Chuck Berry - Little Queenie

First performance: 01/09/1971

Coverinfo

Bruce covered the song 11 times:
 
 
2008-08-23 Scottrade Center, St. Louis, MO
2002-09-27 Bradley Center, Milwaukee, WI

1999-09-21 First Union Center, Philadelphia, PA
Bruce opens the show with the reunion tour's only "Little Queenie"

1988-11-26 Stone (The), San Francisco, CA
1981-08-06 Bayou (The), Washington, DC
1975-11-24 Hammersmith Odeon, London, England
 

1975-10-29 Sacramento Memorial Auditorium, Sacramento, CA
1975-10-04 Michigan Palace, Detroit, MI
1975-10-02 Uptown Theatre, Milwaukee, WI

1972-02-25 Back Door (The), Richmond, VA
With the Bruce Springsteen Band
 
1971-09-01 Garfield Park, Long Branch, NJ 
With the Bruce Springsteen Band 
  

Songinfo

"Little Queenie" is a song written and recorded by Chuck Berry in 1959. One year earlier Berry had released "Run Rudolph Run", a Christmas song with the same melody.
 
 
  

Bruce on the artist

When Chuck Berry died Bruce tweeted :

"Chuck Berry was rock's greatest practitioner, guitarist, and the greatest pure rock 'n' roll writer who ever lived. This is a tremendous loss of a giant for the ages."

Springsteen and Berry played together on at least two occasions. As back up at the University of Maryland in 1973. Springsteen asked what songs they were going to do. Berry said : " we're going to do some Chuck Berry songs." More than 20 years later, Springsteen again played backup for Berry, at a concert at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, celebrating the opening of the Rock and Roll Music Hall of Fame.
 
Bruce had 3 performances together with Chuck Berry:

1995-09-02 Cleveland Municipal Stadium, Cleveland, OH
The Rock And Roll Hall of Fame inauguration concert
 
 
 
1987-01-21 Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York City, NY
The second annual Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame ceremony. 

1973-04-28 Cole Field House, University Of Maryland, College Park, MD
One show, triple bill, with Chuck Berry headlining, [Lee Lewis]] second billed and Bruce and the boys opening. A show now steeped in legend. Berry's contract stipulated that it was the promoter's responsibility to supply him with a backing band for this concert. Apparently Bruce learned about a week before the show that the promoter was seeking a group to support Berry and immediately volunteered his band's services for free, which the promoter gladly accepted. There was no rehearsal or soundcheck with Berry, so Bruce and the boys improvised as best they could. The show was Bruce's first known appearance in Maryland. Bruce and the boys opened their part of the show with a 50-minute set, followed by a 60-minute set by Jerry Lee Lewis and his band. Chuck Berry (with Springsteen's entire band backing him, including Bruce and Southside Johnny) closed the evening's festivities with a 70-minute performance. Springsteen recounts some hilarious details in the 1987 Chuck Berry documentary Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll, but does not mention Southside Johnny’s appearance. Fearing that Berry might not want a harp player Bruce positioned Southside in the shadows at the extreme end of the stage. However Berry enjoyed the harp playing and near the end of the show he actually acknowledged Southside to the crowd saying "that white boy can blow, can’t he!" This almost sold out gig in the 15,000 seat Cole Field House was not without some controversy. Such was the demand to see the show that the school newspaper reported that twenty people were arrested when police spotted individuals sneaking into the concert via an open female lavatory window at the back of the building. Apparently 200-300 people made it in before the police caught wind of what was going on. 
 
Watch Bruce tells the story here
 
List of songs co-credited to Bruce Springsteen and Chuck Berry:
 
   

Lyrics

I got lumps in my throat
When I saw her comin' down the aisle
I got the wiggles in my knees
When she looked at me and sweetly smiled
There she is again
Standin' over by the record machine
Looking like a model
On the cover of a magazine
She's too cute to be a minute over seventeen

Meanwhile I was thinkin'
If she's in the mood no need to break it
I got the chance and I oughta take it
If she can dance we can make it
C'mon queenie let's shake it

Go, go, go, little queenie
Go, go, go, little queenie
Go, go, go, little queenie

Tell me who's the queen
Standin' over by the record machine
Looking like a model
On the cover of a magazine
She's too cute to be a minute over seventeen

Meanwhile, I was still thinkin'
If it's a slow song, we'll omit it
If it's a rocker, then we'll get it
And if it's good, she'll admit it
C'mon queenie, let's get with it

Go, go, go, little queenie
Go, go, go, little queenie
Go, go, go, little queenie