Johnny B. Goode

Early rock and roll star from the Chuck Berry song of the same name. Berry wrote the semiautobiographical "Johnny B. Goode" in 1955, but it was not recorded and released until 1958.

What you probably don't know is there's more to it than that. Goode appears in other Chuck Berry songs:

• "Bye Bye Johnny" (1960), where Momma says bye to Johnny as he goes to Hollywood to make some motion pictures. Johnny falls in love there, and promises to build his momma a mansion after he's married.
• "Go Go Go" (1963, from the album Chuck Berry on Stage. Johnny starts going jazz! "Backed up by a jazz band, layin' on the wood, Mixin Ahmad Jamal in my Johnny B Goode. Sneaking Errol Garner in my Sweet Sixteen, Now they tell me Stan Kenton's cutting Maybelline."
• "Johnny B. Blues" ?

In 1969, Berry released the album Concerto in B Goode, but the title track is an 18 minute instrumental.

Mr. Goode gets a mention in Ricky Nelson's 1972 hit song "Garden Party":

Someone opened up a closet door and out stepped Johnny B. Goode

Playing guitar like a-ringing a bell and lookin' like he should.

More impressive are the balls of the band Devo, who killed off Goode in their song "Come Back Jonee" from their 1978 album Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!:

"Johnny jumped into his Datsun. Drove out on the expressway. Went head on into a semi. His guitar's all that's left now."

Lyrics

Caption text

Johnny B. Goode	Bye Bye Johnny	Go Go Go
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	She drew out all her money out of the Southern Trust And put her little boy aboard a Greyhound bus Leaving Louisiana for the Golden West Down came the tears from her happiness Her own little son name 'o Johnny B. Goode Was gonna make some motion pictures out in Hollywood Bye, bye, bye, bye Bye, bye, bye, bye Bye bye Johnny Good bye Johnny B. Goode She remembered taking money out from gathering crop And buying Johnny's guitar at a broker shop As long as he would play it by the railroad side And wouldn't get in trouble he was satisfied But never thought that there would come a day like this When she would have to give her son a goodbye kiss Going, bye, bye, bye, bye Bye, bye, bye, bye Bye bye Johnny Bye bye Johnny B. Goode She finally got the letter she was dreaming of Johnny wrote and told 'er he had fell in love As soon as he was married he would bring her back And build a mansion for 'em by the railroad track So every time they heard the locomotive roar They'd be a' standin', a' wavin' in the kitchen door Howling, bye, bye, bye, bye Bye, bye, bye, bye Bye bye Johnny Good bye Johnny B. Goode	Down goes the sun, sitting, ducking on guitar Up comes the moon, twinkle, twinkle little star One and one is two, hitching two, to make it four Johnny, get your guitar, let's go, go, go, oh baby Johnny plays the guitar at the weekly record hop He starts to twist and turn and then they wouldn't let him stop Girls so shook up, seeing him shaking on the show Everybody starts to holler go, go, go, oh baby Duckwalking on his knees, pecking like a hen Looking like a locomotive, here he comes again Meow said the kitty, puppy bow, wow, wow Go and pick your guitar, Johnny don't stop now, oh baby Backed up by a jazz band, laying on the wood Mixin Ahmad Jamal in my Johnny B Goode Sneaking Errol Garner in my Sweet Sixteen Now they tell me Stan Kenton's cutting Maybelline, oh baby Papa said to Mama, "This I never understood How he picks his guitar, make it sound so good Use to sound goofy but I guess it's all right" Papa's taking Mama to the gig tomorrow night, oh baby

External Links

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_B._Goode