Editing Chuck Berry (section)

===1970–1979: Back to Chess: "My Ding-a-Ling" to White House concert===
{{quote box|width=30%|align=left|quote=Berry helped give life to a subculture&nbsp;... Even "My Ding-a-Ling", a fourth-grade wee-wee joke that used to mortify true believers at college concerts, permitted a lot of twelve-year-olds new insight into the moribund concept of "dirty" when it hit the airwaves&nbsp;... |source=[[Robert Christgau]]<ref>{{cite book|last=Christgau|first=Robert|authorlink=Robert Christgau|editor=Anthony DeCurtis |editor2=James Henke|title=The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll: The Definitive History of the Most Important Artists and Their Music|url=https://archive.org/details/rollingstoneillu00decu|url-access=limited|publisher=Random House|year=1988|location=New York City|isbn=0-679-73728-6|pages=[https://archive.org/details/rollingstoneillu00decu/page/60 60]–66|chapter=Chuck Berry}}</ref>}}

Berry returned to Chess from 1970 to 1973. There were no hit singles from the 1970 album ''Back Home'', but in 1972, Chess released a live recording of "[[My Ding-a-Ling]]", a novelty song that he had recorded in a different version as "My Tambourine" on his 1968 LP ''From St. Louie to Frisco''.<ref>{{harvtxt|Pegg|2003|p=184}}.</ref> The track became his only number-one single. A live recording of "[[Reelin' and Rockin']]", issued as a follow-up single in the same year, was his last Top 40 hit in both the US and the UK. Both singles were included on the part-live, part-studio album ''[[The London Chuck Berry Sessions]]'' (other albums of London sessions were recorded by Chess's mainstay artists [[Muddy Waters]] and [[Howlin' Wolf]]). Berry's second tenure with Chess ended with the 1975 album ''Chuck Berry'', after which he did not make a studio record until ''[[Rockit (album)|Rockit]]'' for [[Atco Records]] in 1979, which would be his last studio album for 38 years.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.starpulse.com/Music/Berry,_Chuck/Discography/album/P3664/R30491/|title=Rock It Album Review, Songs, Ratings|publisher=starpulse.com|access-date=June 2, 2010|archive-date=June 6, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606175211/http://www.starpulse.com/Music/Berry,_Chuck/Discography/album/P3664/R30491/|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Chuck Berry Midnight Special 1973.JPG|thumb|upright|Berry as guest host of ''[[The Midnight Special (TV series)|The Midnight Special]]'' in 1973]]

In the 1970s, Berry toured on the strength of his earlier successes. He was on the road for many years, carrying only his [[Gibson Guitar Corporation|Gibson]] guitar, confident that he could hire a band that already knew his music no matter where he went. [[AllMusic]] said that in this period his "live performances became increasingly erratic,&nbsp;... working with terrible backup bands and turning in sloppy, out-of-tune performances" which "tarnished his reputation with younger fans and oldtimers" alike.<ref name="allmusic"/> In March 1972, he was filmed, at the [[Shepherd's Bush Empire|BBC Television Theatre]] in Shepherds Bush, for ''Chuck Berry in Concert'',<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0074rbc|title=Chuck Berry in Concert - BBC Four|publisher=bbc.co.uk|access-date=March 19, 2017|archive-date=March 27, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170327033707/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0074rbc|url-status=live}}</ref> part of a 60-date tour backed by the band Rocking Horse.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/michael-snow-mn0000965472|title=Michael Snow - Biography & History - AllMusic|publisher=allmusic.com|access-date=March 19, 2017|archive-date=March 20, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170320055355/http://www.allmusic.com/artist/michael-snow-mn0000965472|url-status=live}}</ref> Among the many bandleaders performing a backup role with Berry in the 1970s, were [[Bruce Springsteen]] and [[Steve Miller (musician)|Steve Miller]] when each was just starting his career. (Springsteen related in the documentary film ''[[Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll]]'' that Berry did not give the band a set list and expected the musicians to follow his lead after each guitar intro. Berry did not speak to the band after the show. Nevertheless, Springsteen backed Berry again when he appeared at the concert for the [[Rock and Roll Hall of Fame]] in 1995.) At the request of [[Jimmy Carter]], Berry performed at the [[White House]] on June 1, 1979.<ref name="Rock and Roll Hall of Fame">{{cite news|url=http://rockhall.com/inductees/chuck-berry|title=Chuck Berry|last=Rock and Roll Hall of Fame|publisher=rockhall.com|access-date=June 2, 2010|archive-date=June 13, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100613015718/http://rockhall.com/inductees/chuck-berry|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1979 Berry pleaded guilty to evading nearly $110,000 in federal income tax owed on his 1973 joint earnings of $374,982.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/06/13/archives/chuck-berry-pleads-guilty-to-tax-evasion-for-1973.html|title=Chuck Berry Pleads Guilty to Tax Evasion for 1973|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=June 13, 1979|access-date=May 26, 2018|archive-date=May 27, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180527201419/https://www.nytimes.com/1979/06/13/archives/chuck-berry-pleads-guilty-to-tax-evasion-for-1973.html|url-status=live}}</ref> He was sentenced to 120 days in prison.<ref name="Company1979">{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Jet (magazine)|Jet]]|title=Chuck Berry Enters Prison Where Watergaters Stayed|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wEIDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA61|access-date=February 6, 2014|date=August 30, 1979|page=61|archive-date=June 27, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140627144248/http://books.google.com/books?id=wEIDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA61|url-status=live}}</ref>