Bert Weedon OBE (born Herbert Maurice William Weedon on10 May 1920; died 20… Read Full Bio ↴Bert Weedon OBE (born Herbert Maurice William Weedon on10 May 1920; died 20 April 2012) was an English guitarist and composer whose style of guitar playing was popular and influential during the 1950s and 1960s. He was the first British guitarist to have a hit record in the UK Singles Chart, in 1959, and his best-selling tutorial guides, Play in a Day, were a major influence on many leading musicians. He was born in East Ham, Essex, now Greater London.

Weedon began learning the guitar at twelve. The first British guitarist in the UK Singles Chart, with "Guitar Boogie Shuffle" in 1959, he was an influence on many stars, including Eric Clapton, Brian May, Mike Oldfield, The Shadows and The Beatles.

As well as his hits and TV appearances at a crucial time in modern British music history, his best-known contribution to British guitar style is his tutorial guide Play in a Day, which many stars claim was a major influence on their learning and playing.

His playing style focuses on both rhythm and melody, and is itself influenced by the jazz guitarists of the 1950s, notably Les Paul. Weedon placed a lot of emphasis on control of tone, and wanted to make the guitar the star of his music.

The later 1960s generation of underground rock performers satirised him as too mainstream, the Bonzo Dog Band singing the line "We are normal and we dig Bert Weedon" in 1968.

Married to Maggie Weedon, he has two sons, Lionel and Geoffrey, and nine grandchildren.

A Water Rat, he is highly active in charity work and fundraising, especially for children and the disabled, and was elected King Rat in 1992. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2001 for his services to entertainment and charities.

His playing style is best known nowadays through the music of The Shadows, especially Hank Marvin.

Guitar Boggie Shuffle
Bert Weedon Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Aerosmith
Box Of Fire
Rockin' Pneumonia And The Boogie Woogie Flu
I wanna jump but i'm afraid i'll fall
I wanna holler but the jones' too small
Young man really got the hold to it too
I got the rockin' pneumonia and the boogie woogie flu

Want some lovin', baby, that ain't all
I wanna kiss her but the girl's too tall
Young man really got a hold on it too
I got the rockin' pneumonia and the boogie woogie flu

I wanna scream, i want you all to know
I would be runnin' but my feets are too slow
Young man really got a hold on it too
I got the rockin' pneumonia and the boogie woogie flu

Baby callin' me now hurry home
I know she's leavin' 'cause i'm takin' too long
Young man really got a hold on it too
I got the rockin' pneumonia and joe perry too, oh

Want some lovin', baby' that ain't all
I wanna kiss her but the girl's too tall
Young man really got a hold on it too
I got the rockin' pneumonia and the boogie woogie flu

I wanna scream, i wanna scream

Young man really got a hold on it too
I got the rockin' pneumonia, what's the matter with you?

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to "Rockin' Pneumonia And The Boogie Woogie Flu" by Aerosmith refers to the struggles of the singer who wants to dance and express himself, but his body and environment won't let him. The first two lines express his internal struggle, where he wants to jump and holler, but he is holding back because of his fear of falling or being too small. The next verse talks about his craving for affection from his lover, but he's hesitant because she's too tall. The third verse shows his frustration as he wants to scream and run, but his body won't let him.

The chorus line "(I've) got the rockin' pneumonia and the boogie woogie flu," is a metaphor for his funk. The rockin' pneumonia is an illness that makes people feel low, while the boogie woogie flu is a term used to describe a feeling of craziness. The song is addressing when the singer is experiencing both at the same time, which was a feeling that many people resonated with, especially during the 1950s and 1960s.

Overall, "Rockin' Pneumonia And The Boogie Woogie Flu" by Aerosmith is a song that represents the frustrations of an individual who wants to express himself but is held back either by internal or external factors.

Line by Line Meaning

Aerosmith
The band that covered this song, adding their own lyrics and style.

Box Of Fire
The name of the box set in which Aerosmith's version of the song appeared in.

Rockin' Pneumonia And The Boogie Woogie Flu
The condition the singer describes having, which he attributes to his love for music and desire to dance.

I wanna jump but i'm afraid i'll fall
He wants to dance and move energetically, but is afraid of failing or making a mistake.

I wanna holler but the jones' too small
He wants to express his joy through shouting, but feels restricted or limited in some way.

Young man really got the hold to it too
He acknowledges that other young men have mastered the skill of dancing or playing music that he aspires to have himself.

I got the rockin' pneumonia and the boogie woogie flu
Repeats the condition that he has in a more rhythmic, musical way.

Want some lovin', baby, that ain't all
He desires more than just physical affection and seeks a deeper connection with someone.

I wanna kiss her but the girl's too tall
He is physically attracted to someone, but feels intimidated or unable to express his feelings due to a perceived mismatch.

I wanna scream, i want you all to know
He wants to express himself loudly and openly to everyone around him.

I would be runnin' but my feets are too slow
He feels energized and pumped up, but is physically limited in his ability to move quickly due to feeling overwhelmed.

Baby callin' me now hurry home
He has someone that he cares about and misses, prompting him to leave and return home soon.

I know she's leavin' 'cause i'm takin' too long
He fears that his delay in returning home will cause her to leave him or grow angry with him.

I got the rockin' pneumonia and joe perry too, oh
Repeats the condition in a more musical way, referencing the guitarist of Aerosmith.

I wanna scream, i wanna scream
Repeats the desire to express himself loudly and freely.

I got the rockin' pneumonia, what's the matter with you?
Repeats the condition one last time, perhaps challenging others to see if they share his passion and enthusiasm for music and dancing.

Lyrics © RESERVOIR MEDIA MANAGEMENT INC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: A. SMITH

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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Comments from YouTube:

sharon thompson

12y↑23

R I P Bert - a true genius on the guitar.

Младен Станковић

3y↑1

He is now in better place

1 More Replies...

John Miller

12y↑11

The reason many of our top guitarists picked up a guitar in the first place. RIP Bert.

philip 187

7y↑13

you cannot beat the old stuff

Peter Ellis

5y↑3

I bought this in 1959 and I have never stopped loving it. I think it was the best Bert ever did. He taught them all.

Wayne Shaughnessy

3y↑2

Love that “rich” guitar sound, especially in Bert’s rendition of Bewitched. Wayne.

parsons3114

5y↑2

Bert's book "Play in a day" started me learning the guitar when I was 11. He did a show on a Sunday lunchtime at The Raleigh Club here in Bristol in 1960, and I got to meet and talk with him after the show. He was responsible for a lot of us to take up learning the guitar. Great guy and always pleasant. Admired by the music business, and many others. Good on ya Bert.

Michael Kent

12y↑1

Brilliant stuff. Beyond the effortless virtuosity, love the guitar sound.

saddercrazyoyster

12y↑11

so many of the best guitarists learnt from Bert :-(

Sisyphus's apprentice

I have this as my ringtone, and if it is a "cold caller" I just let it ring....until they get fed up and hang-up

ronowen39

9y↑5

nice clean playing as can be expected from a legend

Philip 167

now this is what you call music

jrgboy

5y↑5

Bert 'ghosted' many hit singles in the 50s/60's as a session lead guitarist..

David Dawber

I believe Bert played the guitar on Ken Dodd's Tears.

Michael McNeillie

8y↑18

This puts any other version of this tune in the shade including the awful Ventures, Bert Weeedon was probably the main inspiration to all those that followed, a genuis like no other Period!!!!

bhollyfan hardin

just a massive ripoff of the version by the Virtues.....you british were guilty of doing that alot and then trying to say you created it or did the best version of it. but it was/is always something you ripped off from the great american players.......the real originals and always the best.

Ricky Spanish

5y↑1

@alan sturgess i secondly second this mans second

alan sturgess

and I second your second - my first guitar hero and I still have pretty well every LP and CD he released. Since those heady days of my early youth there have been countless others to admire and learn from, but Bert was the first and still remains a top favourite. Long may his memory and music live on.

mike travis

8y↑2

I second that.

1 More Replies...

djpaul146

9y↑4

I can remember my mum and dad playing this year's ago God bless them both

Fire bird 22

He put many guitar gods on the road with his book..
Inc Jimmy Page.
This record started my obsession with electric guitars...I was 7.
1970...
Mom & Dads record collection..
Live gigs bands 20 odd guitars a nd and amps later....I'm still at it..
Bert ..
I salute you..

ronowen39

10y↑8

still sounds good to us guitar players

Tombstone Harry Studios

Its simple to play, or hum, the sound and beat is clear..and you can dance to it

Mr Weedon wasn't a fool...he knew a winning formula when he heard one!

Sean Lutz

hell yeah

rodsreel

7y↑16

Very straight and controlled - I remember "a tune a day" this is played for white middle class audience when rock n roll was seen to be the devils music, something missing here for my taste. Save any rude remarks for yourself this is an honest opinion. He is a real guitar hero.

Guy Metdrapedes

3y↑1

Are you sure it was an absolutely white audience? I'm sure at that time they would let a black fella or two into the place. They may have had to use the back door but it still counts.

Kevin Traynor

4y↑2

Got to admit it is a catchy tune

alan sturgess

5y↑5

An interesting mix of opinions but even as a lifelong fan of Bert, I have to agree. Like Chet Atkins (another lifelong hero) his playing was 'straight' and did lack the rawness and inventiveness that was to follow but, as others point out, Bert inspired so many of those who came to the fore in the mid 60's and beyond that his place in the history of guitar is assured. He is cited again and again in biographies and autobiographies of so many. I've never figured out why nobody has written about HIS history and life. A great man and a great musician.

Rod Alexander

5y↑1

I met Bert at a Music Exhibition at Olympia...what a lovely genuine guy!!

Johnnralph

7y↑2

Bert Weedon (10 May 1920 – 20 April 2012) he was the first British guitarist to have a hit on the UK Singles Chart with this in 1959 which was his only top ten hit ..

ronowen39

6y↑1

bert was voted at least 3 times best guitarist in the 50s and 60s and can be heard on thousand of hit records for other people top session man

Andy S

8y↑2

I still have his learn to play guitar in a day book....bless the guy....!!!!!

Tombstone Harry Studios

I learnt my first chords from my mum's copy from the 60s!

Philip 167

they don't make music like this any more this is a real classic

James George Coke

A real all time classic !!!!!!

WOODBINEXX .john r

12y

rip bert an inspiration to many

POLYAL0899

undisputably the best guitarist that ever lived

Danny Robins

i second that

Rockin Daddy

3y↑1

SUPER ---- Rock n Roll will never die !!

Will Shank

3y↑4

"We are normal and we dig Bert Weedon, haha!"

Paul Aungiers

About 1985 I saw a booklet which I think was titled '22 Golden Guitar Greats' - ( I bought the album in 1976.)
This booklet contained Sleepwalk; Apache and Albatross - I seem to recall(?)
I have been trying to trace the book in recent years but I draw a blank!
Do you know anything about it, please? It is about time some guitar fans transcribed Bert's solos - he was very creative and had splendid ideas for tunes.

mm040462

10y

As for me : Burt Blanca ( Belgium ) did a great job with this song

DouglasUrantia

Unique rockin back and forth beat.!!!

Clay Mor

6y↑8

I have to say that by time I started playing in the early 70s Bert's Play in A Day book - given to me with my first finger grater/guitar - was well outdated. What young players really wanted was a few simple riffs - riffs were a big deal back then - and simple lead lines to get us motivated and started. Bert's way of introducing us to the ubiquitous blues trope was via a version of Frankie and Johnny in C with not a mention of the blues scale we were all hearing but didn't yet know. In this day and age, when kids can learn whole shred tunes from the internet, it makes you wonder how we ended up playing anything at all. Mind you, I wish I'd learnt to pick a solid simple up-tempo tune as cleanly as Bert, that's a skill in itself and not too common these days, he must have been a recording engineer's dream.

alan sturgess

@Bengt Handlebars Interesting final sentence. I'm 74 and for the last year have been gradually whittling down my guitar collection to just the best of the best or - considering that two favourites each cost less than £130 - I should actually say I'm only keeping my most favourite of the favourites. I used to have a complete inbuilt wall unit with instruments in case stacked side by side but not now. I've a Taylor 12, an Admira classical, a T5z and a couple of excellent budget instruments.And that's it. I've also passed on most of my FX pedals --- again, just keeping longtime favourites. I recogniosed your description of the salesman doing a Spinal Tap and turning everything up to 11. I always assume they do that to disguise all their mistakes.

HIGH PIT WILMA

@alan sturgess Spot on with the Shads Alan! I love all 60's Guitar music.. Duane Eddy, Bert, everybody else but me idols have always been The Shads.

alan sturgess

@HIGH PIT WILMA That's a nice setup you have. Hard to beat VOX for that classic British era sound. It wouldn't surprise me if you were also a Shads fan with that combo. (Just wish they'd never bothered trying to sing). I had a Strat for some years but these days I prefer PRS semi-hollows and - much to my own surprise - I absolutely love an Epihone Blueshawk that took a while setting up but now plays like a dream. I just noodle at home so use a DV Mark amp as it's small but has a good sound. I still listen to Bert's recordings and I think I have almost all that was ever released on CD. However, as I type this I have a CD of EC and JJ Cale playing in the background. My musical tastes are very eclectic but with the exception of a single Joe Satriani, there's a total lack of high speed fireworks or shred in there. Some guitarists don't seem able to do anything else. If you ever watch 'Chappers' (Rob Chapman) demo a guitar, amp or effect you can bet your bottom dollar that the gain and overdrive will go right up and he'll just shred. So few guitarists these days seem to understand the need for differences in pace and the use of silence between notes or phrases. I have very few guitar heroes who have been in my top five for years, but in that latter category I'd rate early Peter Green as no.1. As for acoustic guitar heroes ...... well, that's a wholly different ballgame.

HIGH PIT WILMA

Agree Alan and Arnie,I'm an old fan of Bert's,and every guitar group that emerged in the '50's and 60's...that time was a dream for a lead guitarist like myself!
Bert's Boogie and Sorry Robbie were my favourite's of Bert's,I learn't myself in 1959-on,with a wee help from PLAY IN A DAY..as did every famous guitarist who ever played!!
I never learned the dots...just play by ear..hear a tune...and play it.
I'm now 74,and still play these tunes!
I know a few "Fast" players,who have told me they would love to play controlled ballads and tunes by the Shadows..my main hero's from the day they started!..,but these fast players cannot slow their fingers down,and if they do,they are jumpy as hell...it's similar to how disiplined the Chinese Tai Chi movements are in a physical sense....anybody can run or walk fast...try balancing on one foot tiptoed and going through the extremely slow moves!One of these Fast players heard my rendition [on tape] of "Maid Marion's Theme",from the Shadows Pantomime,[in the 1960's],and I play it with no reverb,no delay,nothing..completely dry,just the '78 Strat,and '80's Vox AC30,and he and his group-mates were blown away..comments like ."Wow,HE is f..............g smooth ain't he?"!!
No self praise or brag..just that's how I had to learn in the 1950/60's...with a finger grater Rosetti Lucky Seven....and nothing else!....no amplifier!..not even a cambered fingerboard!..flat and thick neck..Aah happy days!

alan sturgess

Shredding. Urrgghh. Why not call it by its real name - fancy narcissistic twiddling and scale practice. About as musical as a cat being dismembered live. High speed runs in context are one thing, but endless, never-ending shred is sociopathy in sound.

John Gazzana

4y↑1

Trying to play this tune just like this guy my fingers are blistered and bleeding can’t give up till I get it

Matthew Boreham

try using a plectrum

gremlinuk1968

1st heard him, when I was 9,10, year old, late 70s !

Terry Jacoby

11y

As good as Arthur Smith's original in 1949

Philip 167

3y↑1

now this is music

Matthew Boreham

what are the chords for this

Matthew Boreham

like to see the sheet notes for this

Bruce Tracy

5y↑1

Great job on this but for me The Virtues version (Not The Ventures) is
the tops. Maybe because that's the version I heard first. It just seems
to my ears it has a deeper richer fuller sound?

gremlinuk1968

I played, him, back in early ,mid 80s, as a kid,!! had on tape , then,!!

cavanfan

12y

lovely good old Bert

Bruce Tracy

Great job on this but for me The Virtues version (Not The Ventures) is
the tops. Maybe because that's the version I heard first. It just seems
to my ears it has a deeper richer fuller sound?

My great big FOOT

3y↑1

Play in a day my foot, I’ve been trying for years.

Peter Beschorner

10y↑4

We used to goggle at the 'Bert Weedon Hofner' you could buy for £57! It was totally covered with mock mother, o pearl, cuttaway & had 3 pick ups! wow! (Pete 'Kiwi' Keegan. BBCTV misician in the 1950's.)

WedgePee

@HIGH PIT WILMA Wow! £134 8s in 1961 had the same purchasing power as £3059.45 did in 2020. Let that sink in.

HIGH PIT WILMA

5y↑1

...ER..not nitpicking..only for correctness mind,but no Hofner could be bought for £X !! ,...they were...every model....priced in English "Guineas"..i.e...1 Guinea= £1+ 1 Shilling...[I shilling = 5 new pence in today's money!].
I have all the original Selmer and Bell Catalogues from 1960-on.
The Hofner President , for example,was 28 GNS ..[Guineas],in 1961,and the "Golden Hofner",which was a masterpeice of guitarmaking,was priced at around 97GNS if my memory serves me correctly![I could check it out again].
A strat in 1961 cost 128 GNS..!!

Doug Formerly Sekkō Hegané

6y↑1

a video game lead me to the discovery of Bert Weedon.

Sean Mudzyk

Ah. A fellow wanderer of the wastes

Mario Flavin

one the first 45s i Ever owned.

Soulman

All thumbs up...!!!

Brandon3680

This is cool

EJ160E

11y

This song got George Harrison into the Quarry Men!

Tombstone Harry Studios

I thought it was Raunchy by Duane Eddy that got his the gig?

Vegard Kaspersen Dillerud

10y

that song was always the intro on the radio show musikkabalen on nrkp1 every morning

Brian Faulkner

12y

SO TRUE. R.I.P.

Jack Elfick

10y↑1

Vintage Rock magazine brought me here <3

Wladyslaw Kucel

yep that's the one !!

Janet Callaghan

My late dads song xx

Wade Raney

👍☺

CRISTIAN MARTIN PEREZ COLMAN

First time George Harrison met John Lennon, he played this. Bob Spitz says.

booblaroo

Bill Graham Presents brought me here, for which I'm mighty appreciative.

Marcus Blackwell

Just put this in New Vegas & nobody would know the difference. Especially afteer Roundhouse Rock

legendhasitstudio

CLEAN

Nav IL

7y↑2

George Harrison auditioned to this song to join the Beatles

Brad Brassman

Raunchy, by Bill Justis.

Nav IL

yeah this one as well

Ryan White

No he didn't, he played Raunchy by Duane Eddy

Arjan Koning

11y

I thought so to, bur I was corrected that it was "Raunchy" that he "audited with" in the schoolbus...

Philip CLAN

4y↑1

Marc Bolan brought me here.

Fendson67

10y↑8

jimmy page brought me here:)

Eddie Mautone

This guy messing up a great song like guitar boogie shuffle awful

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