Down the Road a Piece (Don Raye) - 2:10 
Chuck Berry Album Rockin' At The Hops
CHESS 1448
Released 1960

"Down the Road Apiece" is a song written in 1940 by Don Raye as a boogie woogie for the Will Bradley/Ray McKinley big band, which recorded it in August, and gained a top 10 hit in the closing months of the year.
In the 1940 original, the Will Bradley/Ray McKinley Orchestra was pared down to drums, bass, and piano, under the name, "The Will Bradley Trio," even though Bradley was not in the trio. The three musicians are mentioned in the lyrics,

The drummer man's a guy they call Eight Beat Mack.
And you remember Doc and ol' "Beat Me Daddy" Slack.

"Eight Beat Mack" refers to drummer Ray McKinley, "Doc" refers to bass player Doc Goldberg, and "Beat Me Daddy Slack" refers to Freddie Slack, the pianist, who had risen to stardom as the pianist in "Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar" with this same band earlier in the year. Vocals on the recording were by McKinley and Don Raye, author of the song.

The song became a standard of rock and roll, recorded by at least 96 artists. Amos Milburn, Chuck Berry, The Rolling Stones, Foghat, Bruce Springsteen, Manfred Mann, Jerry Lee Lewis, are a few.

The original lyrics were also performed by the Glenn Miller Orchestra led by Ray McKinley in 1946, and Harry Gibson in 1945, but later versions had the lines about the musicians altered. Amos Milburn, who recorded the song in 1946, included the reference to Eight Beat Mack, but changed the next line to "You remember me in beat me daddy's shack" removing references to the other two.

When Ella Mae Morse sang the song in the early 50's, she deleted Doc and Slack from the lyrics and replaced them with "Sam and Spider-Finger Jack," but kept the "Eight Beat Mack" reference, in spite of the fact that McKinley was not in the band, but Slack was.

Merrill Moore sang "Eight Beat Joe... Beat Me Daddy Moe," in 1956. Chuck Berry, who recorded the song in 1960, changed the lyrics further, removing Eight Beat Mack and replacing him with Kicking McCoy, and re-wrote much of the song, which version was copied by many later musicians, such as the Rolling Stones and Foghat.

Modern musicians more often than not use the original lyrics.

Now if you wanna hear some boogie like I'm gonna play
It's just an old piano and a knockout bass
The drummer man's a cat they call Kickin' McCoy
You know, remember that rubber-legged boy?
Mama's cookin' chicken fried and bacon grease
Come on along boys it's just down the road apiece

Well, there's a place you really get your kicks
It's open every night about twelve to six
Now if you wanna hear some boogie you can get your fill
And shove and sting like an old steam drill
Come on along you can lose your lead
Down the road, down the road, down the road apiece

There's a place you really get your kicks
It's open every night about twelve to six
Now if you wanna hear some boogie you can get your fill
And shove and sting like an old steam drill
Come on along you can lose your lead
Down the road, down the road, down the road apiece