Channel: ChristmasTimeTV

Category: Music

Description: "Run Rudolph Run" is a Christmas song popularized by Chuck Berry, written by Johnny Marks and Marvin Brodie and published by St. Nicholas Music (ASCAP). The song was first recorded by Berry in 1958 and released as a single on Chess Records. It has since been covered by numerous other artists, sometimes with the title "Run Run Rudolph". The song is a 12-bar blues, musically similar to Berry's very popular and recognizable song "Johnny B. Goode", and melodically identical to his song "Little Queenie", the latter of which was released shortly after, in 1959. The song was written by Johnny Marks (the writer of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer") and Marvin Brodie. Berry's 1958 45-rpm single, however, gives writing credits to "C. Berry Music – M. Brodie". All subsequent cover versions of the song are credited to Marks and Brodie, as published by Marks's St. Nicholas Music (ASCAP). The song's dialogue between Santa and the children references popular toys of the 1950s: Said Santa to a boy child "What have you been longing for?" "All I want for Christmas is a rock and roll electric guitar" And then away went Rudolph a whizzing like a Shooting Star Said Santa to a girl child "What would please you most to get?" "A little baby doll that can cry, sleep, drink and wet" And then away went Rudolph a whizzing like a Sabre jet. Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the "Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive with songs such as "Maybellene" (1955), "Roll Over Beethoven" (1956), "Rock and Roll Music" (1957) and "Johnny B. Goode" (1958). Writing lyrics that focused on teen life and consumerism, and developing a music style that included guitar solos and showmanship, Berry was a major influence on subsequent rock music. Born into a middle-class African-American family in St. Louis, Berry had an interest in music from an early age and gave his first public performance at Sumner High School. While still a high school student he was convicted of armed robbery and was sent to a reformatory, where he was held from 1944 to 1947. After his release, Berry settled into married life and worked at an automobile assembly plant. By early 1953, influenced by the guitar riffs and showmanship techniques of the blues musician T-Bone Walker, Berry began performing with the Johnnie Johnson Trio. His break came when he traveled to Chicago in May 1955 and met Muddy Waters, who suggested he contact Leonard Chess, of Chess Records. With Chess, he recorded "Maybellene"—Berry's adaptation of the country song "Ida Red"—which sold over a million copies, reaching number one on Billboard magazine's rhythm and blues chart. Berry was among the first musicians to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on its opening in 1986; he was cited for having "laid the groundwork for not only a rock and roll sound but a rock and roll stance." Berry is included in several of Rolling Stone magazine's "greatest of all time" lists; he was ranked fifth on its 2004 and 2011 lists of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.[9] The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll includes three of Berry's: "Johnny B. Goode", "Maybellene", and "Rock and Roll Music". Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" is the only rock-and-roll song included on the Voyager Golden Record. Out of all the reindeers you know you are the mastermind Run, run Rudolph, Randolph ain't too far behind Run, run Rudolph, Santa's gotta make it to town Santa, make him hurry, tell him he can take the freeway down Run, run Rudolph 'cause I'm reelin' like a merry-go-round Said Santa to a boy child, "What have you been longin' for?" "All I want for Christmas is a rock 'n' roll 'lectric guitar" And then away went Rudolph whizzin' like a shootin' star Run, run Rudolph, Santa's has to make it in town Santa, make him hurry, tell him he can take the freeway down Run, run Rudolph, reelin' like a merry-go-round Run, run Rudolph, Santa's gotta make it to town Santa, make him hurry, tell him he can take the freeway down Run, run Rudolph, I'm reelin' like a merry-go-round Said Santa to a girl child, "What would please you most to get?" "A little baby doll that can cry, sleep, drink and wet" And then away went Rudolph, whizzin' like a Saber jet Run, run Rudolph, Santa's gotta make it to town Santa, make him hurry, tell him he can take the freeway down Run, run Rudolph I'm reelin' like a merry-go-round