Fans lined up before dawn on Sunday to pay their final respects to music legend Chuck Berry, roughly three weeks after his death at age 90 near his hometown of St. Louis.
The Pageant, a club where Berry often performed, opened its doors Sunday morning for a four-hour public viewing, which will be followed by a private service and celebration for the musicians family and friends.
As fans filed past Berry’s open casket, which has his beloved cherry-red Gibson ES-335 electric guitar bolted to the inside of its lid, a musician outside played Berry standards such as “Johnny B. Goode,” ”Sweet Little Sixteen” and “Roll Over Beethoven.”
Among the flower arrangements in the hall was one in the shape of a guitar sent by The Rolling Stones, one of the many bands profoundly influenced by the St. Louis rock ‘n’ roller.
When Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards spoke about Berry at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s 1986 induction ceremony — Berry was the first person inducted from that inaugural class — he said Berry was the one who started it all.
Well before the rise of Bob Dylan, Berry wedded social commentary to the beat and rush of popular music.
“He was singing good lyrics, and intelligent lyrics, in the ’50s when people were singing, “Oh, baby, I love you so,’” John Lennon once observed.
“Everything I wrote about wasn’t about me, but about the people listening,” Berry once said.