You Never Can Tell

"You Never Can Tell" is a 1964 rock and roll song by Chuck Berry, the story of a teenage wedding told in his own words and music. This page has the You Never Can Tell chords and a backing track you can slow down, speed up and transpose.

Who wrote "You Never Can Tell"

Chuck Berry wrote the music and the words. He recorded it for Chess Records and released it as a single in 1964, soon after his release from prison; the lyric follows a young couple from their wedding to their own home, with the refrain "C'est la vie, say the old folks".

Recordings that made it a standard

• Chuck Berry (Chess, 1964) — the original single, with a piano-led New Orleans feel rather than his usual guitar riff.

Thirty years later it found a new audience in Quentin Tarantino's film Pulp Fiction (1994), where it plays during the dance contest.