"Sweet Little Sixteen" is a rock and roll

Rock and roll

Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...

 song written and originally performed by Chuck Berry

Chuck Berry

Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" , "Roll Over Beethoven" , "Rock and Roll Music" and "Johnny B...

, who released it as a single in January 1958. It reached number two on the American charts, Berry's highest position ever on the charts, with the exception of the suggestive number one hit "My Ding-A-Ling

My Ding-a-Ling

"My Ding-a-Ling" was the title of a novelty song recorded by Chuck Berry, and his only U.S. number-one single on the pop charts. Later that year the song, in a longer unedited form, was on the album The London Chuck Berry Sessions...

" in 1972. "Sweet Little Sixteen" also reached number one on the R&B Best Sellers chart. Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

 magazine ranked the song #272 on their list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time

The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time

"The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" was the cover story of a special issue of Rolling Stone, issue number 963, published December 9, 2004, a year after the magazine published its list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time"....

 in 2004.

Covers

Eddie Cochran

Eddie Cochran

Eddie Cochran , was an American rock and roll pioneer who in his brief career had a small but lasting influence on rock music through his guitar playing. Cochran's rockabilly songs, such as "C'mon Everybody", "Somethin' Else", and "Summertime Blues", captured teenage frustration and desire in the...

 performed a live version in 1960 which was released postumously on his On The Air

Eddie Cochran On The Air

On The Air was the ninth US album by Eddie Cochran and the eighth album posthumously released after Cochran's death in 1960. The album was released on the EMI America label in 1987...

 album.

There is a cover version by Joe Brown and the Bruvvers

Joe Brown (singer)

Joe Brown, MBE is an English entertainer.He has worked as a rock and roll singer and guitarist for more than five decades. He was a stage and television performer in the late 1950s and a UK recording star in the early 1960s...

 on their 1962 album Pictures of You.

The Beach Boys' 1963 song "Surfin' USA

Surfin' USA (song)

"Surfin' USA" is a song with lyrics written by Brian Wilson for The Beach Boys, set to the melody from Chuck Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen". Berry received co-writing credit for composing the song after litigating. "Surfin' USA" was recorded by The Beach Boys and released as a single on March 4,...

" has virtually the same melody, with new lyrics that focus on the Beach Boys' ongoing theme of surfing

Surfing

Surfing' is a surface water sport in which the surfer rides a surfboard on the crest and face of a wave which is carrying the surfer towards the shore...

. Following litigation by Berry the song is credited to Berry/Wilson.

Between 1963 and 1965 the Beatles performed the song on BBC radio. It can be heard on the compilation album Live at the BBC

Live at the BBC (The Beatles album)

Live at the BBC is a 1994 compilation album featuring performances by The Beatles that were originally broadcast on various BBC Light Programme radio shows from 1963 through 1965. The monaural album, available in multiple formats but most commonly as a two-CD set, consists of 56 songs and 13 tracks...

. John Lennon

John Lennon

John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...

 recorded the song again for his album Rock 'n' Roll

Rock 'n' Roll (John Lennon album)

Rock 'n' Roll is a 1975 album of late 1950s and early 1960s songs covered by John Lennon. Recording the album was problematic and spanned a year. Though critically derided, it reached #6 in both the United Kingdom and the United States.-History:...

.

The Animals

The Animals

The Animals were an English music group of the 1960s formed in Newcastle upon Tyne during the early part of the decade, and later relocated to London...

' version is available on their 1966 album Animalisms

Animalisms

Animalisms is the third British album by British group The Animals. It has a track listing generally similar to the American version Animalization that would be released two months later....

. Ten Years After

Ten Years After

Ten Years After is an English blues-rock band, most popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Between 1968 and 1973, Ten Years After scored eight Top 40 albums on the UK Albums Chart...

 released a live version of this song on their 1970 album Watt

Watt (album)

Watt is the sixth album by the English blues rock band Ten Years After, released in 1970.-Track listing:All songs written by Alvin Lee, unless otherwise noted.#"I'm Coming On" - 3:48#"My Baby Left Me" - 5:23#"Think About the Times" - 4:43...

. Jesse Colin Young

Jesse Colin Young

Jesse Colin Young is an American singer / songwriter / folksinger and a founding member of the group The Youngbloods.-Early life:...

 also covered it on his 1972 album Together.

Fictional synth pop band Silicon Teens

Silicon Teens

Silicon Teens were a virtual British electronic new wave pop group. The project was the creation of Mute Records founder Daniel Miller.-Background:...

 recorded a version of the song for their 1980 album Music For Parties released on Mute Records

Mute Records

Mute is an independent record label based in the UK. It was founded in 1978 by Daniel Miller and featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Goldfrapp, Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Erasure and Fad Gadget.-Beginnings:...

.

Rock and roll artist Jerry Lee Lewis

Jerry Lee Lewis

Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...

 also covered this song with Beatles

The Beatles

The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...

 drummer Ringo Starr

Ringo Starr

Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...

; this version appeared on Lewis's 2006 duet album Last Man Standing.