ORIGINAL CHUCK BERRY 78 " NO MONEY DOWN / THE DOWNBOUND TRAIN " US CHESS 1615 VG

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	$		21

A CHANCE TO BID ON THIS ORIGINAL US CHUCK BERRY 78 FROM 1955

NO MONEY DOWN  b/w  DOWNBOUND TRAIN

In a review of a Chuck Berry concert published in the British paper New Musical Express in April 1973, Roy Carr referred to the song "No Money Down" as a teenage fantasy. Nothing could be further from the truth. In his critical biography of Berry, John Collis says the song was inspired by an incident in Berry's youth. When he bought his first car - a 1934 V8 Ford, for $10 down and $5 a month - he was too young to sign the hire purchase agreement, so his older sister Thelma did the honors. In his autobiography, Berry says he went through a dozen automobiles in 12 years or less, and the song "got its origin from the salesman's pitch that I usually got when buying my first few cars".

As I was motivatin'
Back in town
I saw a Cadillac sign
Sayin' "No Money Down"
So I eased on my brakes
And I pulled in the drive
Gunned my motor twice
Then I walked inside
Dealer came to me
Said "Trade in you Ford
And I'll put you in a car
That'll eat up the road
Just tell me what you want
And then sign on that line
And I'll have it brought down to you
In a hour's time"

I'm gonna get me a car
And I'll be headed on down the road
Then I won't have to worry
About that broken - down, raggedy Ford

"Well Mister I want a yellow convertible
Four - door de Ville
With a Continental spare
And a wide chrome wheel
I want power steering
And power brakes
I want a powerful motor
With a jet off - take
I want air condition
I want automatic heat
And I want a full Murphy bed
In my back seat
I want short - wave radio
I want TV and a phone
You know I gotta talk to my baby
When I'm ridin' alone"

Yes I'm gonna get that car
And I'm gonna head on down the road
Yeah, then I won't have to worry
About that broken - down, raggedy Ford

"I want four carburetors
And two straight exhausts
I'm burnin' aviation fuel
No matter what the cost
I want railroad air horns
And a military spark
And I want a five - year guarantee
On everything I got
I want ten - dollar deductible
I want twenty dollar notes
I want thirty thousand liability"
That's all she wrote

I got me a car
And I'm headed on down the road
No money down
I don't have to worry
About that broken - down, raggedy Ford

"Down Bound Train"

was inspired by Berry's fire and brimstone religious upbringing; both his parents were staunch Baptists, and sang in the Antioch Church Choir, which rehearsed at his home. It is a song about redemption and a warning against alcohol abuse. A man who has too much to drink falls asleep on a bar room floor and has a vivid dream about riding a train. The train, which is driven by the Devil himself, contains an eclectic mix of people he knows, foreigners, rich and poor. When the man wakes up he renounces the demon drink. The message is that anyone from any background can be afflicted by drink - or by some other vice or sin - but we can all choose to be saved.

A stranger lying on a bar room floor
Had drank so much he could drink no more,
So he fell asleep with a troubled brain
To dream that he rode on that down bound train.

The engine with blood was sweaty and damp
And brilliantly lit with a brimstone lamp,
And imps for fuel was shovelling bones
While the furnace rang with a thousand groans.

The boiler was filled with lots of beer
The devil himself was the engineer,
The passengers were most a motley crew,
Some were foreigners and others he knew.
Rich men and lost beggars in rags
Handsome young ladies and wicked old hags.

As the train rushed on at a terrible pace
Sulphuric fumes scorched their hands and face,
Wider and wider the country grew
Faster and faster the engine flew,
Louder and louder the thunder crashed
Brighter and brighter the lighting flashed,

Hotter and hotter the air became
Till their clothes were burned with each quivering refrain.
Then out of the din there came a yell
Ha ha said the devil we're nearing home,

Oh how the passengers shrieked with pain
They go to Satan with this down bound train.

The stranger awoke with an anguished cry
His clothes wet with sweat and his hair standing high,
He fell on his knees on the bar room floor
And prayed a prayer like never before.

And the prayers and vows were not in vain
For he never rode that down bound train

DISC DETAILS:

US CHESS 1615    10" 78rpm  

SIDE 1 :-  NO MONEY DOWN

SIDE 2:-   DOWNBOUND TRAIN

CONDITION -  VG  (NICE LOUD AND CLEAR REPRODUCTION - NO DISTORTION AND PLAYS WITHOUT SKIPS OR REPEATS BUT THERE IS SOME BACKGROUND NOISE FROM MULTIPLE SURFACE SCRATCHES AND THE LABELS ARE A LITTLE BIT TATTY)

THIS GREAT CLASSIC NEVER MADE IT IN THE CHARTS IN THE UK!!

ONE ONLY AVAILABLE

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