You Never Can Tell (song)

The song tells of the wedding of two teenagers and their lifestyle afterward. Living in a modest apartment furnished with items bought on sale at Sears, Roebuck, and Co., including a Coolerator brand refrigerator, the young man finds work and they begin to enjoy relative prosperity. Eventually, they purchase a "souped-up jitney"{{Efn|In the early years of the 20th century, many Ford Model T owners in the US and Canada used their vehicles to provide a regulated or unregulated share taxi or illegal taxi operation.{{cite book |editor1-last=Hakim |editor1-first=Simon |editor2-last=Clark |editor2-first=Robert M. |editor3-last=Blackstone |editor3-first=Erwin A. |title=Handbook on Public Private Partnerships in Transportation, Volume I: Airports, Water Ports, Rail, Buses, Taxis, and Finance (Competitive Government: Public Private Partnerships) |date=3 January 2022 |publisher=Springer International Publishing |isbn=978-3030834838 |page=287-289 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Handbook_on_Public_Private_Partnerships/BJtXEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%2B%22model+t%22+%2B%22jitney%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA288&printsec=frontcover}}{{cite book |last1=Blanchard |first1=Jim |title=Winnipeg's Great War A City Comes of Age |date=15 September 2010 |publisher=University of Manitoba Press |isbn=9780887550140 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Winnipeg_s_Great_War/06NvEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22model+t%22+jitney+-wikipedia&pg=PT187&printsec=frontcover}} As a result, the Model T was often colloquially known at that time as a "jitney". Our heroes' vehicle, "a souped-up jitney, 'twas a cherry red '53", is possibly an elderly Model T hot rod.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}}} and travel to New Orleans, where their wedding had taken place, to celebrate their anniversary. Each verse ends with the refrain, {{"'}}C'est la vie,' say the old folks, 'it goes to show you never can tell.{{'"}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BOgUyPYw0KoC&pg=PA14|page=14|date=April 2006|title=Roll Over Adorno|isbn=978-0-7914-6733-6|author=Robert Miklitsch|publisher=SUNY Press|via=Google Books}} The piano melody was influenced by Mitchell Torok's 1953 hit "Caribbean".{{Cite web|title=You Never Can Tell — Chuck Berry's lyrical genius shines through in his 1964 hit — FT.com|url=https://ig.ft.com/life-of-a-song/you-never-can-tell.html|access-date=2021-05-28|website=ig.ft.com}}

Cash Box described it as "a rock-a-rhythmic South of the Border-flavored item [Berry] dishes up beautifully."{{cite magazine |title=CashBox Record Reviews |date=August 1, 1964 |page=14 |access-date=2022-01-12 |url=https://worldradiohstory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/60s/1964/CB-1964-08-01.pdf |magazine=Cash Box}}

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{{Certification Table Entry|region=Italy|type=single|artist=Chuck Berry|title=You Never Can Tell|award=Gold|relyear=1964|certyear=2023|id=11085|access-date=November 25, 2024}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=New Zealand|type=single|artist=Chuck Berry|title=You Never Can Tell|award=Gold|relyear=1964|certyear=2024|source=radioscope|access-date=February 27, 2025}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Spain|type=single|artist=Chuck Berry|title=You Never Can Tell|award=Platinum|relyear=1964|certyear=2025|access-date=February 27, 2025}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|type=single|artist=Chuck Berry|title=You Never Can Tell|award=Gold|relyear=2004|certyear=2024|id=16366-3613-1|access-date=November 25, 2024}}

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{{Infobox song

| name = (You Never Can Tell) C'est La Vie

| cover = (You_Never_Can_Tell)_C'est_La_Vie_-_Emmylou_Harris.jpg

| type = single

| artist = Emmylou Harris

| album = Luxury Liner

| B-side = "You're Supposed to Be Feeling Good" (USA/Canada)
"Hello Stranger" (international)

| released = February 2, 1977

| genre = Country rock, rockabilly

| length = 3:27

| label = Warner Bros. Nashville

| writer = Chuck Berry

| producer = Brian Ahern

| prev_title = Light of the Stable

| prev_year = 1976

| next_title = Making Believe

| next_year = 1977

}}

Emmylou Harris' recording of "You Never Can Tell" - entitled "(You Never Can Tell) C'est La Vie" - was the lead single from her 1977 Warner Bros. Records album Luxury Liner. The recording was a Top Ten C&W hit.

Harris had sung Chuck Berry songs as a member of a DC-based folk trio early in her career. Her decision to record "...C'est La Vie" was the result of her listening extensively to rock-&-roll oldies while on the road.{{cite book

| first=Derek

| last=Watts

| year=2008

| title=Country Boy: a biography of Albert Lee

| publisher=McFarland & Co

| location=Jefferson NC

| pages=144

| isbn=978-0-7864-3658-3}} The track, which features a prominent Cajun fiddle contribution by Ricky Skaggs, was recorded in an August 10, 1976 session recorded in the Enactron Truck, the mobile studio owned and operated by Harris' producer Brian Ahern. The same session yielded "Hello Stranger" which would serve as the B-side of the single release.

Released February 2, 1977, "...C'est La Vie" rose as high as #6 on C&W chart in Billboard that April. The track also rose to #4 and #5, respectively in the Netherlands and also the Flemish Region of Belgium. It also charted in Germany at #41.

In a 2013 interview Harris said: {{"'}}C’est la Vie' was a wonderful song to do, and I might [perform] it for nostalgic reasons, but it just lost its appeal for me after a while. I didn’t feel that I was bringing anything to it, I guess."{{cite news |work=New York Times |first=Joan |last=Anderman |title=A Full Circle for Emmylou Harris |date=March 22, 2013 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/22/booming/a-full-circle-for-emmylou-harris.html |access-date=2014-06-02|url-access=limited}}

• 1975 John Prine, on Common Sense.
• 1975 Loggins and Messina, on So Fine.
• 1980 Daddy Cool, on The Missing Masters.
• 1993 Aaron Neville, on The Grand Tour.
• 1994 Bob Seger, on Greatest Hits (as "C'est La Vie").
• 2017 Coldplay, on A Concert for Charlottesville.
• 2019 Jerry Garcia Band, on Electric on the Eel.[http://pnw-shakedown.blogspot.com/2009/02/jerry-garcia-band-103192-oakland.html "Jerry Garcia Band, 10-31-92, Oakland Coliseum Arena, Oakland"]. Shakedown Blog. Accessed July 2010.

The song has also been recorded or performed by Chely Wright, New Riders of the Purple Sage, the Jerry Garcia Band, Bruce Springsteen, the Mavericks, and Buster Shuffle.

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The song became popular again after the 1994 release of the film Pulp Fiction, directed and co-written by Quentin Tarantino. The music was played for a "Twist contest" in which Vincent Vega (John Travolta) and Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman) competed (and were the only contestants shown in the film). The music added an evocative element of sound to the narrative and Tarantino said that the song's lyrics of "Pierre" and "Mademoiselle" gave the scene a "uniquely '50s French New Wave dance sequence feel".

• Emmylou Harris performed the song live on stage on June 20, 1977, it can be seen on the TopPop YouTube channel,
• The Pelicans also covered it on stage on their own YouTube channel.
• The song was also going to be part of the tracklist for dance video game Just Dance 2015, but was removed for an unknown reason. It later returned on its sequel Just Dance 2016 instead.
• In a season 10 episode of The Big Bang Theory, Leonard dances to the song in his underwear after he and Penny have their apartment to themselves for the first time when Sheldon moves out.{{cite web | url=https://www.tvguide.com/news/the-big-bang-theory-recap-leonard-dance-gifs/ | title=The Big Bang Theory: Leonard Has Some Sick Dance Moves |website=Tvguide.com}}

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{YouTube|u9l0YBKcGnY|Chuck Berry - You Never Can Tell}}
• {{YouTube|-7S6XVoIVDI|Emmy Lou Harris - (You Never Can Tell) C'est la Vie}}

{{Chuck Berry}}

{{Emmylou Harris singles}}

{{Bob Seger}}

Category:1964 songs

Category:1964 singles

Category:1977 singles

Category:Chuck Berry songs

Category:Bob Seger songs

Category:Chely Wright songs

Category:Emmylou Harris songs

Category:Songs about New Orleans

Category:Songs written by Chuck Berry

Category:Chess Records singles

Category:Warner Records singles

Category:Songs about marriage