Johnny B. Goode
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Johnny B. Goode" | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||||||||
| Single by Chuck Berry | ||||||||||
| from the album Chuck Berry Is on Top | ||||||||||
| B-side | "Around and Around" | |||||||||
| Released | March 31, 1958 | |||||||||
| Format | 7" | |||||||||
| Recorded | January 6, 1958, Chess Records studio, Chicago | |||||||||
| Genre | Rock and roll | |||||||||
| Length | 2:45 | |||||||||
| Label | Chess 1691 | |||||||||
| Writer(s) | Chuck Berry | |||||||||
| Producer | Little "Bongo" Kraus | |||||||||
| Chuck Berry singles chronology | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
| Music sample | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
| "Johnny B. Goode" | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Buck Owens and the Buckaroos | |||||
| from the album Buck Owens in London | |||||
| Released | June 1969 (U.S.) | ||||
| Format | 7" | ||||
| Recorded | 1969 | ||||
| Genre | Country | ||||
| Length | 2:01 | ||||
| Label | Capitol Records | ||||
| Writer(s) | Chuck Berry | ||||
| Buck Owens and the Buckaroos singles chronology | |||||
|
|||||
| "Johnny B. Goode" | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Elton John | |||||
| from the album Victim of Love | |||||
| B-side | "Thunder in the Night" (UK)
"Georgia" (USA) |
||||
| Released | December 1979 | ||||
| Genre | Disco | ||||
| Length | 3:22 | ||||
| Label | Rocket Records | ||||
| Writer(s) | Chuck Berry | ||||
| Producer | Pete Bellotte | ||||
| Elton John singles chronology | |||||
|
|||||
| "Johnny Be Good" | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
|||||
| Single by Judas Priest | |||||
| from the album Ram It Down | |||||
| Released | 1988 | ||||
| Recorded | 1987 Puk Studios Copenhagen, Denmark |
||||
| Genre | Heavy metal | ||||
| Length | 4:39 | ||||
| Label | Columbia | ||||
| Writer(s) | Chuck Berry | ||||
| Producer | Tom Allom | ||||
| Judas Priest singles chronology | |||||
|
|||||
| Ram It Down track listing | |||||
|
|||||
"Johnny B. Goode" is a famous 1958 rock and roll song by Chuck Berry. It reached #8 on the Billboard pop chart, and remains Berry's best known song.
Contents |
[edit] Characteristics
Written by Berry in 1955, the song is a rock and roll version of the American dream — a poor country boy becomes a celebrity by hard work and inspired guitar playing.
The opening guitar riff on "Johnny B. Goode" may be the most famous single riff in rock and roll history. It is essentially a note-for-note copy of the opening single-note solo on Louis Jordan's "Ain't That Just Like a Woman" (1946), played by guitarist Carl Hogan.[1]
Although partly autobiographical, some of the inspiration for the song is said to have been Johnnie Johnson, Berry's piano player and a contributor to the Berry sound. Johnson had been drinking too much, and Chuck thought, "Johnnie be good." Chuck said when he started writing the song it had "coloured boy" instead of "country boy", which he changed for reasons of racial sensitivity. As a possible source for the last name, it has been noted that Berry was born on Goode Avenue in St. Louis.[2]
Aware of the importance of the song to his fame and his image, Berry has written two more songs about Johnny, "Bye Bye Johnny" and "Go Go Go", and also titled an instrumental album as "Concerto in B. Goode".
Berry's recording of the song was included on the Voyager Golden Record, attached to the Voyager spacecraft as representing rock and roll, one of three American songs included among many cultural achievements of humanity.
Even though Johnny Johnson played piano on many other Chuck Berry songs, it was actually Lafayette Leake who played the instrument on this song.[3]
In March 2005, Q magazine placed "Johnny B. Goode" at number 42 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks. In 2008, Rolling Stone placed it at #1 on their list of The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs Of All Time.[4] Guitar World rated the song #12 on the 100 Greatest Guitar Solos list. The song is currently ranked as the #6 song of all time in an aggregation of critics' lists at acclaimedmusic.net.[5]
[edit] Cultural references
- The original Chuck Berry recording features in the film "American Graffiti" (1973).
- Judas Priest recorded the song for the movie Johnny Be Good and for their album Ram It Down in 1988.
- In the movie Back to the Future, the back-in-time Marty McFly performs this song at a high school dance in 1955 (actually sung by Mark Campbell[6]), after the band's guitarist (who happens to be named Marvin Berry) injures his hand. Astounded by McFly's rather prescient guitar heroics (which include imitations of the future Pete Townshend and Eddie Van Halen), Marvin calls his cousin Chuck, who listens in on "the new sound [he's] been looking for". This creates an apparent paradox, with the song "Johnny B. Goode" having never actually been written by anyone. The scene was also revisited in Back to the Future Part II.
"Johnny B. Goode" has been mentioned many times by other artists and writers, with references in movies, television shows, commercials, books and other songs, including the following notable examples:
- The song's title is often used as a literary allusion. An excellent example is in an Australian advertisement for The OC: while a character named Johnny is robbing a convenience store, a caption appears, ironically reading "Johnny be good". Similarly, Devo used references to Johnny in their song "Come Back Johnny" which, (along with their cover of the Rolling Stones' early hit Satisfaction) clearly delineates the contrasting nature of their stylized electronic approach. Also, "Johnny B. Goode" is mentioned for comedic effect in Joe South's song "The Purple People Eater Meets the Witch Doctor."
- In 1982, Men at Work released a song titled "Be Good Johnny" An obvious tribute to Chuck Berry's "Johnny B Goode"
- Brooks & Dunn's song Rock My World (Little Country Girl) refers to "Johnny B. Goode" in the first verse.
- In Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story, the episode's title "Stewie B. Goode" is a reference to this song.
- In Hannah Montana, the episode's title "Joannie B. Goode" is a reference to this song
- In 2004, Democratic nominee for United States president John Kerry used the song as a theme song at most of his campaign events
- New York Mets relief pitcher John Franco warmed up to the song for most of his career.
- "Johnny B. Goode" has also been used in several hit musicals. The song is the finale in "Return to the Forbidden Planet" and also is the final song in the finale act of The Buddy Holly Story.
- The Histeria! episode "Hooray For Presidents" featured a Kid Chorus song about Susan B. Anthony sung to this song's tune.
- One of the main characters in the short-lived 80's comedy Misfits of Science, a rock guitarist and singer, goes by the name Johnny B (for Bukowski). He is offered a Chuck Berry ("C the B") compilation on audio cassette, as a peace offering, and later sings "Johnny B. Goode" while using his lightning powers to hold off the military during a rescue operation.
- The episode of Gimme A Break titled Nell's Secret Admirer opens with Joey and Matthew Lawrence performing "Johnny B. Goode", with Joey on keyboard and Matthew with a baby-sized electric guitar.
- A song in the video game Final Fantasy VI is titled as Johnny C Bad. (Both are up-tempo songs with 12-bar blues progressions.)
- Kelly Brook and Brendan Cole danced their Jive to this song in Week 7 of Strictly Come Dancing.
- A recording of the song by Berry was included in the Voyager Golden Record onboard the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 space probes to represent the culture of the United States to any extraterrestrial life which might encounter it.
- Author Terry Pratchett included a key reference to the song in his book "Soul Music" in which the protagonist Imp Y Celyn ("Bud of the Holly" in Welsh) sings and plays two versions of a song Imp wrote. The song's title is "Sioni Bod Da" - Llamedos (Welsh) for "Johnny Be Good".
- Johnny Lazo of the Tri-City Americans is introduced in the starting line-up as "Go Johnny Go, Johnny Lazo!"
- During the 2008 presidential campaign, the song was used at many John McCain campaign events.
- The song is used at Dodger Stadium when Los Angeles Dodgers relief pitcher Jonathan Broxton comes out of the bullpen.
- German thrash metal band Tankard have made a song titled Johhny B. Bad in their album Two-Faced.
- The BBC drama Threads has the song feature in a few scenes. Once in the opening scene over Jimmy's car radio, in a discussion in the pub later played on a jukebox and in one of the scenes some years after the attack. The optimism and energy of the song is used to highlight the bleakness of the plot and atmosphere. It was deleted in some export version due to copyright reasons.
- The song is also used when Chicago Blackhawks centre Jonathan Toews scores a goal in an NHL game at the United Center.
- The Super NES game EarthBound features a guitar riff from this song in the boss fight against Frank and against New Age Retro Hippies.
- One episode of Family Guy has Peter go back in time to save his marriage with Louis and in the end the episode has Brian perform in the same fashion as Marty but instead of Johnny B. Goode he plays Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up".
- In December 2008, Johnny B. Goode was one of the Final Jeopardy! question.
- In the Stephen King mini-series Kingdom Hospital, Stephen King himself has a cameo as a janitor, Johnny B. Goode.
- In the computer game Hokuto no Ken Online, Johnny, the bartender from the City of Oasis, has an elder brother named Goode who also works as a bartender at the City of Southern Cross.
[edit] Cover Versions
Johnny B. Goode is among the most widely covered rock and roll songs in history. The list of performers includes:
[edit] Buck Owens version
| Preceded by "I Love You More Today" by Conway Twitty |
Billboard Hot Country Singles number one single by Buck Owens and The Buckaroos July 26-August 2, 1969 |
Succeeded by "All I Have to Offer You Is Me" by Charley Pride |
[edit] Jimi Hendrix version
| "Johnny B. Goode" | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Jimi Hendrix | |||||
| from the album Hendrix in the West | |||||
| B-side | Little Wing (Live) | ||||
| Released | January 2, 1972 | ||||
| Genre | Rock | ||||
| Label | Polydor | ||||
| Writer(s) | Chuck Berry | ||||
| Producer | Jimi Hendrix | ||||
| Jimi Hendrix singles chronology | |||||
|
|||||
The Jimi Hendrix version of Johnny B. Goode was recorded live by Jimi Hendrix Experience during the first show at Berkeley Community Theatre, California. It was first released on January 2, 1972 as a posthumous single only on Polydor, and outside of the USA and Canada. The B side was "Little Wing," recorded in concert at the Royal Albert Hall, London. This later caused a legal wrangle with Gold and Goldstein Productions who owned the soundtrack rights to this concert. In the UK it reached #35 in the charts.[citation needed] It was later released world wide on the chart LP Hendrix in the West.
[edit] References
- ^ Miller, James (1999). Flowers in the Dustbin: The Rise of Rock and Roll, 1947-1977. Simon & Schuster, 104. ISBN 0-684-80873-0.
- ^ http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/living/travel/14862285.htm
- ^ Song credits on the compilation "The Great Twenty Eight" from Chess Records/MCA Records
- ^ The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time: Rolling Stone
- ^ "Acclaimed Music Top 3000 songs". 27 May 2009. http://www.acclaimedmusic.net.
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0132708/
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
