Chuck Berry - No Money Down

First performance: 01/06/1974


Coverinfo

Bruce covered the song 2 times at full and 12 times as a snippet:
 
 
Late show: Noted on the pre-concert advertising material, singer-songwriter Jeffrey Comanor opened for Springsteen, performing a short set.
 
1974-06-01 Memorial Gymnasium, Kent, OH 
 played at full : billing extravaganza, with Springsteen & The E Street Band headlining. Support acts were Michael Stanley, The Banky Brothers Band and 15-60-75 (aka The Numbers Band). 
 
  • Snippets 
during CADILLAC RANCH
 
Done in monologue fashion that built the song.

1981-01-21 Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto
1980-12-31 Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale
1980-12-01 Civic Arena, Pittsburgh
1980-11-28 Madison Square Garden, NY
1980-11-23 Capital Centre, Largo
1980-11-20 Rosemont Horizon, Rosemont
1980-11-15 Summit (The), Houston
1980-11-05 ASU Activity Center, Tempe
1980-11-03 Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, LA
1980-11-01 Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, LA
1980-10-31 Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, LA
1980-10-30 Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, LA
 

Songinfo

"No Money Down" is a song written and recorded by Chuck Berry in December 1955."No Money Down" features a repeating stop-time riff similar to the one that had previously appeared in Willie Dixon's "Hoochie Coochie Man", Bo Diddley's "I'm a Man" and Muddy Waters's "Mannish Boy". It tells a story, in great detail, of a man who enters a Cadillac showroom to trade in his Ford.
 
 
 

Other cover versions

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

As I was motivatin'
Back in town
I saw a Cadillac sign
Sayin' "No Money Down"
So I eased on my brakes
And I pulled in the drive
Gunned my motor twice
Then I walked inside
Dealer came to me
Said "Trade in your Ford
And I'll put you in a car
That'll eat up the road
Just tell me what you want
And then sign on that line
And I'll have it brought down to you
In a hour's time"

I'm gonna get me a car
And I'll be headed on down the road
Then I won't have to worry
About that broken-down, raggedy Ford

"Well, Mister, I want a yellow convertible
Four-door de Ville
With a Continental spare
And a wide chrome wheel
I want power steering
And power brakes
I want a powerful motor
With a jet off-take
I want air condition
I want automatic heat
And I want a full Murphy bed
In my back seat
I want shortwave radio
I want TV and a phone
You know I gotta talk to my baby
When I'm ridin' alone"

Yes, I'm gonna get that car
And I'm gonna head on down the road
Yeah, then I won't have to worry
About that broken-down, raggedy Ford

"I want four carbeurators
And two straight exhausts
I'm burnin' aviation fuel
No matter what the cost
I want railroad air horns
And a military spark
And I want a five-year guarantee
On everything I got
I want ten dollar deductible
I want twenty dollar notes
I want thirty thousand liability"
That's all she wrote

I got me a car
And I'm headed on down the road
No money down
I don't have to worry
About that broken-down, raggedy Ford