Chuck Berry ruled the early ages of rock and roll in the 1950s and early 1960s with many chart hits that today is taken as rock classics. Among these Chuck Berry hits are the song Johnny B Goode. The song is played with good speed and has a simple catchy chorus easy to singalong to. The lyrics is about a boy who could not read or white but could play the guitar “like ringing the bell”. His mother encourage him to play hoping that “someday you name will be in lights, saying Johnny B. Goode tonight”.
Let this be a lesson to all out there – kids go do what you are good at and us parents just believe and support our kids to get a good life.
The song Johnny B. Goode was on the album Chuck Berry Is On Top originally out on the legendary Chess Records. Other music artists on Chess Records is Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and Bo Diddley among others. Many different artists have made a cover version of Johnny B. Goode e.g. Tom Jones, Peter Tosh, The Beatles and Sex Pistols just to name a few.
Highest chart position: US#8
Tutti Frutti by Little Richard is sometimes given the credit to be one of the first “rock and roll” songs. If this is correct I can’t tell but by all means it is a classic. This song always set me in a good mood and imagining a party going on.