Daddy and daughter in happier times
Chuck Berry – Memphis
Amazon
I’ve heard this Chuck Berry song probably a thousand times in my life and its devastating brilliance never really hit me until now. Don’t get me wrong, I always thought it was a good tune. If you asked me about it yesterday, I would’ve said the unexpected calypso feel is a nice touch and the lyrics tell a good story. But, I would’ve also said the Lonnie Mack instrumental and The Faces cover on A Nod Is As Good As A Wink might be more definitive. Wrong. Empirically wrong. If anything, those covers obscure the tragedy at the heart of “Memphis.”
“Help me Information, more than that I cannot add
Only that I miss her and all the fun we had
But we were pulled apart because her mom did not agree
And tore apart our happy home in Memphis, Tennessee”
For all of Berry’s brilliance in writing about the postwar American teenager and his profound influence on the rock ‘n’ roll infrastructure (particularly via Keith Richards, pictured above with Chuck), this subdued, quasi-folk song is his finest moment. “Johnny B. Goode” is a rock ‘n’ roll masterpiece, no doubt, but “Memphis” is real, and not the fraudulent hip-hop real that impresses college-educated white people.
“Last time I saw Marie she was waving me good-bye,
With hurry home drops on her cheek that trickled from her eye,
Marie is only six years old, Information please,
Try to put me through to her in Memphis, Tennessee”
“Memphis” takes us way beyond the sock hop. It’s a quiet, 2:14 study in evil, in this case perpetrated by a wife on a father and daughter. Berry’s genius, of course, is that he sets us up. We think the guy is using Information to contact his lover, but by song’s end we realize he’s trying to get in touch with his six-year-old daughter. The desperate, hopeless longing combined with Berry’s eye for detail — totally heartbreaking. Trust me, I have the tears to prove it.
I love you, Leilani Beth Davis.
Signed, Your Daddy (with hurry home drops on his cheek)
Now I just shed a few myself, Lance. I've followed your path on Facebook over the past few months – though you've never mentioned anything explicit about your family situation. I'm sending prayers from a few thousand miles away that your situation works out the best it can.
I'd heard the lyrics a hundred times before, but I had never really noticed them until I was going through my divorce. The first night that I was sleeping in a different house and I was not able to kiss my son on the forehead before I went to sleep was devastating. His mother had found someone else and was then trying to pull every manipulative and self-righteous trick in the book to paint me as the bad person who was ruining our family. I was convinced she was evil. Now looking back, I realize that she will never be well, damage was done to her as a child, and she'll always have “psychotic episodes” vis-a-vis me and anyone who gets close to her. But my son and I have learned how to predict her behaviors and he can still love her and I can have functional communication with her. Why am I writing this? Lance, try to get over use of words like “crime” – yeah, it's awful, but for your child's sake, try not to hate the mom too much. Good luck.
Thanks for writing and the advice. Frankly, I agree with you. While anger is an understandable part of the process, I know full well that getting past the anger is also part of the process. So, I'll get there! But on this day, it's an honest accounting. Thanks again.
Really sorry to hear this Lance. Hope your next post will be on We Can Work It Out instead of Here My Dear. Suerte!
Fact that the song has been a hit in just about every genre says something about his ability as a songwriter, the Mann Act be damned.
Never really thought about 'Memphis' that way until now. When my wife and I separated, I was the guilty party and she took off self righteously with my 5year old son. She spent the next 12years making access to him as difficult as possible, then he took off himself, to University. Now he doesn't visit his mother except when he has to. Things even themselves out…
I hope things work out friend.
Lance, I don't know if you know but “Memphis” has always been my favorite Chuck Berry tune, and, while I can't quite empathize with your own reasons for finding it such a poignant song, you know I do sympathize with you–I should say that you have my sympathies. Moreover, I think, as is often the case, that your assessment of the song, especially as the original, as penned by the pride of the StL, towers above (or, rather, digs deeper than) all covers of it. Chuck is far greater songwriter than he gets credit for being and you're a far better guy than you're getting credit for. Hang in there, pal …
It's always been my favorite Chuck song…but now with a better reason…thanks for making me cry in my Cheerios, Lance.
Lex & Sean: Thanks for the support. Really, thanks to everyone for the kind words. I'm hopeful that things will work out appropriately.
nice piece. Hope life turns sweet again.
Tearjerker material! I'm another one who thinks this is Berry's best, but you've made it that much more poignant. God bless. W.