"Memphis, Tennessee" is a song by rock & roll singer-songwriter Chuck Berry. It is sometimes shortened to "Memphis". In the UK, the song charted at #6 in 1963, at the same time Decca Records issued a cover version in the UK by Dave Berry and the Cruisers, who came from Sheffield, Yorkshire. Dave Berry's version also became a UK Top 20 hit single, the first of a string of British hit singles which ended with a cover of BJ Thomas' "Mama" reaching #5 in 1966. "Memphis, Tennessee" was most successfully covered by Johnny Rivers whose version of the song was a #2 US hit in 1964.
Berry later composed a sequel, "Little Marie", which appeared in 1964 as a single and on the album St. Louis to Liverpool.
The vocals are the dominant feature of the song. The lyrics of the song depict the speaker's conversation on the phone to the "long distance information" operator. The lyrics are deceiving and the true roles of characters unfold as the story goes on.
As the song starts, the speaker is asking to get in touch with the person who phoned him. It is not known who they are yet, but his uncle is mentioned. In the next verse, he speaks of a girl named 'Marie'. From this point in time, she could be in any way connected to him.
In the third verse, it is revealed that the speaker was close to this girl, and says that they were pulled apart because "her mom did not agree". From here the listener is led to believe that the girl was his lover, and her mother did not agree with the speaker, for some reason. When the speaker moves to the next verse he explains his last time seeing her, as having "hurry home drops on her cheek that trickled from her eye".
He continues by revealing that she is only six years old, and pleads that he get in touch with her. This unfolds the story, as we are now aware that the girl is his daughter, and the mother was in fact his own wife.
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