Best Chuck Berry Poems
Back in the fifties
America seemed much calmer
McCarthy's commie blacklists
Sputnik's shocking launch
Ike's wife Mamie so sedate
That pre-historic hairdo
World War Two over
We needed some time to heal
Alan Ginsburg penned his 'Howl'
Chuck Berry goosed his walk
The West Wing conservative
White House picket-fence painted
Boom! an explosion
Cultural revolution
Sixties' deaths brought us down
Hendrix, Morrison
Jackie became Onassis
Where's JFK's Camelot
Seventies came, went
Eighties crashed, burned, flamed out too
But Jerry Rubin's Wall Street
Greed ruled the Nineties
Internet changed all of us
The world at a click-click-click
New Millenium
Rapid change hurtles forward
People do change, however
Shootings dot landscape
Retreat into our smartphones
Loneliness Unconnected
Now the Age of Trump
Rears its flame-orange mane and screams
Me-too Movement gains traction
Women come forward
Teen suicide rate rises
Society imperiled
May 07, 2019
Entry: 'Best Sedoka' contest
Sponsor: Lu Loo
The Fifties were really and truly not all that square
Though that dullard Dwight D. sat in the Executive Chair
And his frumpy wife Mamie had really bad hair
Matching those dowdy, plain dresses she'd wear ...
While husbands toiled in obscurity for large corporations
The "Ugly Americans," reviled by most other nations
Their stay-at-home wives feeling mostly frustration
Downing "happing pills" daily instead of real medication
Their sons sporting letter sweaters, obedient jocks,
Their daughters in plaid skirts and white bobby socks
Penny loafers and saddle shoes were in for ten years
Along with white levis and coca-cola -- never rum, never beer
Yet how about Krushchev's dust-ups with Tricky Dick Nixon
What about Sputnik 1 and the panic it put us in
And remember George Wallace and old Lester Maddux
Hosing down *******, echoes of Crispus Attucks ...
The rise of brutal pro football threatened apple pie and baseball
Heralding the next decade's premiere spectator sport, i.e., 'spaceball'
Joe McCarthy dug up the dirt of a "red scare's" nitty gritty
In the work of the House un-American Activities Committee
Then there was Rosa Parks refusing to sit in the back of the bus
Championing the yearning for justice in so many of us
And the music, the music, so outrageously wild
Chuck Berry, Richie Valens, the Big Bopper -- that overgrown child
Yes, the Fifties were really and truly not all that square
Though we shan't heed the call of those who'd return us to there
There's an innocent time that I recall
when every girl is Cinderella at a bobby-sox ball
each guy, a penny-loafer prince in a white letter sweater
and the jukebox music keeps getting better
A place where the teens are not overly hip
where the burn-outs and greasers don't dare give them lip
where 350-engines purr under car hoods
where heroes are handsome, virtuous and good
The Beach Boys are gone now
Bobby Vee, Neil Sedaka, Chuck Berry too
Hearing their music brings a tear to my eye
If I make it to Heaven, I hope they'll drop by
Chuck Berry is eighty one
still performing and having fun,
it is a while since fifty- five
when his repertoire became alive.
© Harry J Horsman 2012
FAVORITE LYRICS
You’re lying to all your friends and hanging in bad places,
you don’t remember our good times and loving embraces.
I can’t believe that after all we’ve been through,
“you’ve started back doing the things you used to do!”
I’m not the only one that misses you so,
you’ve hurt us all and then laid real low.
You are trying your best to force our goodbyes.
“Look around you all you see are sympathetic eyes.”
“What’ll you do when you get lonely?”
You’ll never be my one and only.
You’ve worked real hard to change my mind,
looks as though we’ll never be entwined.
So I’m changing lovers and leaving you today,
you won’t care since you always intended to stray.
I’ve got another woman who’s willing to take your part,
“you gotta help me Rhonda, help me get her out of my heart.”
**Chuck Berry
**Simon & Garfunkel
**Derek and The Domino’s
**Beach Boys
For Chris Matt’s contest and dedicated to (4) famous women everyone knows
1955 Was a Very Good Year
By Elton Camp
A better year in my life I have never seen
Because, back then, I was only age fifteen
Nobody I knew had, at that time, ever died
Any problems of the world I could brush aside
Nearly eight millions cars were sold in the USA
And never before had they been styled that way
Seven out of ten families owned a motor car
So we ranged freely about, both near and far
And yearly pay was nearly four thousand buck
Inflation of one-fourth percent added to the luck
Minimum wage to a dollar an hour had been raised
And gas at twenty-three cents a gallon was praised
Eleven thousand dollars was the cost of a new house
About a new car at two thousand, nobody’d grouse
Born that year were Whoppi Goldberg, Jobs & Gates
Nobody would have expected their eventual fates
Of the civil rights movement I was only vaguely aware
Dr. King, Rosa Parks, Emmett Till, though, were there
Elvis Presley was then the very latest singing rage
And appealed to screaming girls of most any age
James Dean in the movie, East of Eden, was the star
But he died that year and so wasn’t able to go too far
Finding his thrill on Blueberry Hill was Fats Domino
Bill Haley, Chuck Berry and the Platters on the go
I am not one of those old men who dotes to say
“If only it were still like back in the good old day”
Back in 1955, there many problems and great woe
But not the concern of a fifties teenager, though
Cutting through the consciousness
of the U.S.A.
Children of Chuck Berry and Elvis
Girls gyrating wildly in the corners of the space
While the odor of beer
fills the room
My ears are full of sound
And I jump up and down
Glad I came to this place!
The noise drowns my sorrow
So who cares about tomorrow?
This poem was inspired by Chuck Berry's song "Hail. Hail Rock and Roll"
Moshe, Larry, Curly,
Howls, cries, nyuks;
Three silly comic stars:
Smile, clown -- Cluck!
Chico, Harpo, Benny, Berle,
Moron grins, happy chins;
Crazy nutty comic kooks:
Funny jokes -- egads zooks!
Alvin Ailey, dance gaily,
False teeth: Brush daily;
Silly Sally, Dilly-dally,
Ollie, Holly, Mollie!
Belly flops, fatal plops,
Messy slops, lemon drops;
Harry Caray, Tooth Fairy,
Music Maven -- Chuck Berry.
Pitty-patty, kitty-katty,
Ticky-tacky, Cinci-nnati
Polly-Wolly, Wooly Bully,
Diffy-daffy, Laughy Taffy!
March 22, 2018
Contest entry in "A little laughter five," sponsored by
Edward McCall, closing date - March 23, 2018
Notes: Moe Howard's (of the Three Stooges) actual first name was Moshe.
'Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk' was a trademark line of Curly (3 Stooges.)
Berle is comedian: Milton Berle (aka 'Uncle Miltie').
'Egads zooks' is an exclamation my mother and others of her
generation used to use (frequently).
'Wooly Bully' was a pop song by Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs,
released in 1965; it soared high on the Top-40 charts.
On my computer
I
play
songs of the late 1970's
My seed time
as it were
ELP, Yes, and King Crimson
Perhaps I will pick up a recording by
Nice
they did a great version of "America"
from West Side Story
or perhaps I shall return to the fold era
or flip on some Dvorak
Music and poetry
enables us to touch unreality
but only if we let it
Some recommend Beethoven and Bach
Others Chuck Berry and James Brown
Attempted to play the French horn when I was younger
what a gorgeous sound that instrument can make
The Beatles and the Rolling Stones used ti
So did we at Midwood High
AS we marched down the football field
Cool autumn days
remind us
of leaves turning color, football
and the beginning of the school year
I remember those days
As age creeps in
I attend poetry
readings
and volunteer at Poets House
read a lot of verse
Poets House has Israeli, Afro - American, Chinese, Puerto Rican poetry
and much more
The world needs poetry and song
And so doe we , friends
I can still remember
back when I was a kid
I had a friend called Millie
and we were made for each other
just like peanut butter and jelly
on a piece of crusty bread
on a Sunday afternoon
I'd go round to Millie's house
and we'd sit in the kitchen and talk
Millie's mom had an old record-player
that sat in a box on top of the fridge
and we'd listen to scratchy old records
of Chuck Berry and Little Richard
but I liked Fats Domino best
yea...he was definitely my favourite
we would sit there sharing a Pesi cola
listening to a song called "Blueberry Hill"
talking tough as if we were grown-ups
and smoking a cheap cigarette
during one hot summer
we'd catch the Short Line bus
and ride it all the way up town
across the old steel mill bridge
through the business district
right around memorial park
and out towards a place
called Stately Hills
when we finally got there
we'd look at the beautiful houses
and Millie would turn to me and say
"wow! I wish me and you could live here"
and I'd say "yea! That would be really great"
then Millie would pick us out a house
it was usually a large two storey affair
five bedrooms huge double garage
and a mail box at the gate
we'd walk around together
trying not to look out of place
but it wouldn't take very long
before someone would notice us
and they'd say something like
"Hey! are you two lost?"
so by the late afternoon
we'd walk back to the bus stop
and catch the very last service home
Millie and I would sit at the back
looking through the rear window
watching all those big houses
slowly fade into the distance
and disappear from view
"don't worry Millie", I'd say
"we can come back another time"
but as things turned out we never did
Millie's step-father had started to drink
so her mother packed up and left him
taking Millie to live with her aunt
I never saw Millie after that
but I always stopped to think of her
each and every time I rode that bus
and whenever I hear "Blueberry Hill"
I can almost taste that Pepsi cola
mixed with the odious smell
of a cheap cigarette
*penned by
Scarecrow Joe
Laid down on the sofa today, memory
taking me back to teen years of so long ago.
When friend Danny and I would go down
town on Saturday afternoon to see a movie
at the Paramount, a movie palace with a wide
screen, that would put the theaters of today to shame.
We saw such movies as "The True Story of Jesse James",
Gunfight at the Ok Corral", "The Incredible Shrinking Man'
and so many more. Sometimes we would go over to Marshall's
Music room next door and play records for hours in the sound booth
upstairs, where we would listen to such stars as Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, little
Richard, Chuck Berry, The Everly Brothers, Bill Haley and the comets,
the man who started Rock ' n Roll. Then later we would go across the street to the
City Drug and have a coke for ten cents, then catch a bus home. Where on
Saturday night these two college students from Iowa State had a TV Show called
Graves 'n Manor, which showed monster movies until 2 in the morning, we made
some popcorn and had our Pepsi in the bottle.
Lets not forget this was the year that " Leave it to Beaver" had its start on TV
and American Bandstand and a very young Dick Clark was on Saturday afternoon.
This was the year that the New York Yankess and the Milwaukee Braves played
in the World Series won by the Braves in seven games.
Ford put out one of the best cars ever that year, which for a time was driven by
Ward Clever on "Leave it to Beaver". My brother who was still in the Navy came
home on leave and to our surprise had bought one and brought it home with him,
and my friend Danny and i helped my brother wash it one Saturday afternoon,
while we listend to "That'll Be the Days" What a car, what a song, and what a great
year it was, I could write a book about this year along.
Written 5-12-11
When I was a but little tiny girl,
my Mama bought me a fine ring to twirl.
One gold ring for my small finger
reminding me of man’s up coming zinger!
My Ring-A-Ling, My Ring- A- Ling, WAIT for ONE man, that’s the thing!
My Ring-A-Ling, My Ring- A- Ling, WAIT for ONE man, that’s the thing!
Then as a prim girl in Catholic school,
I always remembered that “waiting” rule,
and every time that ring I would turn
a naughty boys kisses I would just spurn!
Once while hiding and they playing go seek
up a tree I went and the boys did PEEK!
I beaned them with apples and that ain’t all,
they cried for their Mama’s, what caterwaul!
Now, the moral of this song, well, hear's the thing,
don’t kiss those boys 'TILL YOU'RE WEARING A RING!
And, if you can’t remember you can JUST SING!
I’m waitin' for ONE MAN to give me that thing!;)
My Ring-A-Ling, My Ring- A- Ling, WAIT for ONE man, that’s the thing!
My Ring-A-Ling, My Ring- A- Ling, WAIT for ONE man, that’s the thing!
* Special thanks to CHUCK BERRY!
Bill Haley gave us 'Rock Around The Clock'
showed us music in a different way,
Chuck Berry sang 'Johnny B. Goode'
and Buddy Holly said 'That'll Be The Day'.
Elvis went to 'Heartbreak Hotel'
and came back as the king of pop,
Jerry Lee sent us 'Great Balls Of Fire'
while Danny and his group were 'At The Hop'.
The Everly's were saying 'Bye Bye Love'
Bobby Darin was out 'Beyond The Sea',
Little Richard was with 'Long Tall Sally'
and Lloyd Price thought he was 'Stagger Lee'.
Paul Anka introduced us to 'Diana'
Del Shannon told us of his 'Runaway',
Big Bopper talked about 'Chantilly lace'
and the Rolling Stones said love 'Not Fade Away'.
Eddie Cochran took 'Three Steps To Heaven'
Don McLain made 'American Pies',
Roy Orbison was still lost 'In Dreams'
as the Platters sang 'Smoke Gets In Your Eyes'.
When the music began to change
jazz, blues and rock and roll,
got more electronic and louder
became rock, heavy metal and soul.
There are a lot more I could name
but I guess I'll just call them the rest,
It's a long time ago but I'll never forget
Rock and Roll for me was the best.
First time I remember attending a dance at school
White bucks and a sport coat, feeling like a fool
All week I’d played 45’s and practiced how to dance
I was nearly thirteen now so it was time to take a chance
I walked into the auditorium, friends met me at the door
Ricky singing Poor Little Fool and she danced across the floor
I stared at her, felt my heart go pop when she turned her head
I caught her eye, saw her smile, and felt my face turn red
I was frozen to the floor, didn’t know what to say to the girl
In the corner I stayed, while the DJ played The Duke of Earl
Robin Luke sang Susie Darlin’ and the time was passing by
Then Jack Scott was crooning My True Love and I could only sigh
Chuck Berry wailing Almost Grown, it would soon be time to leave
DJ announced ladies choice with It’s Only Make Believe
It was like a dream come true when I turned around to see
Her standing there and I heard her say will you dance with me.
Beethoven was awakened by the sound of a guitar
Played by Chuck Berry, a rock 'n roll star
'When Beethoven heard those rhythm and blues
He ran to Tchaikovsky to tell him the news'
He made that guitar sing like no one else could
As he rocked us with 'Johnny B Goode'
'He stole a kiss at the turn of a mile
But her safety belt was stuck for a while'
So he had to take it slow
With no "Particular Place To Go"
He didn't know just what to do
When 'Maybellene' was untrue
She left him brokenhearted on the highway
As her cadillac sped away
He will play that guitar by an by
In rock 'n roll heaven up on high