# Johnny B. Goode
**"Johnny B. Goode"** (ジョニー・B・グッド) is a 1958 rock and roll song written and first recorded by [Chuck Berry](https://www.edgepedia.org/chuck-berry) (1926–2017), released as a single in March 1958. It tells of a poor country boy from Louisiana whose guitar playing carries him from a humble cabin to fame, and it has been called the "Rock and Roll National Anthem."[1](https://bestclassicbands.com/chuck-berry-johnny-b-goode-3-31-188/) • [2](https://www.criticalblast.com/articles/2016/05/09/time-life-lp-snapshot-spanning-ages-and-more-genres-just-rock) The single rose to No. 2 on the R&B chart and No. 8 on the pop chart that preceded the Hot 100, and it remains one of the most honored recordings in rock history.[3](https://www.rocklists.com/artists/chuck-berry/johnny-b-goode/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Released | March 31, 1958, as a Chuck Berry single[1](https://bestclassicbands.com/chuck-berry-johnny-b-goode-3-31-188/) |
| Chart peaks | No. 2 R&B, No. 8 pop (pre-Hot 100), No. 11 Cash Box Top 100[3](https://www.rocklists.com/artists/chuck-berry/johnny-b-goode/) |
| Structure | 12-bar blues in B-flat with a turnaround progression[4](https://www.jonmaclennan.com/blog/johnny-b-goode-guitar-lesson) |
| Rolling Stone | 7th on the 2004 "500 Greatest Songs of All Time"; 33rd in the 2021 revision[3](https://www.rocklists.com/artists/chuck-berry/johnny-b-goode/) |
| Grammy Hall of Fame | Inducted 1999[5](https://umdmusic.com/default.asp?Lang=English&Umd=B39592&View=I) |
| Voyager Golden Record | One of 27 pieces of music chosen as a portrait of humanity[3](https://www.rocklists.com/artists/chuck-berry/johnny-b-goode/) |
## Recording and release
Berry recorded the song at [Chess Records](https://www.edgepedia.org/chess-records) in Chicago, with the original session takes preserved on later reissues. Take 1 first appeared in 1986 on the Chess compilation *Rock 'n Roll Rarities*; take 3, with a guitar overdub added, is the 1958 hit version.[6](https://www.crlf.de/ChuckBerry/blog/archives/P12.html) The released recording combines two guitar performances: a continuous live guitar take carrying mainly rhythm, and overdubbed lead guitar lines that enter in the second half of the intro, during the choruses, and in the solo.[7](https://www.anyonecanplayguitar.co.uk/johnny-b-goode-part-1/) This followed the method Berry and Chess habitually used, laying down a base track with a strong guitar introduction and rhythm, then overdubbing staccato guitar lines on top.[8](https://www.crlf.de/ChuckBerry/blog/archives/42-Two-guitars-on-Johnny-B.-Goode.html)
The song is autobiographical in tone: Berry, who grew up in St. Louis, wrote a story of a poor boy whose mastery of the guitar brings fame. The song was released in March 1958 and became a major success.[9](https://ris.cdu.edu.au/ws/portalfiles/portal/35407401/Thesis_CDU_59701_Lee_D.pdf) AllMusic calls it "the Horatio Alger story of rock & roll," a message so basic that the song became the inspiration for every kid who ever wanted to be in a rock & roll band.[10](https://www.allmusic.com/song/johnny-b-goode-mt0000255974)
## Musical structure
The song follows a standard 12-bar blues pattern in B-flat: four bars of B-flat, two of E-flat, two of B-flat, two of F, and two of B-flat, with the last four bars running F to B-flat in the turnaround, moving from the V chord back to the I.[4](https://www.jonmaclennan.com/blog/johnny-b-goode-guitar-lesson) Berry's rhythm part uses a bass-note boogie figure on two strings at a time, played in straight eighth notes, while the drummer accents the backbeats and the bass line walks in a syncopated, bouncy way. The straight-eighth guitar over a swinging rhythm section marks the transition from blues to rock and roll.[4](https://www.jonmaclennan.com/blog/johnny-b-goode-guitar-lesson)
## The intro riff
The opening guitar figure is a pickup lick in double-stops, four bars of solo guitar before the band enters on the shuffling twelve-bar form.[11](https://rhapsode.art/MUSIC/RELEASES/SINGLES/%281958%29-Johnny-B-Goode) Berry did not originate it: the lick descends from a riff guitarist Carl Hogan played in 1946, combined with slurs associated with [T-Bone Walker](https://www.edgepedia.org/t-bone-walker), and a similar line appears in [Louis Jordan](https://www.edgepedia.org/louis-jordan)'s "Ain't That Just Like a Woman."[12](https://www.theguitarplugged.com/article/history-of-the-riff-chuck-berry-johnny-b-goode) In Berry's hands it became, in one guitar-history account's phrase, the most imitated figure in the history of rock guitar, the first real lead lick generations of players learned.[11](https://rhapsode.art/MUSIC/RELEASES/SINGLES/%281958%29-Johnny-B-Goode)
## Chart success and honors
Beyond its 1958 peaks of No. 2 R&B and No. 8 pop, the single reached No. 11 on the Cash Box Top 100, [No. 6](https://www.edgepedia.org/no-6) in Canada, and it has kept charting in later eras; in 2017 it reached No. 9 on [Billboard](https://www.edgepedia.org/billboard-magazine)'s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart.[3](https://www.rocklists.com/artists/chuck-berry/johnny-b-goode/) The recording entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999, and Berry's album *The Great Twenty-Eight*, which includes the song, ranked 21st on Rolling Stone's 2012 500 Greatest Albums list and 51st in the 2020 version.[5](https://umdmusic.com/default.asp?Lang=English&Umd=B39592&View=I) • [13](https://www.futurerocklegends.com/Artist/Chuck_Berry/)
When Berry was inducted into the [Rock and Roll Hall of Fame](https://www.edgepedia.org/rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame) in its inaugural 1986 ceremony, the song "Johnny B. Goode" was performed at the ceremony by [Jerry Lee Lewis](https://www.edgepedia.org/jerry-lee-lewis), Keith Richards, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and the Rock Hall Jam Band.[13](https://www.futurerocklegends.com/Artist/Chuck_Berry/) Berry himself performed the song at the induction backed by [Bruce Springsteen](https://www.edgepedia.org/bruce-springsteen) and the E Street Band.[1](https://bestclassicbands.com/chuck-berry-johnny-b-goode-3-31-188/) A 1994 live performance with Springsteen opens a Time Life vinyl compilation, whose reviewer notes the crowd reaction exceeded that for any other song on the record.[2](https://www.criticalblast.com/articles/2016/05/09/time-life-lp-snapshot-spanning-ages-and-more-genres-just-rock)
## Covers and cultural afterlife
The song is among the most covered recordings in popular music. AllMusic lists releases of it by [Judas Priest](https://www.edgepedia.org/judas-priest), the [Grateful Dead](https://www.edgepedia.org/grateful-dead) (40 versions), [Peter Tosh](https://www.edgepedia.org/peter-tosh), Elvis Presley (20), the Beach Boys, Jimi Hendrix (15), Buck Owens, the Sex Pistols, the Beatles, Bill Haley, and John Denver, among dozens of others.[14](https://www.allmusic.com/song/johnny-b-goode-mt0012859481) • [15](https://www.allmusic.com/song/johnny-b-goode-mt0004013478) Its guitar licks and the story of a poor boy's road to stardom are the reason, as the Chuck Berry Collectors Blog puts it: they have made it one of the most covered songs of all time.[16](https://www.crlf.de/ChuckBerry/blog/archives/P20.html)
**Space and film.** The song was chosen as one of the 27 pieces of music on the [Voyager Golden Record](https://www.edgepedia.org/voyager-golden-record), sent into space in the 1970s aboard the Voyager spacecraft as a portrait of humanity; a guitar-history account notes it is the only rock and roll song on the record.[3](https://www.rocklists.com/artists/chuck-berry/johnny-b-goode/) • [12](https://www.theguitarplugged.com/article/history-of-the-riff-chuck-berry-johnny-b-goode) In the 1985 film *Back to the Future*, Marty McFly plays and sings the song from memory at a 1955 school dance, in a scene performed by Tim May and Mark Campbell; the film's scene is credited with keeping interest in the song alive for later audiences.[12](https://www.theguitarplugged.com/article/history-of-the-riff-chuck-berry-johnny-b-goode)
A guitar-teaching source calls it one of the most recognizable songs in the history of popular music, and its opening lick remains standard learning material for beginning rock guitarists.[4](https://www.jonmaclennan.com/blog/johnny-b-goode-guitar-lesson)
## References
1. [Mar 31, 1958: Chuck Berry's 'Johnny B. Goode' Released, Best Classic Bands](https://bestclassicbands.com/chuck-berry-johnny-b-goode-3-31-188/)
2. [Time-Life LP Snapshot Spanning Ages and More Genres Than Just Rock, Critical Blast](https://www.criticalblast.com/articles/2016/05/09/time-life-lp-snapshot-spanning-ages-and-more-genres-just-rock)
3. ["Johnny B Goode" by Chuck Berry, RockLists](https://www.rocklists.com/artists/chuck-berry/johnny-b-goode/)
4. [How to Play Johnny B. Goode on Guitar, Jon MacLennan](https://www.jonmaclennan.com/blog/johnny-b-goode-guitar-lesson)
5. [Ultimate Music Database, Chuck Berry entry](https://umdmusic.com/default.asp?Lang=English&Umd=B39592&View=I)
6. [The Chuck Berry Collectors Blog, take listings](https://www.crlf.de/ChuckBerry/blog/archives/P12.html)
7. [Johnny B Goode by Chuck Berry, Anyone Can Play Guitar](https://www.anyonecanplayguitar.co.uk/johnny-b-goode-part-1/)
8. [Two guitars on 'Johnny B. Goode'?, The Chuck Berry Collectors Blog](https://www.crlf.de/ChuckBerry/blog/archives/42-Two-guitars-on-Johnny-B.-Goode.html)
9. [5.8 Johnny B Goode (1958), Chuck Berry, CDU thesis](https://ris.cdu.edu.au/ws/portalfiles/portal/35407401/Thesis_CDU_59701_Lee_D.pdf)
10. [Johnny B. Goode - Chuck Berry, AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/song/johnny-b-goode-mt0000255974)
11. [(1958) "Johnny B. Goode", Rhapsode](https://rhapsode.art/MUSIC/RELEASES/SINGLES/%281958%29-Johnny-B-Goode)
12. [History of the Riff: Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode", The Guitar Plugged](https://www.theguitarplugged.com/article/history-of-the-riff-chuck-berry-johnny-b-goode)
13. [Chuck Berry and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Future Rock Legends](https://www.futurerocklegends.com/Artist/Chuck_Berry/)
14. [Johnny B. Goode - Judas Priest, AllMusic cover listings](https://www.allmusic.com/song/johnny-b-goode-mt0012859481)
15. [Johnny B. Goode - Jimi Hendrix, AllMusic cover listings](https://www.allmusic.com/song/johnny-b-goode-mt0004013478)
16. [What Academic Critics Write about Johnny B. Goode, The Chuck Berry Collectors Blog](https://www.crlf.de/ChuckBerry/blog/archives/P20.html)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musical works and recordings › Compositions and songs › Pop, rock, and metal songs › Doo-wop and early rock and roll songs*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license