Please answer my stupid question about the song "Memphis, Tennessee"

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I have every version of this song except the one I want. I found the Who version, the Stones version, the Elvis version, the George Thorogood (sp) version, the original Chuck Berry, everything except the version that was a hit in the 70s. Who did that?

― Orbit (Orbit), Saturday, 12 November 2005 04:25 (twenty years ago)

Johnny Rivers did it, in his distinctive nasal voice.

― k/l (Ken L), Saturday, 12 November 2005 04:37 (twenty years ago)

Ah, a million thanks

― Orbit (Orbit), Saturday, 12 November 2005 04:45 (twenty years ago)

But it was a hit in 1964, not the 70s.

― k/l (Ken L), Saturday, 12 November 2005 05:12 (twenty years ago)

Yeah but I heard in the 70s. I wasn't even born till '64.

― Orbit (Orbit), Saturday, 12 November 2005 05:34 (twenty years ago)

can't believe you missed the silicon teens version.

― frenchbloke (frenchbloke), Saturday, 12 November 2005 09:54 (twenty years ago)

Well, Al Green and Tom Jones also did it, but my guess is that Johnny Rivers is the man you're looking for.

― Frank Kogan (Frank Kogan), Saturday, 12 November 2005 18:16 (twenty years ago)

Ah yes, but do you have the Pianosaurus version?

― Go, GO, GO!, Saturday, 12 November 2005 18:34 (twenty years ago)

Or John Cale's version?

― nickn (nickn), Saturday, 12 November 2005 18:35 (twenty years ago)

Sandy Denny also does an excellent live rendition on the Who Knows WHere The Time Goes box set.

― sleeve (sleeve), Saturday, 12 November 2005 18:42 (twenty years ago)

I guess it's about time to mention the Faces version as well.

― k/l (Ken L), Saturday, 12 November 2005 19:04 (twenty years ago)

What about the Silicon Teens version?

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Saturday, 12 November 2005 19:07 (twenty years ago)

Another stupid question: Have you got Lonnie Mack's version?

― General Doinel (Charles McCain), Saturday, 12 November 2005 19:08 (twenty years ago)

I mentioned this song on this thread and then Dadaismus mentioned yet another version.

― k/l (Ken L), Saturday, 12 November 2005 20:21 (twenty years ago)

Johnny Rivers was indeed the version I was looking for. Speaking of which, I think he gets overlooked. "Poor Side of Town" and "Secret Agent Man" are also great. This has prompted a Johnny Rivers frenzy, and I'm looking for other stuff now. Thanks k/l!

― Orbit (Orbit), Saturday, 12 November 2005 22:51 (twenty years ago)

Orbit -- "Summer Rain," STAT!

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Sunday, 13 November 2005 00:26 (twenty years ago)

Speaking of Memphis, I heard that godawful song "Walking in Memphis" (by someone who really ought to be buried alive for his crimes) today, and it made me want to throw my kitchen radio out the window at a passing taxi.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 13 November 2005 00:34 (twenty years ago)

You'll never guess who almost bogarts my Johnny Rivers C/D? thread.

― k/l (Ken L), Sunday, 13 November 2005 00:48 (twenty years ago)

Not to get all edd hurt on you all, but the name of the damn song is simply "Memphis".

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Sunday, 13 November 2005 06:19 (twenty years ago)

Nice Alternative TV version too.

― Dee Xtrovert (dee dee), Sunday, 13 November 2005 06:49 (twenty years ago)

PLEASANT PLAINS: the name of the damn song became "Memphis" after Lonnie Mack had his hit with it. Before that, Chuck Berry's original was "Memphis, Tennessee."

― Rev. Hoodoo (Rev. Hoodoo), Sunday, 13 November 2005 07:24 (twenty years ago)

I heard that godawful song "Walking in Memphis" (by someone who really ought to be buried alive for his crimes) today

Oh boy. The bar I worked at years ago had that in regular rotation. I figure the 2,000 times I heard it counts as time served toward whatever Judgment Day I have coming. (And what does "Do I really feel the way I feel" even mean?!)

Marc Cohn, by the way. Not buried alive, as far as I know, but at least has had the courtesy not to release an album since 1998, according to AMG.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Sunday, 13 November 2005 07:42 (twenty years ago)

omg I just found Marc Cohn's Web site and he was apparently shot in the head after a gig in Denver in August! He survived. An attempted carjacking, they say. But where were you that night, Alex?

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Sunday, 13 November 2005 07:48 (twenty years ago)

And what have you got against taxis, Alex?

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Sunday, 13 November 2005 07:55 (twenty years ago)

omg I just found Marc Cohn's Web site and he was apparently shot in the head after a gig in Denver in August! He survived. An attempted carjacking, they say.

Hm. Would've thought that would've been bigger news than it seems it was considering who his spouse is (i.e. ABC News anchor Elizabeth Vargas)....

― This Field Left Blank (Dee the Lurker), Sunday, 13 November 2005 08:03 (twenty years ago)

I don't remember hearing about it, but it's possible my brain has a Marc Cohn cloaking device that screens out all Marc Cohn related material.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Sunday, 13 November 2005 08:20 (twenty years ago)

The Chuck Berry Chess Box Set has it listed as "Memphis". It may have been called "Cairo, Illinois" fifty years ago, but it's officially now known as "Memphis".

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Sunday, 13 November 2005 16:55 (twenty years ago)

I got into trouble with another song with Memphis in the title on this thread but then an explanation was found here.

― k/l (Ken L), Sunday, 13 November 2005 17:31 (twenty years ago)

My copy of Berry's "His Best, Vol. 1" lists it as "Memphis."

― I do feel guilty for getting any perverse amusement out of it (Rock Hardy), Sunday, 13 November 2005 17:43 (twenty years ago)

chuckberry.com, The Official Site of Chuck Berry, refers to it as "Memphis, Tennessee," at least in the Covered Berries section.

― k/l (Ken L), Sunday, 13 November 2005 17:53 (twenty years ago)

In the Song List section it has both titles.

― k/l (Ken L), Sunday, 13 November 2005 17:54 (twenty years ago)

well, damn it, Pleasant Plains, I think it is just "Memphis," at least that's what it's called on "Great Twenty-Eight." not to get all pedantic on you. but I find it cool that now it's called "Memphis, Tennessee" and it's like a folk song that no one can agree on. so you right.

what I've always liked about it is the bit about a "ridge," like where is there a "ridge" in Memphis? "High upon a bluff" would be a harder rhyme. Just to get all myself on you all.

― tennsejedd, Wednesday, 16 November 2005 00:30 (twenty years ago)

sandy bull's version!! i got this on a cdr a couple of years ago and it really blew me away. i found most of his stuff (i think) on cd. he was some sort of legendary underground guitar player. his version runs pretty long, like 15 mins and is insane.

― peter x (bucksbreeze), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 00:36 (twenty years ago)

Oh yeah, the Sandy Bull one is great.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 00:38 (twenty years ago)

oh wait, i didn't read your actual question!! i doubt bull's version was a hit, unless it was in an opium den.

― peter x (bucksbreeze), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 00:39 (twenty years ago)

From "Chuck Berry: The Autobiography":

"Memphis," also known as "Memphis Tennessee" and "Long Distance Telephone," was recorded in my first office building at 4221 West Easton Avenue in St. Louis on a $145 homemade studio in the heat of a muggy July afternoon with a $79 reel-to-reel Sears Roebuck recorder that had provisions for sound-on-sound recording. I played the guitar and the bass track, and I added the ticky-tick drums that trot along in the background which sound so good to me. I worked over a month on revising the lyric before I took the tape up to Leonard Chess to listen to. He was again pressed for a release since my concerts (driving on the road then) kept me from the recording studio for long periods...For a long while, "Memphis" was the song covered most by other groups, until the sleeper, "Johnny B. Goode," caught on to take precedence. The rest may well be history.

Among Chuck Berry's many other accomplishments, this has to be the first hit record with overdubs recorded entirely by one person by a long shot. (Who'd be the next -- Todd Rundgren? Stevie Wonder?) That autobiography is pretty good in general, and the picture of a shirtless Berry on the cover makes for great subway reading.

― Jesse Fuchs (Jesse Fuchs), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 00:55 (twenty years ago)

I guess it's about time to mention the Bauhaus version as well.

― Edward Bax (EdBax), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 01:53 (twenty years ago)

I guess it's about time to mention the Bauhaus version as well.

dear god no

Among Chuck Berry's many other accomplishments, this has to be the first hit record with overdubs recorded entirely by one person by a long shot.

Les Paul & Mary Ford's "How High the Moon" beats it by 12 years, unless you want to count it out on the technicality that both Les (instruments) and Mary (vocals) were heavily self-overdubbed.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 09:24 (twenty years ago)

Wouldn't it be counted out on the technicality that they're two people?

― marc h. (marc h.), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 17:19 (twenty years ago)

Hoobastank's cover really nailed the essence of it.

― Confounded (Confounded), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 17:25 (twenty years ago)

...also known as ... "Long Distance Telephone,"

Now that's just plain crazy.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 17:40 (twenty years ago)

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