"You Never Can Tell" (Chuck Berry)

It's hard to quantify the impact of Chuck Berry on modern music.  Although others like Buddy Holly and Little Richard also were out there in the mid-50s blending country/hillbilly music with blues themes and gospel structures to create rock & roll, Berry had a sound all his own.  For one, he pushed the electric guitar to the forefront.  He also set the standard for what a rock & roll frontman was supposed to be: you weren't just up there to sing some words; you were up there to be a showman and shaman.  
Speaking of words, he had a knack for crafting some fantastic lyrics, too.  In fact, he's one of music's greatest storytellers, communicating a novella's-worth of material in a few short stanzas in every one of his songs.
"You Never Can Tell" from the 1964 album From St. Louis to Liverpool is a prime example.  Berry relays, in a little over two minutes, a whole story about two teenage kids who get married and, against the odds, stay together to celebrate their one-year anniversary.
Curiously, this particular song isn't driven by Berry's guitar; it only really pops up for a second in the intro.  Rather, session pianist Johnnie Johnson (who played alongside Berry for much of his career and unsuccessfully tried suing for co-writing credits on a number of Berry's hit songs, including this one) is featured most prominently, playing a boogie-woogie pattern against drummer Odie Payne's double-time rhythm, which is so South Louisiana it makes you sweat just listening to it.
And if you had any doubt about this ditty being straight out of the bayou, Berry throws in a little French for good measure ('C'est la vie,' say the old folks / It goes to show you never can tell).