You Never Can Tell (song)

"You Never Can Tell"
US single picture sleeve
Single by Chuck Berry
from the album St. Louis to Liverpool
B-side"Brenda Lee"
ReleasedAugust 1964
RecordedJanuary 1964
StudioChess (Chicago)[1]
Genre
Length2:43
LabelChess
Songwriter(s)Chuck Berry
Producer(s)
Chuck Berry singles chronology
"No Particular Place to Go"
(1964)
"You Never Can Tell"
(1964)
"Promised Land"
(1964)

"You Never Can Tell", also known as "C'est La Vie" or "Teenage Wedding", is a song written by Chuck Berry. It was composed in the early 1960s while Berry was in federal prison for violating the Mann Act.[2] Released in 1964 on the album St. Louis to Liverpool and the follow-up single to Berry's final Top Ten hit of the 1960s: "No Particular Place to Go", "You Never Can Tell" reached number 14, becoming Berry's final Top 40 hit until "My Ding-a-Ling", a number 1 in October 1972. The song performed slightly better in Canada, and also reached the Top 40 in the United Kingdom.

Berry's recording features an iconic piano hook played by Johnnie Johnson.

  1. ^ "The Chuck Berry Database: Details For Recording Session: 7., 8. & 9. 1. 1964". A Collector's Guide to the Music of Chuck Berry. Dietmar Rudolph. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  2. ^ ""Chuck Berry is Arrested on Mann Act Charges in St. Louis, Missouri". History.com. A&E Television Networks, LLC. Retrieved 2014-03-24.