Chuck Berry site

Johnny B. Goode 50th Anniversary

Released March 31th, 1958

"Johnny B. Goode" is a seminal 1958 rock'n'roll song by Chuck Berry, ranked by Rolling Stone as the seventh greatest song ever on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Released by Chess Records, March 31th 1958, the song is a rock'n'roll version of the American dream — a poor country boy becomes a star by hard work and inspired guitar playing. He wrote the song like a tribute for his piano player Johnnie Johnson. The name "Goode" is taken from the street where Chuck Berry was born, 2520 Goode Avenue, Elleardsville, St. Louis. The name of the street is today Annie Malone Drive.

Elleardsville was a well known suburb of St. Louis in the period after the civil war. It was named after Charles M. Elleard, a florist and horticulturist, who maintained a conservatory and green houses on a tract which he purchased from George W. Goode, an attorney from Virginia, about 1858. Ellearsdville, which today is known as the Ville neighborhood, was annexed to the City in 1876. Annie Malone Children's Home was built in 1922 at 2612 Goode Avenue as a gift from it's namesake. Annie Malone (1869-1957) was an African-American businesswoman, inventor and philanthropist who, in the first three decades of the 20th century, built a large and prominent commercial and educational enterprise centered around cosmetics for African-American women and, subsequently, training and poise for both genders.

Chuck Berry worked very hard for a few days when he wrote "Johnny B. Goode". On earlier unreleased takes he sang "colored boy" instead of "country boy", but it was changed for fear of it not being played on the radio. 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 album from 1969 as "Concerto In B. Goode".

Berry's original recording of the song was included on the Voyager Golden Record, attached to the Voyager spacecraft 1977 as representing rock'n'roll, one of three American songs included among many cultural achievements of humanity.

In the movie "Back to the Future" (1985), the back-in-time Marty McFly performs this song at a high school dance in 1955 (actually sung by Mark Campbell, 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 (specifically, an ontological paradox), with the song "Johnny B. Goode" having never actually been written by anyone. The scene was also re-used 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. Cover versions include everyone from Elvis Presley to Jimi Hendrix.

The song's title is often used as a literary allusion. An excellent example is in an Australian advertisement for "The O.C." 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".

"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" (The two songs are not otherwise similar). Kelly Brook and Brendan Cole danced their Jive to this song in "Strictly Come Dancing", week 7.

Happy Birthday "Johnny B. Goode" !!!



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© Johan Hasselberg 2009

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