Thirty Days by Chuck Berry

Album: Rock, Rock, Rock (1955)

License This Song

artistfacts

Songfacts®:

This was Berry's second single, after "Maybellene." Officially titled "Thirty Days (To Come Back Home)," it is usually alluded to as simply "Thirty Days." According to Berry's piano player and collaborator Johnnie Johnson in Bruce Pegg's unauthorized biography Brown Eyed Handsome Man..., like the B-Side "Together (We Will Always Be)," this track was written by Berry while they were on the road, and recorded in haste at Chicago.

"I don't think that it took more than an hour for each one," he said.

An attempt to reproduce "Maybellene," it was released on the Chess label, made #8 on the R&B chart, but never troubled the Hot 100, and was soon covered by Ernest Tubb on Decca. >>>
Suggestion credit:
Alexander Baron - London, England
In this song, Berry's girl has left him and he's giving her 30 days to return, warning her that if she doesn't, he'll "send out a world wide hoodoo" and press false charges against her. It's not a very romantic sentiment, but that wasn't Berry's game: his songs were filled with humor and dysfunction.
Mick Jagger got the title for "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" from the line in this: "Can't get no satisfaction from the judge."
As he sings here, Chuck Berry really couldn't get any satisfaction from the judge. He was incarcerated three times: first in 1947 when he was sent to a reformatory for armed robbery, second in 1962 when he went to jail for 20 months for transporting a minor across state lines, then in 1979 when he was locked up for four months on tax evasion charges.

Comments: 2

Barry from Sauquoit, NyIn 1959 Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks released a cover version of this song, but they titled it "Forty Days", it peaked at No. 45 and was in the Top 100 for eight weeks!!!
Karim from Bremen, Germanyhallo

thank you verry much

see more comments

More Songfacts:

Mr. Tambourine ManThe Byrds

"Mr. Tambourine Man" is the only song Bob Dylan wrote that became a #1 hit on the Hot 100. The Byrds' cover topped the chart in 1965.

Man On the MoonR.E.M.

"Man On The Moon" by R.E.M. is about the comedian Andy Kaufman, who often seemed like he was from another planet.

Cult of PersonalityLiving Colour

"Cult of Personality" by Living Colour incorporates speeches by John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

GhostbustersRay Parker, Jr.

Ray Parker Jr. had to get the word "Ghostbusters" in the title when he wrote the theme song for the 1984 film, which was no easy task. When it came time to sing the title in the chorus, he brought in friends to make it a gang vocal.

My Ding-a-LingChuck Berry

Chuck Berry's only #1 hit was "My Ding-a-Ling," a novelty song about a boy and his... you know.

APT.Rosé

The chant in the Bruno Mars/Rosé hit "APT" is "apateu," the Korean word for apartment. It's named after a Korean drinking game called "Apartment" that Rosé told Bruno about.