The Chuck Berry Song That Inspired a Glam Rock Anthem

Rock history is littered with songs that contain the DNA of Chuck Berry tunes. Everyone from The Beatles and The Rolling Stones to the New York Dolls, Sex Pistols, and beyond has, in some way, followed Berry’s rock-and-roll blueprint. And this glam rock anthem likely wouldn’t exist without Berry’s foundational guitar style.

“Bang A Gong (Get It On)”

In 1971, T. Rex continued its drift away from folk music and toward boogie-oriented glam rock. Led by Marc Bolan, the group helped pioneer glam rock with Electric Warrior, their second LP, as T. Rex (formerly Tyrannosaurus Rex).

The album reached No. 1 in the U.K. and remains a glam-rock touchstone, propelled by swaggering classics like “Get It On” and “Jeepster”.

For “Get It On”, later retitled “Bang A Gong (Get It On)” in the U.S., Bolan drew inspiration from Chuck Berry’s 1959 single, “Little Queenie”, most notably with the syncopated blues riff that Bolan used as his starting point.

Built Like a Car

Both tunes are propelled by young lust. But Bolan cloaked his want in the language of hipster counterculture and hot rods.

Well, you’re built like a car,
You’ve got a hubcap diamond-star halo,
You’re built like a car, oh, yeah.
Well, you’re an untamed youth,
That’s the truth with your cloak full of eagles,
You’re dirty sweet, and you’re my girl.

And Berry:

I got lumps in my throat when I saw her coming down the aisle,
I got the wiggles in my knees when she looked at me and sweetly smiled.
There she is again, standing over by the record machine,
Looking like a model on the cover of a magazine.
She’s too cute to be a minute over 17.

(Pop music, it seems, has often shared an infatuation with age 17—see ABBA and The Beatles as examples.)

Returning to T. Rex, Bolan ends “Get It On” with an ad lib borrowed from “Little Queenie”. As the track fades out, Bolan says, “For a meanwhile, I’m still thinking,” a nod to Berry’s own pondering:

Meanwhile, I was still thinking,
If it’s a slow song, we’ll omit it.
If it’s a rocker, that’ll get it.
And if it’s good, she’ll admit it,
C’mon queenie, let’s get with it.

Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images