I was just watching the latest "live from Webb's basement" performance on YouTube, and took note of Webb's comments about Alan Freed having falsely been given credit for writing Chuck Berry's hit "Nadine." It made me recall an interesting bit in Dick Osgood's recently reprinted book WYXIE WONDERLAND (a history of Detroit radio station WXYZ). Osgood relates an anecdote from disc jockey Lee Alan, who took Chuck Berry to the first gig after Berry's release from a 2-year stretch in a Terra Haute, Indiana jail. En route to the club, Alan and Berry wound up stuck in a traffic jam, and the d.j. took the opportunity to ask what the musician had been working on. Berry pulled out a crumpled envelope on which he had scribbled some lyrics, and said he was working on the music to accompany them. It was the lyrics to "Nadine." WYXIE WONDERLAND is a good read, full of fun little nuggets like this. Much of the book concerns itself more with the days of radio drama, but there's also a good bit about radio's transition into a format dominated by music.

Thanks for the recommendation and the anecdote, Curt!