thriving jazz scene.  (You did know that Kansas City is in Missouri, don’t you?  Unless you’re talking about Kansas City, Kansas – which is much smaller than Kansas City, Missouri.)

*     *     *     *     *

Indiana comes in at #18 on the Musicoholics list.  Michael Jackson and his musical brothers and sisters were born there, as were John Mellencamp (who wears his Hoosierness on his sleeve) and Axl Rose (who doesn’t).

Next comes Virginia, which spawned a number of country and bluegrass legends – Patsy Cline, the Carter Family, and the Stanley Brothers among them.  I might Virginia higher but for the fact that Dave Matthews and Bruce Hornsby are from there.)

Florida ranks #3 among the states in population, but Musicoholics assigns them only the #16 spot in its rankings for its contributions to rock (Tom Petty and Lynyrd Skynyrd), rap (2 Live Crew and Pitbull), disco (KC and the Sunshine Band), and Latin music (Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine).

I would move Florida ahead of #15 Massachusetts – Aerosmith, Boston, the Cars, and the J. Geils Band had their moments, but are all overrated.  (Mission of Burma, by contrast, is almost criminally underrated.)

*     *     *     *     *

Pennsylvania and Ohio are #6 and #7 in population, but are underachievers when it comes to their musical contributions – they are #14 and #13, respectively, in the Musicoholics rankings.   

Pennsylvania produced a lot of great R&B artists, but personally I prefer the groups who came out of Ohio – among them the James Gang, Devo, Pere Ubu, and especially the Pretenders.  (The Pretenders were formed in the UK, and three of its four original members were English – but Chrissie Hynde grew up in Ohio, and Chrissie Hynde is the Pretenders as far as I’m concerned. . . not to mention the greatest female singer/songwriter of all time.)

Chrissie Hynde

Washington (state – not D.C.) comes in at the 12th spot on the Musicoholics list.  I would bump Washington up a few spots –after all, it was home to Jimi Hendrix, the Sonics (perhaps the greatest garage band of all), and grunge greats like Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Mudhoney, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden.

Rounding out the second ten on the Musicoholics list is New Jersey.  Frank Sinatra and the Four Seasons  justify a high ranking for the Garden State, but it gets demerits for the hugely overrated Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen.  

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Between 1955 and 1959, the great Chuck Berry released a dozen or so hit singles, including “Maybellene,” “Roll Over Beethoven,” “Sweet Little Sixteen,” and “Johnny B. Goode.”

But his career was derailed in December 1959 when he was arrested for picking up a 14-year-old Native American girl before a performance in El Paso and transporting her to St. Louis to work as a hatcheck girl at his club.  (Berry claimed that she said she was 21.)

Berry was convicted of violating the federal Mann Act – which made it a felony to transport any female across state lines for immoral purposes – and given a five-year prison sentence.  Click here to read a fascinating account of the trial.

The star won an appeal of the conviction – his lawyer claimed that the trial judge had made racist comments that prejudiced the all-white jury – but was retried in 1961 and convicted again.  Berry’s appeal of that conviction failed and he spent a year and a half in jail.

Today’s featured song was the last single Berry released before he went to the poke.  It didn’t chart, and I was unaware of the song until I recently heard the Rolling Stones cover of it, which was the very first single they released.

The Stones’ recording of “Come On” made it to #21 on the UK single charts, but was not released in the U.S.  

Click here to listen to Chuck Berry’s version of “Come On.”

Click below to buy the recording from Amazon: