Songfacts®:

• In a review of a Chuck Berry concert published in the British paper New Musical Express in April 1973, Roy Carr referred to the song "No Money Down" as a teenage fantasy. Nothing could be further from the truth. In his critical biography of Berry, John Collis says the song was inspired by an incident in Berry's youth. When he bought his first car - a 1934 V8 Ford, for $10 down and $5 a month - he was too young to sign the hire purchase agreement, so his older sister Thelma did the honors. In his autobiography, Berry says he went through a dozen automobiles in 12 years or less, and the song "got its origin from the salesman's pitch that I usually got when buying my first few cars".
• "No Money Down" was released on Chess Records in December 1955 as the A Side of "Down Bound Train." It was also Berry's first UK single, being released there in May 1956. >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Alexander - London, England, for above 2