Chuck Berry - Thirty Days (1955)

Born Charles Edward Anderson Berry in St. Louis, Missouri 1926, this American guitarist, singer, and songwriter is a pioneer of the rock and roll genre. Influencing nearly every person to hold a guitar from 1955 onward, he fine-tuned the use of guitar solos, flashy showmanship, and numerous other rock elements that separated the genre from anything else being heard. He had four number-one hits and fourteen top ten hits on the R&B charts, as well as six top ten hits on the Hot 100. He served two different stints in prison, one for armed robbery while in high school and one for taking a minor across state lines, but always remained in high demand. Although peaking in the 1950s with songs like “Maybellene,” “Sweet Little Sixteen,” and “Johnny B. Goode,” he continued to have success in the 1960s and on through 1972. He has received numerous awards, inductions, and today, at the age of 86, he continues to do live performances in his hometown of St. Louis, Missouri. As John Lennon once said, “If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it ‘Chuck Berry’.”

Written and first recorded by Chuck Berry, this song was his second release for Chess Records. Released in 1955, it reached number two on the US R&B charts. It has been covered by Ernest Tubb, Ronnie Hawkins and The Hawks (as “Forty Days”), and others. Despite reaching number two on the charts, it is often omitted from Berry’s “greatest hits” compilations.



Chuck Berry - Thirty Days (1955)

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Lyrics:

I'm gonna give you thirty days to get back home
I done called up a gypsy woman on the telephone
Gonna send out a world-wide hoodoo
That'll be the very thing that'll suit you
I'm gonna see that you be back home in thirty days

Oh, thirty days
(Thirty days)
Oh, thirty days
(Thirty days)

Baby, I'm a’see that you’ll be back home in thirty days
Well, she gonna send out a world-wide hoodoo
That'll be the very thing that'll suit ou
I'm gonna see that you’ll be back home in thirty days

Well, I talked to the judge in private early this morning
Ah, they took me to the sheriff's office to sign a warrant
They gonna put a false charge again' ya
That'll be the very thing that'll send ya
I'm gonna see that you’ll be back home in thirty days

Oh, thirty days
(Thirty days)
Oh, thirty days
(Thirty days)

I'm gonna see that you’ll be back home in thirty days
Yeah, gonna put a false charge against ya
That'll be the very thing that'll send ya
I'm gonna see that you’ll be back home in thirty days

If I don't get no satisfaction from the judge
I'm gonna take it to the FBI and voice my grudge
If they don't give me no consolation
I'm gonna take it to the United Nations
I'm gonna see that you’ll be back home in thirty days

Oh, thirty days
(Thirty days)
Oh, thirty days
(Thirty days)

Baby, I'm a’see that you’ll be back home in thirty days
Well, if you don't give me no consolation
I'm gonna take it to the United Nations
I'm gonna see that you’ll be back home in thirty days