"Johnny B. Goode" was the first rock & roll hit about rock & roll stardom. It is still the greatest rock & roll song about the democracy of fame in pop music. And "Johnny B. Goode" is based in fact. The title character is Chuck Berry -- "more or less," as he told ROLLING STONE in 1972. "The original words [were], of course, 'That little colored boy could play. I changed it to 'country boy' -- or else it wouldn't get on the radio." Berry took other narrative liberties. Johnny came from "deep down in Louisiana, close to New Orleans," rather than Berry's St. Louis. And Johnny "never ever learned to read or write so well," while Berry graduated from beauty school with a degree in hairdressing and cosmetology.
But the essence of Berry's tale -- a guitar player with nothing to his name but chops goes to the big city and gets his name in lights -- is autobiographical. In 1955, Berry was working as a beautician and fronting combos in St. Louis when he met Chess Records' biggest star, Muddy Waters, who sent him to the label's co-founder Leonard Chess. By 1958, Berry was rock & roll's most consistent hitmaker after Elvis Presley. Unlike Presley, Berry wrote his own classics. "I just wish I could express my feelings the way Chuck Berry does," Presley once confessed.
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/6595852/johnny_b_goode
18 Comments
DeanoInteresting information and a great quote from Presley.
I'm really glad people stopped dancing like that mind, quite weird.
mlxThanks, Deano. Couldn't do a Rock collective with Chuck. Hail, Hail Rock & Roll!
antThis reminds of Back to the Future.
firefly*dead
here: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2014248667
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mlx*Undead, dammit!!!
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Eklek*promote this classic!
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Don_Juansays...Damn!!! OOOOOWWWWWWW!!! ROCKIN!!! Johnny Be GOOD!!! Besides OUR house, are alive people still around these days??????? Well, YES! Check out http://www.videosift.com/video/Nelly-Furtado-ft-Timbaland-Promiscuous
JAPROne of the GREATEST SONGS EVER right here.
jonny*length=3:17
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Gratefulmom*dead
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poolcleaner*promote
R.I.P. Chuck Berry (3-18-2017)
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