You Never Can Tell Lyrics
You could see that Pierre did truly love the mademoiselle
And now the young monsieur and madame have rung the chapel bell
"C'est la vie", say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell
The coolerator was crammed with TV dinners and ginger ale
But when Pierre found work, the little money comin' worked out well
"C'est la vie", say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell
Seven hundred little records, all rock, rhythm and jazz
But when the sun went down, the rapid tempo of the music fell
"C'est la vie", say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell
They drove it down to Orleans to celebrate the anniversary
It was there that Pierre was married to the lovely madamoiselle
"C'est la vie", say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell
You could see that Pierre did truly love the mademoiselle
And now the young monsieur and madame have rung the chapel bell,
"C'est la vie", say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell
To add to the last comment... it is about a teenage wedding that actually lasted. "C'est la vie" is a french expression that translated in english means "that's life" sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't hence you never can tell.
i loved it when mia and vincent danced to this song in pulp fiction! Tarantino always know what music goes best with the movies. KICK ASS.
This is about a teenage couple getting married and staying together. Many of Berry's songs are written from the perspective of young people. This was one of the new batch of hits Berry produced after being released from his 1962-63 prison incarceration. Berry invented a new word for the lyrics: "Coolerator." It means "refrigerator."
@kmk_natasha Chuck Berry did not invent the word "Coolerator." How ridiculous. A Coolerator was once popular brand of refrigerator, made by The Coolerator Company of Duluth, MN. The Coolerator Company began in 1908 as the Duluth Show Case Company. In 1945, the Coolerator Company again began to manufacture refrigerators and freezers. In 1946, the first electrical refrigerators were made... LONG before this song was written or released.
@kmk_natasha Chuck Berry did not invent the word "Coolerator." How ridiculous. A Coolerator was once popular brand of refrigerator, made by The Coolerator Company of Duluth, MN. The Coolerator Company began in 1908 as the Duluth Show Case Company. In 1945, the Coolerator Company again began to manufacture refrigerators and freezers. In 1946, the first electrical refrigerators were made... LONG before this song was written or released.
@kmk_natasha My parents had a Coolerator brand "Ice Box" from the middle 1930s until 1951 when it was replaced with an electric Nash Kelvinator (sp?) refrigerator. I remember a card being placed in the kitchen window facing the ally when Ice was needed. A truck from Citizen's Ice driving along the alley would stop and deliver more ice. Water from the melting ice in the ice box would flow via a hose through the kitchen floor to a bucket in the basement directly below the ice box.
@kmk_natasha My parents had a Coolerator brand "Ice Box" from the middle 1930s until 1951 when it was replaced with an electric Nash Kelvinator (sp?) refrigerator. I remember a card being placed in the kitchen window facing the ally when Ice was needed. A truck from Citizen's Ice driving along the alley would stop and deliver more ice. Water from the melting ice in the ice box would flow via a hose through the kitchen floor to a bucket in the basement directly below the ice box.
I think that none has so far realized that the song is actually about a DEAD COUPLE!!! This can be argued by the sharp contrast between the verbs in the simple past (was... wished... could... fournished... and so on) and the present of the lines
And NOW the young monsieur and madame HAVE RUNG the chapel bell, "C'est la vie", SAY the old folks, it GOES to show you never can tell.
So, the chapel bell is not ringing on their marriage (it would be "and THEN the young Monsieur and Madame RUNG the hapel bell" or the similar) but on their funeral!!! It is way the old folks NOW say "C'est la vie!", now when something bad is happened, because, do not forget!, the expression "C'est la vie" always expresses complaint about something bad but unvoidable.
Guys, that's Chuck Berry, that's Rock'n'Roll!! Irony and double sense are always there! A banal love song about a couple wiho has an happy life is out of place here!
Even more tragical here is that the youg couple dies on their anniversary, while driving back with a brand new car to the place where they got married, a year after... Call no man happy 'till he dies!
Exactly! I thought the same thing, which made me very sad, and I wanted to see if I was the only one who caught that. Another clue is that is says "Pierre loved MADEMOISELLE" calling the girl MADEMOISELLE at the wedding but "And now the young monsieur and MADAME have rung..." - meaning that they were already married when the bell rung, and it was a different event from the wedding. Very ironic and sad song about a happy young couple that started off a great life and died on their anniversary on the way to the place where they...
Exactly! I thought the same thing, which made me very sad, and I wanted to see if I was the only one who caught that. Another clue is that is says "Pierre loved MADEMOISELLE" calling the girl MADEMOISELLE at the wedding but "And now the young monsieur and MADAME have rung..." - meaning that they were already married when the bell rung, and it was a different event from the wedding. Very ironic and sad song about a happy young couple that started off a great life and died on their anniversary on the way to the place where they first met.
I'm so glad to hear this, Maxl! When I told my friends my explanation of the song, some thought I was a fool… I hope our interpretation will do justice to Chuck's genius!
I'm so glad to hear this, Maxl! When I told my friends my explanation of the song, some thought I was a fool… I hope our interpretation will do justice to Chuck's genius!
All the best, my friend!
All the best, my friend!
You don't have funerals at a chapel, dumass. Chapels are for weddings. A funeral is held at a funeral home or a church. There are so many holes inn that theory it does't even seem like its worth pointing out them all. Especially as they rung the chapel bell is in the first verse, not the las. Not to mention that the wedding is in the past, they have now been married for a year.
You don't have funerals at a chapel, dumass. Chapels are for weddings. A funeral is held at a funeral home or a church. There are so many holes inn that theory it does't even seem like its worth pointing out them all. Especially as they rung the chapel bell is in the first verse, not the las. Not to mention that the wedding is in the past, they have now been married for a year.
As mentioned, this song is about a teenage couple that managed to stay together, against the odds. The oldsters who observe this, having expected it to fall apart quickly, are surprised and say "huh, that's life, you never can tell".
This song probably had personal meaning to Chuck Berry. In 1959, he was arrested and imprisoned on trumped up charges of violating the "Mann Act", related to a sexual relationship he allegedly had with an underage girl. This song was written while Berry was in prison.
And no, this song is not about a young couple who have died, as one comment would have it. The use of past tense in the song is just the perspective chosen by the songwriter, nothing more.
@rkpetersen Finally! Someone understands what the song is actually about! Taking the year it was written into account, the song has a lot more to do with the new generation and the burgeoning counterculture than anything else. They did not die. MANY songs are written in past tense!
@rkpetersen Finally! Someone understands what the song is actually about! Taking the year it was written into account, the song has a lot more to do with the new generation and the burgeoning counterculture than anything else. They did not die. MANY songs are written in past tense!
Pulp Fiction rules.
I really like the Chcuk Berry songs with the one driving rhythm, this is one of those.
great song. Chuck Berry was so 'cool' back in the days, f'real.
Damn... I am not a big english speaker but it seems so obvious:
"But when the sun went down, the rapid tempo of the music fell..."
They had almost everything but no "fun" in the night, dear kids...
@nikolawfe Excuse me??? Young people have plenty of 'fun' in the night. I don't know what the custom is where you're from. Here, at night time, you turn the music down, slow it down, the day is over....it's NIGHT TIME, duh, they aren't jitterbugging around, or off to the races, or painting the living room.
@nikolawfe Excuse me??? Young people have plenty of 'fun' in the night. I don't know what the custom is where you're from. Here, at night time, you turn the music down, slow it down, the day is over....it's NIGHT TIME, duh, they aren't jitterbugging around, or off to the races, or painting the living room.
Chuck Berry wrote it and it's been played and played but still has life in it. One thing it says is that not much surprises old people.