Today's song is a great cover of a fantastic song by the incredible rock n' roll pioneer Chuck Berry. It was one of Berry's greatest hits (ranking #97 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time) and sounded quite similar to another Berry favorite, "Johnny B. Goode". "Roll Over Beethoven" has been covered not only by The Beatles, but also by bands and artists as varied as Jerry Lee Lewis, The Beatles, the Electric Light Orchestra, Mountain, Ten Years After, Raul Seixas, Leon Russell, Status Quo, The Rolling Stones, The Byrds, The 13th Floor Elevators, The Sonics, Wes Paul, Gene Vincent, Quartz, Uriah Heep, Kickhunter, Johnny Rivers and Iron Maiden. Whew! Lots of covers--and I'm sure they're all different in some way. It's amazing what you can do with a song, even a classic, to make it new, versatile and always interesting.
This song was a favorite of the Beatles' for a long time, predating even their "Beatles" identity. As far as their version is concerned, George was on vocals and also provided that jammin' guitar sound. I really like this song; I know I've heard it before somewhere but I can't be sure it was the Beatles version so my tally will remain unchanged. The lyrics are great--they're telling the classics (Beethoven, Tchaikovsky) to move aside and make way for rhythm and blues to take the spotlight. Personally, I think there's plenty of room for everyone. :)
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Heard It Tally: 1
Songs Completed: 22
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