you never can tell (1964)
Chuck Berry. rock'n'roll/rhythm & blues, Missouri USA.
key: C blues
mode: C D Eb F# G Bb C
melody: d r (ri) m f s l (li) ta t d’
form: strophic with refrain
meter: duple
English function names: tonic dominant
Tagg (modified): home counterpoise (away)
Riemann: T7 D7
Scale degrees: I7 V7
Chords: C7 G7 C7
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C7 G7
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G7
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G7 C7
|/ / / / |/ / / / |/ / / / |/ / / / |There are times when no one is playing the flat seven in the tonic. There are many times where we have B natural and E natural in the melody. Such is the variety and changing nature of the blues. We like to have pat formulas, like the one listed under “mode” (which I list for improvisation purposes), but the truth of the matter is more apparent in the messiness of what is listed under “melody.” Scales are very artificial constructs, though they occasionally appear “verbatim” in songs (“Joy to the World” comes to mind…).1 The true sense of a scale/mode/tonality/style comes in how it actually ends up being used melodically. A real education is to be had in slowing down this track and trying to imitate Berry’s delivery as closely as possible, whether you are singing or playing an instrument.
This a longer version — twice as long, to be exact — of the counterpoise inversion, which we previously heard here and here. It's also a blues song that is not in the 12-bar format. The lyrics in a 12-bar blues often have the pattern of AAB, in which B serves almost as a punchline to the repetition of part A. The lyrics here follow a different pattern and yet there's still something that feels similar. The three lines in the first three phrases push the story forward, but the story line and the harmony leave us hanging: it it going to turn out okay? You'd think it wouldn't, but you never can tell, can you? The downward slope of the melody and resolution of the dominant to the tonic reassure us. It's best not to judge the situation too soon.
other recordings:
Loggins & Messina, So Fine, Legacy Recordings. C blues.
Emmylou Harris, Luxury Liner, Rhino. Bb blues.
John Prine, Common Sense, Atlantic. B blues.
Also: What is the musical equivalent of verbatim??? Pitchatim? Notatim? Sonatim? Vibratim? Sorry-but-I-ate-'im?