"No Particular Place to Go" is a song by

Chuck Berry Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the " Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and developed rhythm and blues into th ...

, released as a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

Chess Records Chess Records was an American record company established in 1950 in Chicago, specializing in blues and rhythm and blues. It was the successor to Aristocrat Records, founded in 1947. It expanded into soul music, gospel music, early rock and roll ...

in May 1964 and released on the album ''

St. Louis to Liverpool ''St. Louis to Liverpool'' is the seventh and tenth overall studio album by American musician Chuck Berry. Released in 1964 by Chess Records. It peaked at number 124 on the US ''Billboard'' album chart, the first of Berry's studio albums to ap ...

'' in November 1964 (see

1964 in music This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1964. Specific locations * 1964 in British music * 1964 in Norwegian music Specific genres *1964 in country music * 1964 in jazz Events *January 1 – ''Top of the Pops'' ...

). "No Particular Place to Go" was recorded on March 25, 1964 in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

and features the same music as Berry's earlier hit " School Days".

Lyrics

The song is a comical four verse story. In the first verse, the narrator is riding in his car as his girlfriend drives, and they kiss. In the second, they start to cuddle, and drive slow. In the third, they decide to park and take a walk, but are unable to release the

seat belt A seat belt (also known as a safety belt, or spelled seatbelt) is a vehicle safety device designed to secure the driver or a passenger of a vehicle against harmful movement that may result during a collision or a sudden stop. A seat belt reduc ...

. In the last verse, they drive home, defeated by said recalcitrant seat belt.

Recording

The session(s) during which "No Particular Place to Go" was recorded were produced by

Leonard Leonard or ''Leo'' is a common English language, English masculine given name and a surname. The given name and surname originate from the Old High German ''Leonhard'' containing the prefix ''levon'' ("lion") from the Greek wikiwikiweb:Λέων, � ...

and

Phil Chess Philip Chess (born Fiszel Czyż; March 27, 1921 – October 18, 2016) was a Polish-born American record producer and company executive, the co-founder with his brother of Chess Records. Early life Chess was born to a Polish-Jewish family in the ...

, and backing Berry were

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

Paul Williams,

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...

Odie Payne, and bassist

Louis Satterfield Louis Edward Satterfield (April 3, 1937 – September 27, 2004) was an American bassist and trombonist. Satterfield was a member of both The Pharaohs and the Phenix Horns. He also collaborated with prominent artists such as Earth, Wind & Fire, Mu ...

Charts

Cover versions

In 1982

George Thorogood & the Destroyers George Lawrence Thorogood (born February 24, 1950) is an American musician, singer and songwriter from Wilmington, Delaware. His "high-energy boogie-blues" sound became a staple of 1980s rock radio, with hits like his original songs "Bad to the ...

included a version on their album

Bad To The Bone "Bad to the Bone" is a song by American blues rock band George Thorogood and the Destroyers, released in 1982 on the album of the same name by EMI America Records. The song adapts the hook and lyrics of Muddy Waters' 1955 song "Mannish Boy". Wh ...

. In 1994 it also appeared on their live album '' Live: Let's Work Together''.

References

{{authority control Chuck Berry songs 1964 singles Chess Records singles Songs written by Chuck Berry Songs about cars 1964 songs