Chuck Berry and Johnny Johnson

It's impossible to say with certainty who did what. Johnson sued Berry in 2000, but the case was dismissed because of the length of time between the songs being written and the case being wrote. He didn't have any clear guides as to what Berry's music sounded like without Johnson. I tend to believe Johnson, that the backings were worked out between them after Berry wrote the lyrics. The Maybelline's success was, in part, because of a very deliberate decision Berry had made years earlier,. having noted the success of white performers singing black musicians material.