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Bruce Springsteen - You Never Can Tell (Live, 2013)

You Never Can Tell also occasionally referred to as "C'est La Vie" and "Teenage Wedding", is a rock and roll song by Chuck Berry.

It was composed while he was in prison for intent to commit a sex crime.

The song was originally released in 1964 on the album St. Louis to Liverpool, and has also been recorded or performed by Chely Wright, John Prine, New Riders of the Purple Sage, the Jerry Garcia Band, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Seger and Emmylou Harris.

The song describes a fictional wedding between a young couple and the events afterwards. Living in a modest apartment, the jobless young man finds work and, together with his spouse, they find prosperity.

They use the money to expand their music collection and eventually purchase a family car to drive to New Orleans to celebrate their anniversary, where they had originally met.

The chorus of the song is "'C'est la vie', say the old folks, 'it goes to show you never can tell'".

The melody was influenced by Mitchell Torok's 1953 hit "Caribbean".

In Pulp Fiction movie

The song became briefly popular again for a time in 1994 after the release of the Quentin Tarantino film Pulp Fiction.

The music was played for a contest at the fictional restaurant Jack Rabbit Slim's in which John Travolta as Vincent Vega and Uma Thurman as Mia Wallace danced for the contest's main prize. The music added an evocative element of sound to the narrative and Tarantino said that the song's lyrics of "Pierre" and "Mademoiselle" gave the scene a "uniquely 50's French New Wave dance sequence feel".

Cover versions

1974 Ronnie Lane, on Ronnie Lane's Slim Chance

1975 John Prine, on Common Sense

1975 Loggins and Messina, on So Fine

1976 New Riders of the Purple Sage, on New Riders

1977 Emmylou Harris, on Luxury Liner (as "(You Never Can Tell) C'est la Vie")

1981 Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter, on Leather and Lace

1984 Ian A. Anderson and Mike Cooper, on The Continuous Preaching Blues

1985 Bill Wyman's "Willie and the Poor Boys" featuring Charlie Watts, Andy Fairweather-Lowe, Mickey Gee, Geraint Watkins

1993 Aaron Neville, on The Grand Tour

1994 Bob Seger, on Greatest Hits (as "C'est La Vie")

1996 Status Quo, on Don't Stop

2005 Chely Wright, on The Metropolitan Hotel (as "C'est La Vie (You Never Can Tell)")

2005 Texas Lightning, on Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch (as "C'est La Vie")

2008 Roch Voisine, on Americana

2010 The Morlocks, on Play Chess

2013 Bruce Springsteen, on the Wrecking Balltour, in Germany

The Lyrics:

It was a teenage wedding, and the old folks wished them well

You could see that Pierre did truly love the madamoiselle

And now the young monsieur and madame have rung the chapel bell,

"C'est la vie", say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell

They furnished off an apartment with a two room Roebuck sale

The coolerator was crammed with TV dinners and ginger ale,

But when Pierre found work, the little money comin' worked out well

"C'est la vie", say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell

They had a hi-fi phono, boy, did they let it blast

Seven hundred little records, all rock, rhythm and jazz

But when the sun went down, the rapid tempo of the music fell

"C'est la vie", say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell

They bought a souped-up jitney, 'twas a cherry red '53

They drove it down to Orleans to celebrate the anniversary

It was there that Pierre was married to the lovely madamoiselle

"C'est la vie", say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell