Distantly modeled on a country number called “Ida Red” but the primary elements of “Maybellene” trace their roots clearly to rhythm & blues: the thick, buzzing timbre of Berry’s electric guitar (see Box 3.2); the blue notes and slides in both voice and guitar; the socking backbeat of the drum; and the form, derived from twelve-bar blues structures.
What, then, made “Maybellene” sound so startlingly new? The explosive tempo, for one thing; while bands occasionally may have played for dancing at a tempo like this, no vocal-based rhythm & blues had ever gone at this pace, because it’s exceptionally hard to articulate words, and have time to breathe, when trying to sing at this tempo. But Berry pulls it off, articulating the words with clarity and remarkable force. This brings up another essential aspect of the record’s novelty and appeal, which is the lyrics themselves. The lyrics to “Maybellene” provide an original and clever description of a lovers’ quarrel in the form of a car chase, complete with a punning invented verb form (motorvatin’ ), humorous details (“Rain water blowin’” under the automobile hood, which is “doin’ my motor good”), and a breathless ending in which the singer catches Maybellene in her Cadillac at the top of a hill—an ending that still leaves listeners room to imagine a wide range of sequels. And what could reach out to a young audience more effectively than a story featuring both cars and sex appeal?
The form of “Maybellene” is clearly based on the twelve-bar blues. The chorus (“Maybellene, why can’t you be true?”) adheres to the traditional twelve-bar structure in every respect: three four-bar phrases, standard chord pattern, and even a traditional three-line poetic arrangement where the second line is a repetition of the first. But the verses, while twelve bars long, completely suppress chord changes, remaining on the “home” (or tonic) chord throughout while the voice delivers rapid-fire lyrics using brief, repetitive patterns of notes (see listening chart). Ironically, by eliminating chord changes and restricting melodic interest in the verses, Berry turns what could have been a static, purely strophic form into something more dynamic. Instead of a string of standard twelve-bar blues stanzas, we hear an alternating verse-chorus structure that allows Berry to tell his story, and to build his record, in a more exciting way.