Little Queenie
| "Little Queenie" | |
|---|---|
| File:Little Queenie.jpeg | |
| Single by Chuck Berry | |
| from the album Chuck Berry Is on Top | |
| Released | 1959 |
| Genre | Rock and roll |
| Label | Chess |
| Writer(s) | Chuck Berry |
"Little Queenie" is a song written and performed by Chuck Berry. It appeared on the 1959 album Chuck Berry Is on Top and was released as a double A-side with "Almost Grown". Berry performed the song in the movies Go, Johnny Go! (1959) and Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll (1987). It has been covered by many artists, including the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and REO Speedwagon. One year earlier a Christmas song using the same melody had been released by Berry with the title "Run Rudolph Run".
Contents
Track listing
7" Vinyl
- "Almost Grown"
- "Little Queenie"
Chart performance and reception
The song peaked at #80 on the US Hot 100 Charts.[1]
Allmusic calls the song an "incredible rock & roll anthem" and "one of the greatest dance/sex ritualistic classics."[2] It is included on many of Berry's greatest hits compilations, including The Great Twenty-Eight and Chuck Berry's Golden Decade.
Beatles cover versions
According to eminent author Mark Lewisohn in "The Complete Beatles Chronicles" (p. 363) The Beatles performed "Little Queenie" live from at least 1960 till 1963 (in Liverpool and Hamburg and elsewhere) with Paul McCartney on lead vocal. An audience recording of it was made (in Dec. 1962) and is on Live! at the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany; 1962. Per author Doug Sulpy in "Drugs, Divorce And Slipping Image" (sec. 22.26) during the massive Get Back sessions John Lennon did lead vocal on a fairly brief version of it. Paul McCartney and Wings guitarist Denny Laine recorded a loose jam of it the early 1970s.
Other cover versions
The Rolling Stones also frequently performed the song live, and a version recorded in November 1969 at Madison Square Garden appears on Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! The Rolling Stones in Concert. Other artists who have covered the song include Jerry Lee Lewis, the Kinks, Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart, the Velvet Underground, Eric Burdon, Johnny Moped, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Seger, Johnny Thunders, Savoy Brown, Jan Berry and REO Speedwagon.[3]
'Little Queenie" is mentioned in "Dance Franny Dance", a regional hit in 1964 for the Texas band The Floyd Dakil Combo: "She's our Little Queenie, Princess of the U.S.A.".
The song helped to inspire Marc Bolan to write the T. Rex song "Get It On", which quotes "Little Queenie" as it fades out: "And meanwhile, I'm still thinking..."
References
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