All language subtitles for In.Their.Own.Words.2015.S02E02.Chuck.Berry.1080p.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-BTN_track3_[eng]

♪ (rock guitar solo) ♪

Narrator:
His sound, explosive...

♪ ♪

Darius Rucker: He had a sound
that was like, nobody else.

♪ ♪

Narrator: His stage
presence, seismic.

♪ ♪

Steve Miller: He was a
phenomenal entertainer.

He was a phenomenal player.

♪ (Chuck Berry
"Roll Over Beethoven") ♪

Narrator: His
impact, unparalleled.

Richards:
This is inspiration, y'know,

that's what it was,
Chuck Berry was

sheer inspiration.

Robert Cray: Everybody's gotten
something from Chuck Berry.

♪ (Chuck Berry
"Roll Over Beethoven") ♪

Slash: He really
created a sound

that epitomizes rock and roll.

♪ ♪

Taylor Hackford:
I don't care who it is.

If they're going
to pick up the guitar,

and they're going
to play rock and roll--

(crowd cheering)

Chuck Berry: Rock-n-Roll!!!
(crowd cheering)

Hackford: --you're gonna start
with Chuck Berry.

♪ (guitar riff) ♪

Narrator:
Chuck Berry rose from the

segregated streets of St. Louis.

Bernie Hayes: It was the way
America was constructed.

The racism, the separation,
the inequities,

and Chuck grew out of that.

Narrator: To face
discrimination--

Steve Jordan: I cannot imagine

being on a bus,

traveling through
a part of the country

that you didn't know whether you
were going to make it out alive.

Narrator: Endure persecution--

Charles Berry, Jr.:
He was a big target...

Miller: He had a lot of enemies.

There were a lot
of people after him,

who didn't like
what he was doing.

Narrator:
And confront corruption.

Marshall Chess: He had
a very strong feeling

that he was worth more
than he was getting.

Hayes: Once you lose
a lot of money

because of your color,

it burns inside your heart.

And you never forget it.

Chuck Berry:
♪ ...man's a lot of trouble ♪

♪ with a brown-eyed
handsome man ♪

♪

Narrator: But his musical
genius would be at times

overshadowed by sex,

scandal,

and stubbornness.

Hackford: Chuck Berry was by far
the most difficult star

I have ever worked with.
Without question!

Chess: He wanted his way.
And is he didn't get it,

he could really be a (bleep).

Hackford: He was diabolical.

♪ (Chuck Berry
"Sweet Little Sixteen") ♪

Narrator: Through it all,
Chuck Berry

refused to surrender.

For seven decades,
he would chart his own course,

and will always be remembered,

as the man who made
rock and roll.

Slash:
He'll always be considered

the King of Rock-n-Roll.

Chuck Berry:
♪ ...beyond St. Louis ♪

♪ Way down in New Orleans ♪

♪ All the cats
wanna dance with ♪

♪ Sweet little sixteen ♪

♪ ♪

♪ (slow guitar music) ♪

♪

♪

Charles Berry, Jr.:
My dad grew up in a

segregated enclave of St. Louis.

The Ville was precious to him.

Y'know, everybody knew
everyone on the street.

Hayes: The Ville is the place

where most African-Americans
of stature,

your doctors, your
professional people, grew up.

Everything that an African-
American would want,

they'd find in the Ville.

It was self-sustained,
more or less.

But it was segregated.

♪

Bruce Pegg:
Chuck's father was a deacon

in the Antioch Baptist church.

Also, he was a contractor.

And I think what Chuck learned
from him, is just this

spirit of independence
and entrepreneurship.

His mother was a
trained school teacher.

From her, Chuck got

his interest in poetry.

♪

Chuck Berry:
I'm a great lover of poetry.

From five to nine years,

all that I heard around the
house was poetry.

Stuff like that to me

is like heavy baby!

And I remember some of them
to this day:

♪ (guitar strumming) ♪

Once in Persia reigned a King,

♪

Who upon his noble ring,

♪

Craved a maxim true and wise,

♪

Which, when held
before his eyes,

♪

Gave him counsel, at a glance,

of his life of
change and chance.

♪

Pegg: At one point,
Chuck's father decided

that he was going to take the
family to the Fox theater,

to see a Tale of Two Cities,

which he felt had great
literary merit,

only to be turned away
at the box office,

to be told that they
did not allow blacks.

♪ (soft dramatic music) ♪

Hayes: For that to
happen to Chuck

as a ten year-old
was quite a shock,

because he was used to
getting what he wanted.

♪ (rock-n-roll guitar music) ♪

He loved the entertainment,
he loved to entertain.

He loved to play guitar.

He began about 12 or 13,
he became proficient.

♪ (rock-n-roll guitar music) ♪

♪ ♪

Chuck Berry: My first time
on stage was high school.

At the age of 14, I sang blues.

Pegg: Chuck was not a very good
student at Sumner.

He remembers being beaten

by one of his teachers
for not paying attention

and eventually he drops out
before graduating.

♪ ♪

He and several of his
high school friends

decided they were going
to run away from home

and they were gonna
go to Hollywood.

♪ (dramatic music) ♪

They made it as far as
Kansas City

before the money ran out.

While they were there,
in order to get some money,

he took part in a robbery...

♪ (dramatic music) ♪

...in which Chuck maintains that

he only had the barrel of a gun,

not the whole thing.

♪

They left Kansas City and
then their car broke down.

They flagged down a passing
motorist, stole his car.

♪

They tried to get
back to St. Louis,

only to be pulled over
by a state patrolman,

who immediately arrested them.

Chuck was sentenced
to ten years...

(sliding prison door clacking)

...but served three of them
and was released

on his 21st birthday.

♪ (soft music) ♪

Themetta Berry:
We met on Annie Malone's

offering home day,

May the 23rd, 1948.

I took my niece for the parade

and as we were walking across,

Candy Park Seminole
High School is there,

I saw him out of the
corner of my eye,

and I said, 'Hmm...

he's kind of cute.'

We married six months
after we met,

and he said,
"I'll be with you forever"

and I said, me too.

♪ (soft music) ♪

♪

Charles Berry, Jr.:
They loved each other.

She was his queen,
and he was her king.

Every minute that I saw
the two of them together,

they were in heaven,
absolute heaven.

♪

Joe Edwards: Chuck Berry's
main motivation in life

was to provide for his family.

Themetta Berry: Working
construction with his dad

and brother,
he didn't like that,

but he did it,
because he had a family.

♪ (guitar music) ♪

He played his guitar
and I enjoyed it.

And I would tell him
how great it was.

♪ ♪

Edwards: He grew up
listening to radio,

like a lot of people
did in his era,

some of the late night
stations that you could get

were coming from Tennessee.

And he listened to
a lot of country music,

but it was called
hillbilly music at the time.

Chuck Berry:
I wanted to sing like Nat Cole,

with lyrics like Louis Jordan,

with the swing of Benny Goodman,

and with the soul
of Muddy Waters.

Themetta Berry: He would get
two paragraphs of lyrics,

and he would take it and

say, 'How this sound, Toddy?'

And I'd say,
'Oh, that sounds great.'

He loved poems.

And when he would write songs

it would always be
in a poetic form.

And then he would
take his songs and

go on the street to

little side cafes

and that was how he really
got started in music.

♪ (upbeat piano music) ♪

♪ ♪

Hackford: One night,
he goes to the Cosmo club--

♪ ♪

Hayes: It was a
blues dance club.

Hackford: And there's
a band there,

The Johnny Johnson trio.

♪ (boogie woogie piano music) ♪

Edwards: Johnny Johnson
is the greatest

boogie woogie piano player
of his generation.

♪

Pegg: Johnny was missing
one of his bandmates

and asked Chuck if he would sit
in at the very last minute,

which Chuck agreed to.

Chuck was an immediate
success in Johnny's band.

What Chuck was able
to do is first of all,

bring the element of
performance into the band.

Hackford: Y'know Johnny's
not a singer, Chuck's a singer.

He can 'sell' a song.

And all of a sudden
he's a regular.

♪ (boogie woogie piano music) ♪

They just sounded so
fantastic together.

Cray: Well, I mean
blues and country

are really close
in the fact that,

it, y'know, a lot of times it's
just three chords, y'know?

And the most important part
about playing that music

♪

is the story.

♪ (playing guitar chords) ♪

♪ ♪

Jordan: So the way Johnny
plays that kinda stuff,

it's swing, it's
more boogie woogie.

But when Chuck is playing it,

it's got that new motor,

that straight A.

Cray: Chuck brought the tempo up

and just rocked it.

♪ (fast guitar chords) ♪

♪ ♪

Jordan: So there you have
that push and pull.

Johnny is swinging,

Chuck is going straight
like a locomotive.

(making train sounds)
♪ (guitar and piano music) ♪

--and you have that,
tchu tchu tchu tchu...

and that's the excitement,
that's the whole--

that's the secret sauce.

♪ (guitar and piano music) ♪

Pegg: Somewhere there
in between Johnny's

boogie woogie piano and
Chuck's hillbilly music,

♪ ♪

you have the genesis, the basis,

ground zero for rock and roll.

♪ ♪

Hackford: Now,
people keep coming,

they keep coming
in larger numbers,

and they're going 'Let's go
see that guy Chuck Berry!'

Steve Litman: Johnny Johnson was

the most humble,

gentle guy.

Hayes: Johnny was pretty shy,
really laid back,

but not well-educated.

And Johnny was a heavy drinker,

and all he wanted
to do was perform,

have a drink, and go home.

Pegg: Chuck being the
entrepreneur that he was,

saw this is as an opportunity

to take over the band--

♪ (soft dramatic music) ♪

--to start to go
into bigger clubs,

to start to make
music for better pay.

Hayes: Without Johnny Johnson,
there would have been

no Chuck Berry.

The man that gave
Chuck the spotlight.

Hackford: So, the name of
the group got changed,

from the Johnny Johnson trio

to the Chuck Berry quartet.

Themetta Berry: Charles said,

'I got to take this to Chicago,

and see if I can sell it.'

♪

We went to Chicago,

and we heard Muddy Waters
playing the blues.

Chess: He went and saw
Muddy Waters.

Afterwards, went up to
Muddy and said,

I'm an artist, I have a tape.
What do I do?

How do I get out
a record like you?

And Muddy said,
'Go see Leonard Chess

and tell them
Muddy sent you.'

Reskinoff: Chess Records
was an independent label

out of Chicago, run by
Leonard and Phil Chess.

The music business
was very much

a regional business.

There weren't as many major

international labels
as there are today.

And you had these labels
that were discovering talent

that was not being discovered
by the major labels.

The Chess brothers had a studio

and they brought
these artists in.

Chess: Chuck Berry
went to Chess Records,

it was just a store-front,
you know,

it wasn't any fancy office.

And he had a reel-to-reel
homemade recording.

It was called Ida Red.

♪ (upbeat Ida Red melody) ♪

And they said that
was something special.

That was something different.

They were always looking
for something different.

The different sound
of the guitar echo,

a different drum beat.

They understood the novelty
amongst the people

who were buying the
blues records then.

♪ Chuck Berry: The Cadillac
pulled up to 104 ♪

♪ The Ford got hot
and wouldn't do no more ♪

They told Chuck,
'It's great, it's different.

We like that.
We want to do something,

but we don't like the title.'

And I guess my dad saw a
Maybelline cosmetic box.

♪ ♪

Chuck came back a week later
with Johnny Johnson,

his piano player, and they
recorded Maybelline.

And that was in 1955.

Pegg: It took 32 takes
to get the song right,

but by the time they did,

they had a smash hit
on their hands.

The song immediately took off.

Hayes: He finally

broke into the music business

and became a star overnight.

Announcer: Chuck Berry!

The swingin' singer
doin' 'Maybelline'!

♪ (Chuck Berry "Maybellene") ♪

♪ Oh Maybellene, ♪

♪ why can't you be true? ♪

♪ Oh Maybellene, ♪

♪ why can't you be true? ♪

Billy Peek: When I
heard Maybelline, man,

that changed my life.

I mean, I turned completely
around with my music and thought

you can do that with a guitar?

You don't believe it.

Bernie Hayes: It was different.
The changes in the chords,

the lyrics were different.

It just grabs you.
I just loved it.

It was certainly different from
anything else that we'd heard.

♪ Oh, Maybellene,
why can't you-- ♪

Keith Richards: It was amazing,
to a guy like me at that age,

and to listen also to the cats

that are playing
behind him and saying,

how is this possible?

You know, what I mean,
where does this come from?

This, I have to learn.

♪ As I was motivatin'
over the hill ♪

♪ I saw Maybellene
in a Coup de Ville ♪

♪ A Cadillac a-rollin'
on the open road ♪

♪ Nothin' outrun my V8 Ford ♪

Steve Miller: All of a sudden
Chuck Berry was singing about

going to school and

driving the car and

the hot rod Fords
and all that stuff.

I couldn't get enough of it.

Slash: It's gonna sound corny,
but you know,

when you just think of
a girl in high school

that was hot, that you
just couldn't nail down.

It's the perfect background
music to that girl,

and we all, you know, have
met them in our, in our past.

That's the thing about
Chuck Berry songs

is they paint a picture,
they tell a story,

and you can instantly
sort of get a visual.

Chuck Berry:
♪ ...why can't you be true? ♪

♪ Oh Maybellene,
why can't you be true? ♪

Chess: How did he, how did
the black guy in that era,

before civil rights,
a segregated era,

get inside the heads of
young, teenage white kids?

- Here, play it.
- It's really terrific Suzy,

wait'll you hear it!

- 'Scuse me, ladies,
I have a special request.

♪ (Chuck Berry "Maybellene") ♪

Chess: That was a
crossover record.

That was white kids
buying that single.

Miller: As soon as I heard it,
he was singing directly to me,

and all my friends.

Chuck Berry: ♪ Maybellene,
why can't you be true? ♪

Jordan: He figured
something out

and he said, 'This is the
untapped market right here.

We have an explosion.

Post war.

People have cars.

They have some money.

These kids are
looking for something.

I'm going to give it to 'em!'

Chuck Berry: Every kid
doesn't have any allowance,

to try to keep carburetors,

or try to put
dual carburetors on

for a little speed,
and this is a big thing,

so I wrote about it,

but, it was a way of life.

Joe Edwards: Gosh it
was an exciting time.

It gave a whole new
generation its own music.

Reskinoff:
What made Chuck unique,

is that he was able to
follow it up

with hit after hit after hit.

He wrote great music,
he wrote great lyrics,

but his performances
were legendary.

He was able to convey that music

in a way that no one else could.

His stage presence
and showmanship

were second to none.

- Chuck started this new
way of playing a guitar.

♪ (guitar solo) ♪

Edwards: From the duck walk,

to playing the guitar
between his legs,

he just mesmerized people.

♪ His mother told him,
"Someday you will be a man, ♪

♪ And you will be the leader
of a big ol' band ♪

♪ Many people comin'
from miles around, ♪

♪ Will hear you
play your music... ♪

Themetta Berry:
I would put my hand and say,

"Oh my god, look at Charles!"

I didn't know you could do that!

♪ Johnny,
Go go Johnny go...! ♪

James Marsala:
His hands were--

just huge!

Joe Edwards: Massive hands.

Richards:
His span is like another

50% more than mine.

Jordan: His hands were so big,

his stretch was unbelievable.

Cray: I don't see how he played
the chords that he did.

Litman: I mean, there's
just a lot of hand

to go around the neck
of that guitar.

♪ (guitar playing) ♪

Marshall Chess: My father heard
about this station in New York,

W.I.N.S with a disc
jockey named Alan Freed.

♪ ♪

Alan Freed is the man who coined
the word 'rock and roll',

actually invented the word.

Singer: ♪ ...and you're rockin'
and you're rockin' around ♪

♪ Roll, roll, roll,
roll everybody ♪

♪ Roll, roll, roll,
roll everybody ♪

♪ Roll, roll, roll,
roll everybody ♪

He did rock and roll
shows and he did movies

and he played all
the great records

that independents made that
could never get on the air.

But he took payola
to play records.

You made a record, you paid
the disc jockey to play it,

it was legal, and it was
the only way

we could compete with
the big corporations.

It was a very primitive time
for the record business.

Slash: Business and art
don't really coincide

for the actual artists
themselves, you know.

Artists just want to create.

And the business side of it

is people who know how
to exploit the creation.

Pegg: The record label
would offer cash,

or a songwriting credit,

in order that the DJ
would play the song.

Chess: The deal was is that
Alan became the writer

on Maybelline,
in order to play it.

Pegg: The more Alan Freed
played it,

the more interest
there would be in it,

the more records would be sold.

The more he would get
money back in royalties.

Hayes: And he knew that these
African-American people

didn't know what to do

when they came to royalties.

Sugar Pie DeSanto: Leonard Chess
would give you money,

but you never would see
what records sold.

You never knew anything
about that part.

If I wanted something,

I would tell him and he'd...

he would just say
'there ya go Sugar Pie'

give it to me off the cuff,
y'know?

But I was so...

...so glad to play,
(chuckles)

I'd take the little 50 cents
or whatever, you know?

I remember my first time,

I made $3.50
(chuckles)

for one week.
(laughter)

Chess: It used to bother me.

And I've had conversations
with my father about that.

And he'd say,
all that money we'd pay off

to get the record played,

that's part of the
artist's expense.

Hackford: Chuck realized,
wait a minute, I wrote the song,

but they got the publishing

and they have got the
songwriting share,

and I'm not getting
that revenue.

Hayes: He called it theft.

Chess: He had a
very strong feeling

that he was worth more
than he was getting.

Chuck figured out,

he could never make as much
on record royalties,

as he could playing live.

He knew that if it
was on the radio,

and he had a hit,
he could tour.

Pegg: Chuck left St. Louis

after Maybelline became a hit,

and performed in front
of rabid teenage crowds.

(screaming fans)

Charles Berry, Jr.:
The layfolks didn't like it.

What's he doing with
these white children,

dancing with these other negros?

Rucker: They just didn't want
black and white folks

to get together.

And they knew that,

Chuck Berry showed,

you can't stop
kids from partying,

you can't stop
kids from dancing,

when you got that music
and they wanna hear it,

they don't care who they're
standing next to dancing.

And the authorities and the
powers that be didn't like that.

And that made Chuck
even more powerful.

Hayes: They knew he was
entertaining white audiences,

they didn't like that.

They knew that he was making
money, they didn't like that.

But he knew he had to work,

so he continued with his career.

The racism, the inequities--,

Chuck tried to
break through that.

But that was the
way of the times.

Billy Peek: He went on
the road and he told me

on the bus you might have

Jackie Wilson, Bo Diddley,

and Bill Haley and the Comets.

And he said, they'd come
to these southern towns,

and Bill Haley and the Comets
would get off the bus

and go into the hotel.

White hotels and white
restaurants back then,

they didn't allow
black people there.

Joe Edwards: To be turned down
city after city, after city,

that's crazy.

He was sleeping in his
car many, many times.

Hayes: Entertain me,
but don't get close to me.

Peek: Promoters didn't treat him
very well either.

He was being booked
for $500 a night.

And he did this
for almost a year,

$3,000 a week, which
back then was immense.

The promoters, he finds out,
that they were booking him

for $3,000 a night.

So he's only getting
$500 of that.

Chess: He wasn't going to
take that (bleep).

Themetta Berry:
Right then and there,

he stopped and said,

'I'll take care of my money'.

He was a man who stood
up for his rights.

Hayes: He figured the only way
that he could be independent

was to take charge of his money.

But he was angry.

Hackford:
I think Chuck's anger was,

"I'm black,

I can't do what somebody else,

is less talented than I am,
can do."

Chess: He started to demand
his money in a paper bag,

before he started playing.

He'd been screwed,
he only learned that by

not getting the bag or
opening the bag after,

and it was half as much.

He would just walk off and go
home, if you didn't pay him.

So he was a tough cookie.

Paper bags!
(laughter)

Melody Berry Eskridge:
I remember him coming home

and he'd love to
open up his attache,

he always had an attache.

And he'd open up and
show us the cash in there.

Interviewer: What advice would
you give to a young musician

starting out in the
business today?

Chuck Berry: Ok. Major in math!

Then take up music,

which is really half math.

Then major in human nature,

and then go right into business.

Slash: Once you get (bleep)
around and you know it's wrong,

and you understand
how it happened,

you're never going to
have that (bleep)

happen to you a second time.

He got massively burned
and he resented it,

and he carried it
with him to his grave.

Johnny Carson: Have you
ever been ripped off?

Chuck Berry:
(resentful laughter)
Carson: No names, no names!

Carson: No names, please!
Chuck: In more ways than one.

Carson: Yeah!
Chuck: (chuckles)

♪ (dramatic drum beat) ♪

Litman: Chuck's reputation
among promoters,

you know, preceded itself.

♪ (dramatic drum beat) ♪

If you wanna book Chuck,
it was basically,

don't mess with Chuck's money.

Make sure you've
got his amplifier.

Chuck's going to drive
himself to the gig.

Make sure he's got a place to
park right near the stage door

and make sure that the band
is there when he's ready,

and no, he's not
going to rehearse.

Edwards: Chuck decided
that he's gonna do

pick up bands in various cities

and he just assumed, rightfully,

that everybody
would know his music.

Sometimes it worked,
sometimes it didn't.

Litman: If you're
a rock musician,

you know Chuck Berry tunes!

You're gonna, it's not,
it wasn't like I said,

'Hey, come in and
play Rachmaninoff

off the top of your head.'

Hayes: He figured
if you hired me,

you would know what
Chuck Berry played.

And if they didn't follow him,
he'd fire them.

Simple as that. Get off stage.

Chess: He felt he deserved
a level of respect

and if he didn't get it he
could really be a (bleep).

Charles Berry, Jr.:
There's a bunch of folklore

about my dad being
tough to work with.

No, he, he really wasn't.

Just do what's on this contract,

psh, you got it!

You'll see the most jovial,
laid back cat on the planet.

Cross him,

that's a different story.

Host: Here he is,
the one and only,

Chuck Berry!

♪ (Chuck Berry:
Johnny B. Goode) ♪

♪♪♪

Chuck: ♪ Deep down in Louisiana
close to New Orleans ♪

♪ Way back up in the woods
among the evergreens ♪

♪ There stood a log cabin
made of earth and wood ♪

♪ Where lived a country boy
named Johnny B. Goode ♪

♪ Who never ever learned
to read or write so well ♪

♪ But he could play a guitar

♪ just like a-ringin' a bell
Go go ♪

Reskinoff: Throughout the '50's,
Chuck Berry

was probably unmatched by anyone

of that era and unmatched by,

a handful of artists at best

in the entire history
of the industry.

Chuck B: ♪ Just let me hear some
of that rock and roll music ♪

♪ Any old way you choose it ♪

♪ It's got a back beat... ♪

Charles Berry, Jr.:
There was no stopping the train.

Chuck B.:
♪ Any old time you use it ♪

♪ It's gotta be rock
and roll music ♪

Themetta Berry: It was nothing
for him to write songs.

He just wrote one
song after the other.

Chuck: ♪ ...sixteen ♪

♪ She's just got to have ♪

♪ About half a million ♪

♪ Framed autographs ♪

♪ All the cats
wanna dance with... ♪

Chess: He was on a rise.
He was rising like a meteor.

And boom!...It ended.

Pegg: Chuck had a problem.

♪ (dramatic music) ♪

Hackford:
Chuck Berry loved women.

Marsala: I think he liked women.
Chess: He liked women!

Hackford:
But he liked young women.

DeSanto: He liked
those young women.

Hayes: He liked young girls.

♪ (dramatic music) ♪

Hackford: He was traveling on
the road, he met this girl.

♪

He brought her back
to St. Louis to his club

and she worked there.

He was out on the road.

Uh, he said she
was turning tricks.

Pegg: Well, the story goes that

when she was picked up
for prostitution,

she told authorities
that she was 14,

that Chuck had brought
her into town

and they had had sex.

In the trial that followed,

Chuck claimed that she
told him she was 21,

and they'd never been intimate.

Hackford: The Mann Act
basically says

you cannot transport a minor

across the state line

for illicit purposes.

Billy Peek: But I think it was
pretty much law enforcement

were out to get Chuck
no matter what it took.

So when they got the chance,

they went after him big time.

Pegg: What we know about
that particular trial is that

Chuck was sentenced to three
years in federal prison,

but served just short of two.

Interviewer:
Why'd you stand by him?

Themetta Berry: It was love,

and the way you were reared.

You were brought up to
respect your husband,

respect your wife,
for better or for worse

when you married.

He was a rockstar!
I just thought,

that's the way it
was designed to be.

I accepted that.

That was his lifestyle.

♪ (upbeat rock and roll music) ♪

Hackford: So at the same time,
Chuck is in prison.

The Beatles,

they started to realize,
first of all,

if they were going
to learn rock and roll,

gotta play Chuck Berry.

And once they realized
what a good song was,

'cause Chuck wrote good songs,

they said, "hey I can do this."

I'm going to start
writing my own songs.

And that's what the Beatles did.

That's what the
Rolling Stones did.

♪

Richards: I'm getting on a train
to go to art school.

This guy who I used to go to

high school with, Mick Jagger,

under his arm,
he has these records

I would die for.

A Bo Diddley record,

The Best of Muddy Waters,

Chuck Berry's
Rockin' at the Hops.

♪

So now I'm looking at this man
with a sudden new respect.

(chuckles)

♪

He came over and we
played in my house,

and then I went over and
I played a little guitar,

and it was all
because of Chuck Berry,

you know, who put us together.

♪ (rock-n-roll guitar music) ♪

Hackford: The British
Invasion happened

and everybody in America went,
'Wow! That's amazing!

The Beatles:
♪ There's clouds in the sky, ♪

♪ you can dry your eyes, ♪

♪ When there's rain up above, ♪

♪ You can give your love ♪

Chess: Now that was a
different kind of energy,

bigger than Chuck experienced.

The Beatles:
♪ When you're smiling at me ♪

♪ I can see you're giving ♪

♪ All the love that we share ♪

♪ And it's all I'm living for ♪

He wanted that, I think,

he wanted that same attention.

He just wanted to get back.

He wanted to get back
to being a star.

♪ (slow dramatic music) ♪

Hayes: After he was released--

Chuck was very bitter.

He lost a lot of money,
lost a lot of prestige,

and he lost a lot of friends.

Chess: Chuck, right from prison,
appeared at Chess Records,

wearin' dungarees,

a little bag on his side.

My father said,

'Here's a $100 bill,

take Chuck down to
Chicago Avenue

and buy him some new clothes.'

From prison, and recorded
and on the road

all in a four-week period.

We were thrilled.

♪ (guitar riff) ♪

Chuck Berry: ♪ Riding along
in my automobile, ♪

♪ ♪

♪ My baby beside me
at the wheel, ♪

♪ ♪

♪ I stole a kiss at the
turn of a mile, ♪

♪ ♪

Chess: On those records,

Johnny Johnson
played with Chuck.

But shortly after,
they drifted apart.

A long term friendship

that slowly turned sour.

Chuck didn't like
sharing his money.

♪ (slow guitar playing) ♪

Litman:
He became more hardened.

More difficult.

More obstinate.

Miller: They put me
in a penitentiary

for a year and a half,
when I got out,

I would not be
the same person.

Richards: I was in a
dressing room just to see Chuck,

y'know, popped in

and he'd left
the guitar case

open in his
dressing room,

and I just wanted to
see what he was playing,

and I just went...

and I was just sort of
(mumbles)

Chuck comes storming
in the room,

'Boom!'

and he gives me...
a great black eye.

And I understand,
hey guitar players,

Hey, don't touch my axe!

Ok, I get it, I didn't know
it was that serious but--

(laughter)
Okay!

Yeah, I wore it for a couple
of weeks, um--

but to me it's like
a badge of honor.

Chess: At that time,
Chuck got a big offer

from Mercury Records.

It was such a big advance
for a black artist.

Chuck wanted to know if my
father could match it.

My father says, 'No way,
you know, I can't do it.

It's too much, take it and run.'

Those albums...tanked.

He lost the magic,

and he didn't have a producer
like my father.

Miller: He got
very, very, very, very

casual about his work.

I wanted to help him,

so I agreed to do all
these gigs with him.

♪ (guitar music
- Johnny B Goode) ♪

♪ ♪

And so, Chuck Berry
started doing these shows,

and we would go, and it would be

Steve Miller band
and Chuck Berry.

Chuck Berry would headline.

Chuck: ♪ Roll over Beethoven ♪
I gotta hear it again today ♪

♪

Miller: And he would go out,

and he would have

6,000 kids going nuts.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

But all of a sudden,
at 45 minutes--

'Gotta go!'

bye-bye!'

Duck walk off the stage.

Chuck would not go back
unless he got

a thousand dollars more in cash.

One night,
when we got to the most

precious part of the show,

he completely dumped on it

and did My Ding-a-ling,

which is this crude song,

which we had not
rehearsed with him.

And that was like
really strange.

But that was the biggest
reaction the crowd gave him.

Chuck: ♪ I remember
the girl next door ♪

♪ We used to play house
on the kitchen floor ♪

♪ She'd be the queen ♪

♪ I'd be the king ♪

♪ And I let her play with
my ding-a-ling-a-ling ♪

Audience/Chuck:
♪ Oh, my ding-a-ling ♪

♪ Oh, my ding-a-ling ♪

♪ Oh, I want you to play
with my ding-a-ling ♪

Miller: People go 'did you
see that? That was great!'

And I was just kinda going,
'Man that was

the saddest thing
I've ever seen.'

Jordan: He invents an art form,

that becomes part of our
culture forever, right?

I get out of jail

and I record My Ding-a-ling,

and it's the biggest record

that I've ever done.

The dude must've
been like, 'What?'

Hackford: Chuck didn't care.
He had a number one song.

Hayes: Chuck thought it was a
wonderful vehicle to make money.

And he says to hell
with everybody else.

Thank you so much for the money.

♪ (guitar music
- My Ding-A-Ling) ♪

Pegg: After that point,
Chuck goes back into

this routine of
touring constantly.

Jordan: I'm gonna book
all these places here.

I'm gonna jump from country fair

to county fair to,

state fair, whatever.

He's dumbed down
his own material,

just so he can make
a lot of money.

Hackford: Chuck was
on tour in Europe.

And of course, Chuck
demanded from the promoter

that he get paid in cash.

When he came back, the IRS
came to him and they said,

"where's your money?"
And he went,

"No, no, no. I never got paid.
They never paid me."

They went to the promoter
and the guy says,

"I paid him here in cash.

Here's all the receipts.
Here's everything."

So, at this point,

all Chuck had to do was say,

'All right, you caught me.
I'll pay my fine, and my tax.'

Did he?...No!

He went to jail.

Hayes: He saw other people
not paying taxes.

You know, he thought
he can get away with that.

Chess: I asked Chuck
about prison.

Why did you do that? Why didn't
you just pay the (beep!)

'(beep!) them!', he said,
'I deserve the (beep!) money.

(beep!) them!

Carson: You have been a
guest of the government,

um, a couple times.

Chuck: Yes, I have served--
Audience: (laughter)

Chuck:
--with the government, yeah.

Carson: I don't mean
in the military service,

as I was talking,
people maybe misunderstood...

Chuck: Make it clear Johnny,
make it clear.
Carson: Well I mean--

You talk about being in jail.
Chuck: Yeah.

'Bout, it seems like every
17 years I make a big mistake.

Audience: (laughter)

Host: 17 years!
Chuck: Every 17 years.

Hackford: That was the
pattern that he had followed

for maybe 25, 30 years.

Peek: He hit bottom
after he got out of prison.

Miller: He was a great artist,
a phenomenal originator.

And at the end of the day,
you know,

his estate was worth
50 million bucks.

He owned his publishing.
He bought a restaurant.

He did all the stuff he wanted,

but I don't think he ever
really got the love

and appreciation he needed,
and I think when people

tried to give it to him, I think

that made him even
more defensive.

Litman: In my experience,
with any artist

it's often about this seeking,

this validation,

of your self-worth.

♪ (slow dramatic music) ♪

♪ ♪

Hackford: I got a call from a
woman named Stephanie Bennett,

who was producing a
documentary on Chuck Berry.

And she said, do you
want to direct it?

I thought, Chuck Berry is
a subject I can't pass up.

He's too fascinating.

And she said, Keith Richards

is gonna be the
musical director.

And I thought, Ooh, that'll be
really interesting to see

what happens with the two
of them, and I signed up.

(audience cheering)
♪ (guitar music) ♪

Chuck: ♪ Maybellene,
why can't you be true? ♪

Richards: If they're going to
make a movie of Chuck Berry

and he's gotta be up there

with some (bleep)y
little band behind him,

which he usually hires
because they're cheap...

I've got to put a
top band together.

It was a task.

Jordan: We rehearsed at
a place called Berry Park.

It was like going on to,

driving into a compound.

Edwards: Berry Park,
Chuck bought in the 1950s,

when he started getting a
lot of royalties.

There are several
lakes, beautiful land.

Themetta Berry:
Charles had a love for

open space.

Bernie Hayes: It was a place for

African Americans to gather,

to have picnics,
to dance, sing, drink.

Freedom. That was
Chuck's vision.

Peek: It was like
a country club,

and there was a lot of
mixed couples there.

And then he decided to open
it up and let people have

concerts out there that
they would promote.

♪ ♪

♪ (dramatic music) ♪

Jordan: I can only imagine,
what--

Berry Park was back in the day.

Well, a few years earlier,

crowds had gotten
so out of control,

things had gotten
really out of hand,

so Chuck had to
like shut it down.

So when we showed up--

- It was like we were walking
into a place

where time stood still.

It was really wild,
the place was cold,

and damp, and this is where
we're going to rehearse,

you know, really weird.

But at the same time, perfect!

Richards: --you sing,
and they just play the rhythm,

and I'll, and I'll put
the fills in and--

--in between those vocal lines.

Chuck: Say that again?
Keith: If you're--

Jordan: Keith was hell bent on

refamiliarizing Chuck
with his own genius.

Keith: Don't need the
rhythm guitar at least--

Chuck: Okay.
Keith: You know--

because it would be too much
probably for you to sing

and play the lead
fills as well, right?

Chuck: Well, it wasn't...

Robert Cray: Keith was
paying homage to his hero,

but Chuck treated
him like a son.

He wasn't trusting
him all the way.

♪ (guitar chord playing) ♪

Hackford: I had always planned
on shooting rehearsals.

Didn't realize how
hard that would be.

Chuck Berry is just
too complicated.

Chuck: Leave the amp
as I set it!

It's my amp and I'm setting it
the way I wish!

Richards: That's how it's gonna
sound in the field, baby!

Chuck: I'm interested in
how it sounds here!

Sounds the way
I wish it to sound!

Jordan: 'Cause he thought,
this is a tribute to me,

this was gonna be done

his way or no way.

Keith: You gotta live with it
afterwards!

Chuck: I've been living
for 60 years with it!

Keith: I know that!
Chuck: Okay!
Well then, realize it!

Keith: But is it gonna be here,
after we're all dead and gone?

All right?
It ain't you and me and...

Chuck: Well, I ain't died!

Hackford: Chuck punished Keith
throughout my whole film.

Richards: It didn't matter.
I mean, he could yell at me.

I mean, I can take him on.

I was made to do this job.

That was a, it was
one of my dreams,

would be second guitar
behind Chuck Berry.

This movie gave me the
possibility to do that.

In the meantime,
I've been working with

the biggest prima donna
in the damn world!

Any trick Chuck could pull,

Mick has already done it!

I'm the man for the job.

♪ (soft music) ♪

♪

Hackford: Saturday night we have
a concert at the Fox theater.

Sold out!!

Litman:
It was very, very intense.

Very tentative, but very
confident at the same time.

Hackford: Chuck was exhausted

from a whole week of fighting us

and then rehearsing,
which he didn't want to do.

♪ (dramatic music) ♪

(audience cheering)

Chuck was terrified.

They are here.

I can't tell him to go away.

(audience cheering)

Chuck: Thank you!

Thank you St. Louis!

(audience cheering)

Thank you!

(audience cheering)

Thank you!

(audience cheering)

♪ (rock-n-roll music) ♪

♪ ♪

♪ Well I'm-a write
a little letter ♪

♪ Goin' mail it
to my local DJ, ♪

♪ ♪

♪ Well I just got
this little record ♪

♪ I want my jockey to play ♪

♪ ♪

Richards: Half way through
the damn song,

Chuck Berry comes up
to me and says,

"Gotta change the key!"

I said, "No!"

♪ ♪

--and sent him back to the mic.

Chuck: ♪ Early in the mornin'
I'm givin' you my warnin' ♪

♪ Don't you step on
my new shaggy shoes ♪

Richards: As the show went on,

Chuck realized that
this is it, man.

The cameras are damn rolling.

And this is who you are.

Now, you can either piss around
with it, or you can give out.

♪ (guitar solo) ♪

Hackford: He ultimately got
out there and he delivered.

Chuck: ♪ I know Venus
like a beautiful lass, ♪

♪ She had the world in
the palm of her hand ♪

♪ ♪

♪ She lost both her arms
in a wrestling match ♪

Edwards:
It's fascinating watching this.

For him to be out on that stage,

and playing with
Eric Clapton and Keith Richards,

and Robert Cray and Etta James,

and Julian Lennon
and Johnny Johnson.

♪ (piano solo) ♪

Hackford: Johnny and Chuck had
not played together for years.

I mean, maybe twenty.

Keith went out and
found Johnny Johnson.

He was driving a school bus.

Traveled so many miles together.

They were brothers.

Chuck: ♪ She lost both her
arms in a wrestling match ♪

♪ To win a brown-eyed
handsome man, ♪

Hackford: The concert
was Chuck's realization,

'Hey, I finally
have this moment.

♪ ♪

I must deserve it.
They must love me.'

♪ ♪
(audience cheering)

Chuck: Rock-n-Roll!

(audience cheering fading)

One word, from Keith Richards!

Richards: As we finished, I
remember the look in his eyes,

that did sort of
vindicate himself,

that he was revered.

He got that.

I loved it.

Interviewer:
Did he ever thank you?

Richards: (laughs)

He didn't go that far.

God bless his heart.

Yeah. I would have been very
suspicious if he did.

(laughter)

♪ (soft piano music) ♪

♪ ♪

Edwards: One time, Chuck Berry
and I were sitting around

fairly late in the evening,
just talking about things,

and he was reminiscing.

And he just turned to me
and said, "You know, Joe,

I'd love to play a place
the size of the ones

that I played when I
first started out."

And we looked at each other
for like a split second, said,

'Well, let's do it. Let's
do it at Blueberry Hill.'

♪ (upbeat guitar music) ♪

He performed 209

monthly concerts
at Blueberry Hill.

♪ ♪

Melody Berry-Eskridge:
It's like he had pure joy

playing in St. Louis.

♪

Charles Berry, Jr:
Because, this was home!

♪ (soft music) ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

When he died in 2017,

it was devastating to all of us.

♪ ♪

Richards: I think Chuck Berry
never believed

how great he was.

To him it might've seemed
that it was all too easy,

therefore, I can't be great.

That is not necessarily
the case with talent.

And it just oozes out of you
and you better believe it.

Edwards: My goodness,
he was the very first person

inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

(launching rocket whooshing)

Chess: When Carl Sagan
sent Voyager into outer space,

they put a disc on it.

And guess what was on it kids?

Chuck Berry.

What could be a bigger
thing than that?

♪ ♪

Hackford: You know, Chuck Berry
was a controversial star.

He was a rebel.

Melody Berry-Eskridge:
He didn't apologize

for being himself,

but he did apologize for
maybe some of the things

that may have hurt other people.

You know, he had that empathy.

Richards: I mean, for all of his
ups and downs and everything,

Chuck Berry, I loved the man.

Y'know, this is (chuckles)
Chuck, you gotta love him.

(chuckles)
Stupid, eh?

(laughter)

♪ (dramatic music) ♪

♪ ♪

Melody Berry-Eskridge: Mom's
dream is to get a museum started

and we've got just
an abundance of stuff

to put exhibits together.

♪

There is something
from every era.

It's just so much.

It's amazing.

Themetta Berry: I think of
Charles all through the day.

I don't miss him. He's with me,

'cause he's not gone.

He's here, right
here with me now.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Okay...

♪ ♪

The end.

♪ ♪

♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Announcer:
In Their Own Words

is available on
Amazon Prime Video.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪