About the song
“Johnny B. Goode” is a legendary song by American musician Chuck Berry, written and performed by Berry himself in 1958. Released as a single that year, it quickly rose to prominence, peaking at number two on the Hot R&B Sides chart and number eight on the pre-Hot 100 chart. This track has become an enduring staple of rock music and is widely considered one of the most recognizable songs in the history of popular music.
Credited as “the first rock & roll hit about rock & roll stardom,” “Johnny B. Goode” has been covered by numerous artists and has garnered significant honors and accolades over the years. The song was ranked 33rd on Rolling Stone’s 2021 list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time” and held the 7th spot on the 2004 version of the same list. Additionally, it was included as one of the 27 songs on the Voyager Golden Record, a collection of music, images, and sounds designed to represent humanity to any extraterrestrial life that might find it.
Chuck Berry wrote “Johnny B. Goode” in 1955, drawing inspiration from his own life and experiences. The song tells the story of a semi-literate “country boy” from the New Orleans area who plays the guitar “just like ringing a bell” and dreams of seeing his name in lights. Berry acknowledged that the song is partly autobiographical, noting that the original lyrics referred to Johnny as a “colored boy,” but he changed it to “country boy” to ensure radio play. The title itself hints at autobiographical elements, as Berry was born at 2520 Goode Avenue in St. Louis.
The song was initially inspired by Johnnie Johnson, the regular piano player in Berry’s band, but it ultimately developed into a song that was mainly about Berry himself. Although Johnson played on many of Berry’s recordings, Lafayette Leake played the piano for the Chess recording session of “Johnny B. Goode,” with Willie Dixon on bass and Fred Below on drums. The session was produced by Leonard and Phil Chess.
One of the song’s most iconic features is its opening guitar riff, which borrows from the single-note solo on Louis Jordan’s “Ain’t That Just Like a Woman” (1946), played by guitarist Carl Hogan. The Guardian’s Joe Queenan argued that “no song in the history of rock’n’roll more jubilantly celebrates the downmarket socioeconomic roots of the genre” than “Johnny B. Goode.” Billboard’s Jason Lipshutz described the song as “the first rock-star origin story,” noting its “swagger and showmanship.”
When Chuck Berry was inducted during the first Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony on January 23, 1986, he performed “Johnny B. Goode” and “Rock and Roll Music,” backed by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. The Hall of Fame also included these songs, along with “Maybellene,” in their list of the 500 songs that shaped rock and roll. In 1999, “Johnny B. Goode” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, cementing its status as an influential rock and roll single.
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Lyrics
Deep down in Louisiana close to New Orleans
Way back up in the woods among the evergreens
There stood a log cabin made of earth and wood
Where lived a country boy named Johnny B. Goode
Who never ever learned to read or write so well
But he could play a guitar just like a-ringin’ a bell
Go, go
Go Johnny, go, go
Go Johnny, go, go
Go Johnny, go, go
Go Johnny, go, go
Johnny B. Goode
He used to carry his guitar in a gunny sack
Go sit beneath the tree by the railroad track
Oh, the engineers would see him sitting in the shade
Strumming with the rhythm that the drivers made
The people passing by they would stop and say
“Oh my what that little country boy could play”
Go, go
Go Johnny, go, go
Go Johnny, go, go
Go Johnny, go, go
Go Johnny, go, go
Johnny B. Goode
His mother told him “someday you will be a man
And you will be the leader of a big old band
Many people coming from miles around
To hear you play your music when the sun go down
Maybe someday your name will be in lights
Saying “Johnny B. Goode tonight”
Go, go
Go Johnny, go
Go, go, go Johnny, go
Go, go, go Johnny, go
Go, go, go Johnny, go
Go
Johnny B. Goode