# On This Day in 1972, Chuck Berry Was at No. 1 With a Novelty Song Packed With Enough Double Entendres To Spark a Moral Crusade

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/on-this-day-in-1972-chuck-berry-was-at-no-1-with-a-novelty-song-packed-with-enough-double-entendres-to-spark-a-moral-crusade/
- Published: 2026-10-21T20:55:21+00:00
- Updated: 2026-10-21T21:41:45+00:00
- Original publisher: American Songwriter
- Original article: https://americansongwriter.com/on-this-day-in-1972-chuck-berry-was-at-no-1-with-a-novelty-song-packed-with-enough-double-entendres-to-spark-a-moral-crusade/
- Topics: Entertainment, Music

## Key points

- “My Ding-a-Ling” was Chuck Berry’s only US number one.
- The song spent two weeks at the top in 1972.
- A British campaign to get the BBC to ban it failed.

## Summary

Chuck Berry’s novelty song “My Ding-a-Ling” reached number one in the United States on 21 October 1972, giving him his first and only Hot 100 chart-topper. Its suggestive double meanings prompted some radio stations to refuse to play it and sparked a failed campaign in Britain to have the BBC ban it.

Berry recorded the live version at the Lanchester Arts Festival in Coventry in February 1972. The song stayed at number one for two weeks and was also his final top ten hit. After it aired on Top of the Pops, campaigner Mary Whitehouse wrote to the BBC, citing a teacher’s report of pupils singing it; the song nonetheless topped the UK chart too.

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