My Ding-a-Ling

"My Ding-a-Ling" was a 1972 novelty hit record for Chuck Berry, and his only U.S. number-one single on the pop charts. Later that year the song was on the album "The London Chuck Berry Sessions".

The song (entitled "Little Girl Sing Ding-a-Ling") was recorded by Dave Bartholomew in 1952. In 1954, The Bees released a version entitled "Toy Bell." Berry recorded a version called "My Tambourine" in 1958, but the version which topped the charts was recorded live during the Lanchester Arts Festival at the Locarno ballroom in Coventry, England, on 3 February 1972, where Berry - backed by The Roy Young Band - topped a bill that also included Slade and Billy Preston. Legendary Radio personality from the Boston radio station WMEX, Jim Connors, is credited with a Gold record for discovering the song and pushing it to #1 over the airwaves and amongst his peers in the United States.

Lyrics

The song tells of how the singer received two silver bells on a string from his grandmother, who calls them his ding-a-ling. According to the song, he plays with it in school, and holds on to it in dangerous situations like falling after climbing the garden wall, and swimming across a creek infested with snapping turtles. The lyrics [1] consistently exercise the double entendre with ding-a-ling standing in for the penis. In the final verse, Berry admonishes "those of you who will not sing" and concludes that they "must be playing with [their] own ding-a-ling".

The Average White Band members guitarist Onnie McIntyre and drummer Robbie McIntosh played on the single.

Controversy

The lyrics with their sly tone and innuendo (and the cheerful enthusiasm of Berry and the live audience) caused many radio stations to refuse to play it, and British morality campaigner Mary Whitehouse tried unsuccessfully to get the song banned. Moreover, pop critics generally dislike the song (especially the fact that it was Berry's sole #1 single in his career) and say that it is unworthy for someone who was so important in early rock 'n' roll (Alan Freeman once introduced the song by saying "oh Chuck baby, how could you!?!"). Nevertheless, Berry still likes it and on the recording calls it "our Alma Mater".

This controversy was lampooned in The Simpsons episode "Lisa's Pony", in which a Springfield Elementary School student attempts to sing the song during the school's talent show. He barely finishes the first line of the refrain before an irate Principal Skinner rushes him off of the stage.

The censorship of this song continues even today -- in one case, for a classic rerun of American Top 40, some stations, such as WOGL in Philadelphia, replaced this song with an optional extra when it aired a rerun of a November 18, 1972 broadcast of AT40 (where it ranked at #14) ^[1]on December 6, 2008. It should be noted that, even back in 1972, some stations would refuse to play this song on AT40, even when it reached number one. And despite the fact "My Ding-a-Ling" was a former #1 hit, few oldies stations ever air the tune.

Trivia

According to the flip side of "My Ding-a-Ling" (a live version of "Johnny B. Goode"), the crowd refused to leave the Locarno ballroom after Berry's performance, as they demanded an encore. The public address announcer told the crowd that the next act, Pink Floyd, could not perform until the ballroom was cleared.

There were two separate concerts that evening. The first was the Chuck Berry concert, with Slade and Billy Preston, to be followed by a separately ticketed event by Pink Floyd. The Chuck Berry show overran mainly through late start and poor organization. For example, before Billy Preston's set very considerable time and effort were spent trying to get a piano through the crowd (it was an all standing event) onto the stage. After what seemed like an hour that was given up as a bad job and an electric piano substituted.

The crowd certainly called for an encore from Chuck, but that is normal at almost every Chuck Berry concert. The hall had to be cleared so the ticket holders for the second concert could go in. The Pink Floyd concert got underway around 2 hours later than advertised.

Berry's live LP (album) from that show was called "The London Sessions" even though London is some 80 miles away.

Charts

References

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (July 2008)

• The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th edition).
• Guterman, Jimmy and O'Donnell, Owen. The Worst Rock-and-Roll Records of All Time, New York: Citadel.
• worldpress.org
• Lyrics