Inspired by “You Never Can Tell”, Chuck Berry (1964).
Hit versions by Dave Edmunds (UK #26/AUS #32 1977), Nick Lowe & His Cowboy Outfit (US #77 1985).
Also recorded by Nick Lowe’s Last Chicken in the Shop (1978).
From the wiki: “Nick Lowe has indicated Chuck Berry’s ‘You Never Can Tell’ was the source of inspiration for his own song ‘I Knew The Bride (When She Used To Rock’n’Roll)’, first recorded and made popular in 1977 by Dave Edmunds. Lowe, the song’s writer, also recorded it as part of the 1978 Live Stiffs Live concert compilation (as ‘Nick Lowe’s Last Chicken in the Shop’) and, again, in the studio in 1985 with Huey Lewis & the News. This version was released as a single, peaking at #77 on the Billboard Hot 100.
“Berry’s ‘You Never Can Tell’ was written by him in 1964 while he was serving time in prison for violating the Mann Act. Berry’s song has enjoyed only modest chart success but gained Pop Culture fan-dom in 1994 when, after the release of the Quentin Tarantino film Pulp Fiction, it was played for a contest (at the fictional restaurant Jack Rabbit Slim’s) in which John Travolta, as Vincent Vega, and Uma Thurman, as Mia Wallace, danced for the contest’s main prize. Tarantino has said that the lyrics to ‘You Never Can Tell’ of ‘Pierre’ and ‘Mademoiselle’ gave the scene a ‘uniquely 50’s French New Wave dance sequence feel.'”
Dave Edmunds, “I Knew the Bride (When She Used to Rock ‘n Roll)” (1977):
Nick Lowe’s Last Chicken in the Shop, “I Knew the Bride (When She Used to Rock ‘n Roll)” from Live Stiffs (1978):
Nick Lowe & His Cowboy Outfit, “I Knew the Bride (When She Used to Rock ‘n Roll)” (1985):
“You Never Can Tell”, from Pulp Fiction (1994):