Pay phone - something wrong - dime gone - will mail
Ought to sue the operator for telling me a tale - ahh!
Monday, August 30, 2010
Chuck Berry, Flash Fiction Master
John Lennon called Chuck Berry "one of the all-time great poets" but I think he's a flash fiction master. If you printed out the lyrics to his two-minute masterpieces like "Almost Grown" or "Too Much Monkey Business" you'd have a flash fiction story -- tight, vernacular, witty. They're little stories, with a dramatic arc, all told from a teenager's point of view. Chuck had a feel for the rhythm and rhyme of words that was unmatched. He can tell a whole story in just two lines, like these from "Too Much Monkey Business":
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Absolutely. "Maybelline" is a flash fiction gem, too. "Johnny B. Goode" almost goes without saying. "Reelin and Rockin" feels like a traditional blues song with no real plot, but as the night goes he finds himself dancing with a woman "twice my size!", which makes it like a flash story with a twist ending.
ReplyDeleteSo much good music from that guy, and so much of it had to do with the little stories he told.
Thanks for the comment. "No Particular Place To Go" is another little flash fiction story. Good songwriting doesn't always tell a story, but some of the most memorable songs do. It's amazing to think that Chuck Berry was writing these little two minute stories at a time when Pop music lyrics were full of cliches about teenage love. Chuck wrote about the same topics, but with so much more wit and elegance.
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