The song was recorded on November 19, 1958, in Chicago, Illinois. Backing Berry on vocals and guitar were either
Johnnie Johnson or
Lafayette Leake on piano,
Willie Dixon on bass, and
Fred Below on drums. In a song review for AllMusic, Matthew Greenwald calls it an "incredible rock & roll anthem" and "one of the greatest dance/sex ritualistic classics."[2] It is included on several of Berry's compilation albums, including The Great Twenty-Eight and Chuck Berry's Golden Decade.
Jerry Lee Lewis recorded a version in 1959 and it was released on
Sun Records.[4]Keith Richards joined Jerry in performing the song on the American television series Salute!, July 16, 1983 [5]
The Rolling Stones frequently performed the song live; a version recorded in November 1969 at Madison Square Garden is on the album Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! It is also on the Stones bootleg Live'r Than You'll Ever Be. Several other artists have recorded the song.[8] Their version reached number 11 on the Tio i Topp chart in Sweden.[9]
English glam-rock band
T-Rex'sMarc Bolan, discussing their hit "
Bang a Gong (Get It On)", "claimed to have written the song out of his desire to record
Chuck Berry's "Little Queenie", and said that the riff is taken from the Berry tune. In fact, a slightly edited line ("And meanwhile, I'm still thinking") from "Little Queenie" is said at the fade of "Get It On".
The first line of the chorus can be heard at the beginning of the fade out to the 1974
Queen hit "
Now I'm Here".
^
Lewisohn, Mark (1992). The Complete Beatles Chronicle. New York: Harmony Books. p. 363.
ISBN978-0-517-58100-1.
^Sulpy, Doug & Schweighhardt, Ray, Drugs, Divorce and a Slipping Image: The Complete, Unauthorized Story of the Beatles Get Back Sessions (The 910 Publishing, 2007) sec. 22.26
ISBN978-0-9643869-8-3
^Hallberg, Eric; Henningsson, Ulf (1998). Eric Hallberg, Ulf Henningsson presenterar Tio i topp med de utslagna på försök: 1961 - 74. Premium Publishing. p. 313.
ISBN919727125X.