Chuck Berry performs during "Christmas in Washington" in 2000. Berry wrote a famous holiday song with "Run Rudolph Run," but many people get one thing wrong about it.

Music

Chuck Berry’s Christmas Song ‘Run Rudolph Run’: What Everyone Gets Wrong About the Holiday Classic

Chuck Berry penned a classic Christmas song when he wrote “Run Rudolph Run,” but there’s something almost everyone gets wrong about it.

by Jason Rossi

Published on December 18, 2022

3 min read

Chuck Berry sings a chorus that differs from the ‘Run Rudolph Run’ title

Berry’s Christmas staple always emerges as the holidays approach. The song is part of the fabric of the pop culture tapestry. “Run Rudolph Run” plays as the McCallister clan rushes to make their plane to France in Home Alone (sans Kevin).

Berry’s Christmas song is as catchy as any of his popular hits, such as “Johnny B. Goode,” “No Particular Place to Go,” and “Roll Over Beethoven.” It’s Berry’s second-most streamed song on Spotify.

Still, there’s one thing a little off about the song. Berry’s chorus, which includes the words, “Run, run Rudolph,” doesn’t align with the song’s title, which is actually “Run Rudolph Run.” Huh? Berry might have been playing the ultimate prank by having the chorus and title not line up, or he might not have cared to change the title.

Either way, the switcheroo is something almost everyone gets wrong about Berry’s Christmas song, even other musicians.

Everyone gets the title of Berry’s Christmas song wrong

If decades of pop music have taught us anything, it’s that the song’s title and the chorus almost always align. Berry either purposely tricked people with “Run Rudolph Run” or just didn’t care to have the title reflect the words he sang.

And everyone seems to get it wrong—even other musicians.

Lynyrd Skynyrd got it wrong on their 2000 Christmas album when they titled the song “Run, Run Rudolph.” They apparently went by what Berry sang instead of what he titled his holiday song. The same goes for Kelly Clarkson. (Full disclosure: this author was part of the “everybody gets it wrong” crowd until researching this article).

However, Keith Richards, Foo Fighters, and Bryan Adams got it right when they used the correct title on their cover versions. No matter what you call it, whether you had it right or wrong all along, there’s no denying that Berry’s Christmas tune is a staple of the holiday season.

‘Run Rudolph Run’ was one of Berry’s only top-10 singles — 63 years after it came out

Berry’s contributions to rock music can’t be overstated. Classic rock as we know it might not exist without his influence. The Beatles covered “Rock and Roll Music” (Barry praised it). They copped the title of his “Back in the U.S.A.” for their “Back in the U.S.S.R.” Paul McCartney forced John Lennon to change an Abbey Road tune because it was too similar to a Berry song.

Yet for all his influence, Berry had very few top 10 hits. “Run Rudolph Run” first hit the charts in 1958, but it took 63 years to reach No. 10 when it resurfaced in 2021. “No Particular Place to Go” also reached No. 10 (in 1964), and “My Ding a Ling” was his lone No. 1, spending two weeks at the top in late 1971.

Chuck Berry wrote a classic Christmas tune with “Run Rudolph Run,” but he might have played a trick on everyone and made them get the song’s title wrong when he sang the words in a different order.

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