Chuck Berry, originally named Charles Edward Anderson was one of the earliest African-American musicians in Rock and Roll history, he was born on October 18, 1926 in St. Louis Missouri. Before Chuck Berry became a well respected Rock and Roll artist, he would endure struggles. After a series of petty crimes, jail time and dead end jobs, Chuck Berry would later focus more on his music. In the early 1950's, Chuck Berry began working with local bands, developed guitar skills and hit it big with the song "Maybellene", an adaptation of an earlier song "Ida Red". The song "Maybellene" was first recorded on May 21st, 1955 in Chicago, at the Universal Recording Studios. The rest is history First and foremost the melody of the song "Maybellene" is quiet catchy, so we can see why the song was so popular with audience's. The melody really gave the song that "I want to dance now!" feel to it. But, the melody in the song "Maybellene" wouldn't be as catchy as it is if it weren't for the rhythm. The rhythm provided the energy for the melody to feed off of, in return the song sounded that much lively. The harmony also played a big factor in the song, even though it’s a bit difficult to hear over all the different textures, we know that different notes or chords are being played at the same time, this …show more content…
This also falls under the timbre, as the guitar and drums also sound a bit dense when they interact with the texture of Chuck Berry's voice. Towards the last couple of seconds of the first minute of the song, Chuck Berry sings the lyrics "Why cant you be true" and then piano notes intercept right after, I thought this added a lot of form to Chuck Berry's voice. With that being said the quality of the music and Chuck Berry's unique voice are pretty much the foundation of this Rock n Roll