Song title: You never can tell
(Berry) by Chuck Berry (Chess 1906), 1964
You never can tell
It was a teenage wedding, and the old folks wished them well
You could see that Pierre did truly love the madamoiselle
And now the young monsieur and madame have rung the chapel bell,
"C'est la vie", say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell
They furnished off an apartment with a two room Roebuck sale
The coolerator was crammed with TV dinners and ginger ale,
But when Pierre found work, the little money comin' worked out well
"C'est la vie", say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell
They had a hi-fi phono, boy, did they let it blast
Seven hundred little records, all rock, rhythm and jazz
But when the sun went down, the rapid tempo of the music fell;
"C'est la vie", say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell
They bought a souped-up jitney, 'twas a cherry red '53,
They drove it down to Orleans to celebrate the anniversary
It was there that Pierre was married to the lovely madamoiselle
"C'est la vie", say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell
This song has never been published on any official release.
Very few performances of this songs are known (to me, at least!):
- 03/06/1974 The Agora, Cleveland,OH ,USA during the Pre-BTR gigs
- 02/06/1989 Stone Pony, Asbury Park,NJ ,USA during the Summer '89 bar Tour
- 28/06/2007 Florentine Gardens, River Vale, NJ ,USA
- 26/07/2009 Estadio San Mamés, Bilbao ,Spain during the Working on a dream tour
- 23/08/2009 Comcast Theatre, Mansfield, MA ,USA during the Working on a dream tour
- 07/07/2013 Red Bull Arena, Leipzig ,Germany during the Wrecking ball tour
- 20/07/2016 Casa Arena, Horsens ,Denmark during the The River Tour 2016
Data from the www.brucespringsteen.it database
First known live performance: 03/06/1974 The Agora, Cleveland,OH ,USA
Last known live performance: 20/07/2016 Casa Arena, Horsens ,Denmark
Song 'history':
Played live 1 time(s) during the gigs preceeding the official Born To Run Tour.
Keep in mind that only a small amount of the setlists of these years has surfaced, so it may have been played a lot more.
Played during the 'Summer '89 bar tour', which is the name under which I group the 1989 shows Bruce played with various small bands, or guesting, between March and September 1989
Two only performances during the Working on a Dream tour (26/07/2009 Estadio San Mamés, Bilbao ,Spain and 23/08/2009 Comcast Theatre, Mansfield, MA ,USA)
One only rendering for this song in the Wrecking Ball tour (07/07/2013 Red Bull Arena, Leipzig ,Germany)
One only rendering for this song in the 2016 The River tour (20/07/2016 Casa Arena, Horsens ,Denmark)
The song was also played in informal happenings or off-tour appearances
Data from the www.brucespringsteen.it database