It wasn’t his biggest hit (it wasn’t even his biggest hit that year), but it was one of his most influential.
Chuck Berry recorded “Carol” on May 2, 1958, and by mid-September it had caught fire thanks to its famous guitar lick, reaching #9 on the Billboard R&B chart and #18 on the Hot 100.
“Carol” wasn’t a hit overseas, but if it didn’t reach a big audience it at least reached an influential one. The Beatles loved the track and performed it in their Pop Go the Beatles performance on the BBC in 1963.
And a year later, The Rolling Stones recorded it for their debut album (and released a live version five years after that).
Berry’s stamp was all over Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run Tour too, with “Carol” making no less than sixteen appearances during the summer and fall of 1975, including a raucous performance at The Roxy in Los Angeles on Berry’s 49th birthday.
According to Bruce, he’d been playing “Carol” on stage in bars long before that night, since right about the time The Stones released their version. No record of him covering it that early survives, but there are certainly many surviving recordings from post-Born to Run bar gigs–no less than twenty known performances between 1977 and 1989, with artists like former Steel Mill bandmate Robbin Thompson….
…and future E Street bandmate Nils Lofgren.
Bruce’s ease and familiarity with Berry’s song is evident in every performance, which is probably why it popped up so often in Bruce’s string of surprise club appearances in the eighties.
“Carol” made her last appearance with Bruce at a Stone Pony appearance with Cats on a Smooth Surface in 1989. But even though she hasn’t been seen since, don’t count her out. “Carol” is a perennial favorite of rock and roll bands to this day.
Carol
First performed: July 26, 1975 (Kutztown, PA)
Last performed: July 23, 1989 (Asbury Park, NJ)
