Meanwhile… I was thinking:
Chuck Berry’s “Run Rudolph Run” is basically the same song as “Little Queenie.” The man was one of the all-time great rock and roll performers, but he also sure knew how to get a lot of mileage from his songs.
Fun fact: Berry didn’t actually write “Run Rudolph Run.” It was actually written by Johnny Marks, who also wrote the original “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” a decade earlier in 1949. So while Berry is credited as the songwriter for “Little Queenie” (released a year after “Run Rudolph Run” in 1959), he lifted the melody from Marks.
So you can draw a direct connection from “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” to “Little Queenie,” certainly one of the odder instances of shared musical DNA.
Given Bruce’s fondness for Chuck Berry’s music, it was probably inevitable that he’d someday take a swing at covering “Run Rudolph Run.” Perhaps the only surprise is that it took him so long to get around to it.
Bruce first covered the song in 1994, at Tradewinds in Sea Bright, New Jersey, with Tim McLoone’s Holiday Express. (Check it out at the 3:50 mark below.)
When Bruce kicked off a holiday show tradition of his own in 2000, “Run Rudolph Run” was prominently featured in both shows, with Bruce trading off vocals with Jimmy Vivino, backed by the Max Weinberg 7.
He reprised it four years later at his holidays shows at Harry’s Roadhouse, this time backed by Bobby Bandiera’s band and the Jukes’ horn section…
…and finally in a surprise appearance four years later with Jon Bon Jovi at Bobby Bandiera’s Hope Concert at the Count Basie Theater in Red Bank (featuring a guitar solo Berry would surely approve of).
It’s been ten years since “Run Rudolph Run” last made Bruce’s setlist, but don’t count it out just yet–the next time Bruce plays a holiday show, there’s a good chance Rudolph will be on the invite list.
Run Rudolph Run
First performed: December 20, 1994 (Sea Bright, NJ)
Last performed: December 22, 2008 (Red Bank, NJ)
