| Johnny B. Goode |
| Composer |
Chuck Berry |
| Released |
1958-03-31 |
| Title Origin |
Official |
|
Johnny B. Goode was written by Chuck Berry in 1955, and released as a single in 1958. The song is about a poor country boy who plays a guitar "just like ringing a bell," and who might one day have his "name in lights." Berry has acknowledged that the song is partly autobiographical. Because the song was included in the movie "Back to the Future", every game based on the movie also incorporates the tune.
Although being far from having enough resemblance with this tune, Johnny C. Bad is no doubt a homage to "Johnny B. Good".
Games
Back to the Future (NES)
Johnny B. Goode is played in a single scene in Back to the Future (NES) late in the game. When you make it to the Under the Sea dance, there is an extremely difficult mini game where Marty has to play the guitar and catch musical notes that fly towards him. However, very few players ever get this far because the game is so difficult and boring. Just like The Power of Love, this song is sped up to 300 BPM, which makes it barely recognizable. This is possibly an artifact that wasn't corrected for when the music was converted into an NES playable format. According to the arranger, Gavan Anderson, he had no control of the song's tempo. Also, the song plays in the key of F major, as opposed to the original's B♭ major.
Gavan wrote the song in Music Macro Language using Beam Software's NYNTH sound driver programmed by Gregg Barnett.
Back to the Future (C64)
Back to the Future (CPC)
Back to the Future (ZXS)
Back to the Future (MSX)
Theme Park (DOS)
Theme Park (SNES)
Minecraft Note Block Studio (W32)
Lyrics
The original version of this song has lyrics, though none of the games use them.
Deep down 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 the guitar just like a ringing 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
People passing by they would stop and say
Oh my 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 Johnny go go
Go go Johnny go go
Go go Johnny go go
Johnny B. Goode
Sheet Music
NES Version
Links
