RIFFS / Huey Lewis is defeated by Chuck Berry's 'You Never Can Tell'

I REMEMBER hearing it as a kid on the local black station, but it would have been an oldie but goldie even then, in the early 1960s. The first thing I liked about it was the lyric. Chuck Berry was arguably the first singer / songwriter to skew his lyrics for kids. 'The kids are all right' was his overall philosophical message. This is a great story about a young couple who go to New Orleans to get married. It had that New Orleans 'second line' feel. It's been covered many times but never with that lilt that goes through all New Orleans records, where it sounds as though the musicians are drunk. The piano part is fantastic: the song's in straight time but the piano and the drums shuffle a bit, which is how you get that lilt . . . at least, if you're able. We cut a version of this song for the new album but in the end we just left it off. Couldn't match it.

'You Never Can Tell' can be heard on the EP 'No Particular Place to Go' (Charlie CDS 6)

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