Yet MORE Songs You May Not Have Known Were Covers: My Ding-a-Ling (#3)

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Resisting the temptation to pull a The Horse and brag about how myLot helped me earn $18.25 yesterday (because I tied for first in the tournament, then lost on the second hole of the playoff), I'll forge onward with another song from the world of covers. This is my fourth set of songs that were hits, but you may not know those hits were actually covers. And it's time for controversy with today's song! (No, not the Prince song.) #3: My Ding-a-Ling You talk about crimes against rock and roll????? Chuck Berry was, is, and ever shall be rock and roll's daddy. As Bob Seger said in "Rock and Roll Never Forgets," "all of Chuck's children are out there, playing his licks." We're still telling Beethoven to roll over and celebrating that Maybellene is sweet little 16....and we always will. Johnny B. Goode tonight and every night!! And yet....for all of those great songs -- rock icons -- that Chuck Berry wrote, he never hit #1 on the pop charts with any of them. He only had one #1 single in his entire career. This one. It's pretty easy to understand why "My Ding-a-Ling" was a hit: it came along when morals were loosening up, but there was still considerable resistance. There's nothing like controversy to help a song sell. The fact that a number of radio stations refused to play this song (I think, in town, WAKY would play it and WKLO would not) just helped it. And there you go, Chuck Berry finally had a #1. And it's a cover. This was written by Dave Bartholomew, who also wrote "I Hear You Knockin'." He originally recorded it on King Records in the early 50s (King Records owner Syd Nathan apparently had a thing for double entendre songs, if you look at some of the country songs he released). He re-recorded the song a couple of times, each time changing the name of the song. It went from "My Ding-a-Ling" to "Little Girl Sing Ting-a-Ling" to "Toy Bells" in two years and three versions. Finally, in 1972, Chuck Berry took it to #1...and infamy. My Ding-a-Ling Written by Dave Bartholomew Originally recorded by Dave Bartholomew, 1952 Re-recorded by Bartholomew as "Little Girl Sing Ting a Ling," 1953 Re-recorded by Bartholomew with the Bees as "Toy Bells," 1954 Famously covered by Chuck Berry, 1972 Berry said this was the "alma mater," and it is pretty juvenile...but fun: