first of all I want to thank you, also on Maha’s behalf, once again for your good wishes and your understanding - we appreciate them more than you might imagine.
Like I wrote there won’t be many contributions to the forum this year - this one took many months to accomplish and we were lucky that Maha had some better days a couple of weeks ago, so she could do the mixing and appear in two smal scenes in the video. I’m afraid it might take quite some time before she’ll be able to go on with all that.
Maybe I will post one or two earlier songs/videos, but I’ll have to check them first wether or not they’re good enough for your ears end eyes.
As to ‘Heck, I Was Just Dreaming’: Got the idea to write a Chuck Berry hommage when Janice & Bud & Peter poblished a song using the Chuck Berry style - I think it was C. C. Rider.
I’ve been a huge Chuck Berry fan ever since - in fact I’m pretty sure it was him resp. his marvellous songs that lit my fire of love for Rock ‘n’ Roll and guitar playing in general.
And I still think that he was one of the greatest story tellers of them all - lyrics like ‘Too Much Monkey Business’ are immortal, aren’t they...
So here’s my humble attempt to bring the names of 51 great Chuck Berry tunes into a (more or less) reasonable order.
Hope y’all gonna have some fun listening and watching even in times like these that stifle any laughter for so many reasons whenever you switch on your TV.
Take good care,
Stefan
========================================
Musical data:
Bass: RT 2149 (New Orleans Boogie) Piano: RT 2151 (New Orleans Boogie) Guitar 1: RT 1718 (Texas Blues Rock) Drums: Written in MIDI played by MTPowerDrums
Vocals: Me Guitar solos: Me (Fender Strat Jeff Beck Signature, Vox VT 20
Like always designed in Band-in-a-box and worked out in RealBand.
Maha mixed the thing using Reaper for the first time. Also for the first time she used one or two CLA plug-ins. I really admire her for having the will to accomplish the song despite being ill. She tried to keep the sound rougher than usual - my tinnitus ears are completely satisfied with it. Thank you so much, honey - whatever you do: I love it!
Floyd beat me to the punch ... said pretty much what I was thinking. He just said it better than i would have.
You're not just a songer/songwriter.musician ... you're a world-class entertainer. You've never posted anything I didn't think was fabulous. And this one is so good!
Before I moved from St. Louis about 10 years ago, I lived across the highway from Chuck Berry ... about 4KM between us. (That's 2 1/2 miles). We actually lived in Wentzville, Missouri ... a western suburb of St. Louis. When I was still playing in a band, he dropped in and sat in with us 4 or 5 times over a period of about 3 years.
You perfectly captured the CB sound! That was an amazing video and fantastic song. Loved every second of it!
Also, it was so nice to see Maha well enough to participate. Di and I think of the two of you everyday. We send our best and most special wishes to her. You already know my thoughts about you're deteriorating eyesight.
Wishing everything good for both of you. Take care and be safe ...
Well, that was a ton of fun! An awesome idea wonderfully executed in all respects . . . and I can only imagine the amount of work that went into this. It shows. Everything about it was top notch. Simply outstanding!
I had the honour of watching this marvellous video and your song before, but this one is even better than that one. You did a tremendous job! I know what time and effort it had cost Maha and you to get it all how you wanted it to be, but -WOW- what a good video you both made! All those funny things in it. You have to watch it severall times and still you have missed something.
When you placed your latest post I was afraid this video wouldn't come in the Forum, but luckily you have to say goodbye about a dozen times before you really do. And even then I'm not sure.
It's really cool how you managed to assemble this Chuck Berry collage. Anything that hearkens back to a simpler time always feels like a more enjoyable listen for me. Thanks for posting.
PURE FUN and some excellent Berry n more riffing...extremely well done.
I did a tribute to Brian Wilson building a lyric on Beach Boy.Wilson lyrical snippets and titles. I even did it in mono - but had to remix it to stereo as NO ONE wanted to hear mono. Philistines! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-oL9YQQ3mc&ab_channel=raycochrane It was in the days of dead simple vids for me.
This song AND video represent a major effort - Maha did a brilliant job. Fun, rockin', fun and also a good brain tease trying to match titles to the songs in my head. My fave Berry album is a Chess remaster 2 x CD thing at present...really good sound and Johnny Johnson can be heard pretty clearly in them. EXCELLENT
Cheers rayc "What's so funny about peace, love & understanding?" - N.Lowe
Hi Stefan Love the video. You did an amazing job getting all those titles into the very clever lyrics. Excellent vocal and the guitar work is brilliant. Regards, Leon
Floyd beat me to the punch ... said pretty much what I was thinking. He just said it better than i would have.
You're not just a songer/songwriter.musician ... you're a world-class entertainer. You've never posted anything I didn't think was fabulous. And this one is so good!
Before I moved from St. Louis about 10 years ago, I lived across the highway from Chuck Berry ... about 4KM between us. (That's 2 1/2 miles). We actually lived in Wentzville, Missouri ... a western suburb of St. Louis. When I was still playing in a band, he dropped in and sat in with us 4 or 5 times over a period of about 3 years.
You perfectly captured the CB sound! That was an amazing video and fantastic song. Loved every second of it!
Also, it was so nice to see Maha well enough to participate. Di and I think of the two of you everyday. We send our best and most special wishes to her. You already know my thoughts about you're deteriorating eyesight.
Wishing everything good for both of you. Take care and be safe ...
Alan
Hi Alan, if your intention was making me blush: success. You're far too kind, thank you so much for that heck of a comment. Maha and I are so glad that Di and you enjoy our stuff ...
Unbelievable: I know someone who played with Chuck Berry? Several times? I guess that must have been very exciting!
Please give Di a huge hug - all the best to you both.
Well, that was a ton of fun! An awesome idea wonderfully executed in all respects . . . and I can only imagine the amount of work that went into this. It shows. Everything about it was top notch. Simply outstanding!
My best to you both!
Deej
Hi Deej,
thank you so much, Maha and I really appreciate your positive comment a lot and we're happy you enjoyed watching and listening.
Wow! The amount of love and labor put into this! Totally fun to listen and to watch. Packed to the top with creativity and humor. Damn, you solved one hell of a word puzzle Excellent playing and production.., just cool stuff in a raw. I think CB would approve it! Thank you for sharing. Stay well and take good care of Maha.
I had the honour of watching this marvellous video and your song before, but this one is even better than that one. You did a tremendous job! I know what time and effort it had cost Maha and you to get it all how you wanted it to be, but -WOW- what a good video you both made! All those funny things in it. You have to watch it severall times and still you have missed something.
When you placed your latest post I was afraid this video wouldn't come in the Forum, but luckily you have to say goodbye about a dozen times before you really do. And even then I'm not sure.
Give Maha my best wishes, We'll talk again, Hans
Hi Hans,
thanks a lot for those very kind words you found for the song / video.
Yes, due to Mahas illness I don't think there will be anything new in the near future. One video we started to work on already in 2019 is waiting for her to act in the missing scenes; the video recording of another one (starring the usual suspects) had been scheduled for February but that session had to be cancelled because of the first Corona wave and old farts like us didn't want to take any risk. And the respective song is also waiting for Maha to get back to the computer again, too.
Unlike you who seems to be coming up with a new great song every week, I feel pretty empty... But whenever I manage to assenble a new video you will be the first to have a look at it (which is not an honour as you wrote, but pretty normal,because we're friends.)
With the release of Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac, we’re rolling out a collection of brand-new videos on our YouTube channel. We’ll keep this forum post updated so you can easily find all the latest videos in one convenient spot.
Whether you're exploring new features, checking out the latest RealTracks or Style PAKs, this is your go-to guide for Band-in-a-Box® 2026.
Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac is here and it is packed with major new features! There’s a new modern look, a GUI redesign to all areas of the program including toolbars, windows, workflow and more. There’s a Multi-view layout for organizing multiple windows. A standout addition is the powerful AI-Notes feature, which uses AI neural-net technology to transcribe polyphonic audio into MIDI—entire mixes or individual instruments—making it easy to study, view, and play parts from any song. And that’s just the beginning—there are over 100 new features in this exciting release.
Along with version 2026, we've released an incredible lineup of new content! There's 202 new RealTracks, brand-new RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, “Songs with Vocals” Artist Performance Sets, Playable RealTracks Set 5, two new RealDrums Stems sets, XPro Styles PAK 10, Xtra Styles PAK 21, and much more!
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Our Free Bonus PAK and 49-PAK are loaded with amazing add-ons! The Free Bonus PAK is included with most Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac packages, but you can unlock even more—including 20 unreleased RealTracks—by upgrading to the 2026 49-PAK for just $49.
Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac® users: Build 904 now available!
If you're already using Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac®, make sure to grab the latest update! Build 904 is now available for download and includes the newest additions and enhancements from our team.
PowerTracks 2026 is here—bringing powerful new enhancements designed to make your production workflow faster, smoother, and more intuitive than ever.
The enhanced Mixer now shows Track Type and Instrument icons for instant track recognition, while a new grid option simplifies editing views. Non-floating windows adopt a modern title bar style, replacing the legacy blue bar.
The Master Volume is now applied at the end of the audio chain for consistent levels and full-signal master effects.
Tablature now includes a “Save bends when saving XML” option for improved compatibility with PG Music tools. Plus, you can instantly match all track heights with a simple Ctrl-release after resizing, and Add2 chords from MGU/SGU files are now fully supported... and more!
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Love your Berry-style guitar playing.
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