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Saturday, April 16, 2005
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JOHNNIE JOHNSON: 1924 - 2005
Ever since I was a kid, I'd have these long, drawn out conversations with people about rock music. For a good long time, it was the single most important thing in my life and it was one of the very few things I could bond with people over. Then there was the added benefit that I knew so much more about it than anyone else I knew. That meant I could show off.
I can't tell you how often someone would tell me they were rock fans and rattle off the standard list of artists they admired. And it was almost always the same list. If you're my age, the list consisted of the Beatles, the Stones, the Doors, Led Zeppelin and, sometimes, the Grateful Dead. I'd always ask them how much they knew about Chuck Berry.
Because I looked like a redheaded version of Slash before there was a Slash, this question usually threw people for a loop. They didn't expect that. But like I said Rock n'Roll was the love of my life. At the time, you could play me a Led Zeppelin record and I'd list off what they stole and from where. Often times, I could name the sidemen on the original recordings. You'd be amazed how pissed off your average fourteen year old can get if you call Jimmy Page "a fourth-rate Hubert Sumlin."
Yes, I was an obnoxious, little elitist. In a lot of ways, I still am. A Classic Rock Snob.
But if you call yourself a Rock Fan, the music Chuck Berry put out between 1957 and 1962 is the Rosetta Stone. It is literally the foundation on which everything else is built. I can easily imagine Rock developing without Elvis, but there would be nothing without Chuck. The guitar techniques he pioneered (or stole from jazz musicians) ARE the vocabuarly of Rock n'Roll, even today.
Those original records - before Chuck got bitter and lazy - are still the most incredible things around. The guitar is beautiful, the arrangements pristine, and those lyrics. Jesus Christ, no one - then or now - could write so beautifully about the most mundane things. Chuck Berry only ever wrote songs about three things; chicks, cars and school. But he did it with a fluidity of language that still sparkles. All you have to do is put on Nadine and actually read the lyrics along with the vocal. The imagry is just stellar.
I saw her from the corner when she turned and doubled back
And started walkin' toward a coffee colored Cadillac
I was pushin' through the crowd to get to where she's at
And I was campaign shouting like a southern diplomat
Bruce Springsteen has said that he has never actually seen a "coffee colored Cadillac", but he knows exactly what one should look like based on that song.
As much as I admire writers like Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits, none of them could ever write to such effect with such simple language. Chuck Berry was a true master of the 20th Century.
But even the lyrics are secondary. It's the must that grabs you by the nuts and refuses to let go. Those early records - with Chuck on guitar, Willie Dixon on stand-up bass and Johnnie Johnson on piano, are among the greatest band recordings ever. And they were all LIVE, single-take recordings. There was no ProTools then. You couldn't take months or years getting a record done. In fact, the first six or seven of Berry's greatest songs were done in an afternoon.
Johnnie Johnson, who died this week, was instrumental to that music. As Keith Richards pointed out in the film Hail, Hail, Rock N'Roll, Johnnie Johnson may have actually written it. Richards makes a compelling argument. Most rock songs are written in straight-ahead keys. Keys like A, D, E and, Christ knows, almost every Led Zeppelin song ever is in G. These are keys that guitar players are most comfortable in. Guitarists are usually the primary writers in rock music.
Chuck Berry's classic songs however, are in odd keys for rock. A Flat, B Flat. NOBODY writes rock in B Flat! These are pianists keys, keys that are common in jazz. Keys Johnnie Johnson would know like the back of his hand. Of course, for nearly fifty years, Johnnie Johnson would receive neither credit nor payment for his contributions. This is because, on top of be a stellar artist, Chuck Berry is a monumental prick. And he paid the price. After Johnnie left Chuck's employ in the mid-Sixties, he never again wrote a great son. Yes, he had his only number one with with the monstrosity, "My Ding-a-LIng", but that only goes to show how pornographic the public can be sometimes.
Johnnie Johnson wrote some of the most incredible music of the last half-century and was only just recently recognized for it. He never was fully paid for it. His songwriting genius was always overshadowed by his greated gift - making other musicians look great. His official website has this tribute.
Keith Richards, who was perhaps Johnson's greatest champion, is interviewed on Rolling Stone's website.
From the time I was sixteen years old, I had this dream that Johnnie and Chuck would reconcile and put out an album of new music that would DESTROY everyone. I mean music that would make people like Trent Reznor and Eddie Vedder re-evaluate their lives and do something productive - like become plumbers. Was it a childish, impractical dream? Yeah, I guess it was. Christ, most people didn't know who B.B King was until Bono took a cotton to him, and I doubt that even that could happen in today's music business. But Goddamn, it would have been beautiful to see.
Both are touching tributes, but if you want to KNOW what Johnnie Johnson meant, put on some of those great Chuck Berry records. Listen really closely to the way that piano drives those incredible songs. Better still, get Hail, Hail Rock N' Roll on DVD. Skip ahead to "Wee, Wee Hours" and watch how Johnson has both Keith Richards and Eric Clapton eating out hand, like the teenage fans they never stopped being. I'm such a fan and, if you're smart, you will be too.
Watch the movie, listen to those records. Think about what music would be without Chuck Berry and Johnnie Johnson.
Then you'll know what the world just lost.
God bless you, Johnnie Johnson.
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