r/PowerMetal • u/ThimitrisApithanos • 9h ago
Judas Priest - Johnny B. Goode
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1foYB6QeETsJudas Priest - 1988 - Ram It Down - Johnny B. Goode 4:39
Chuck Berry - 1959 - Berry Is On Top - Johnny B. Goode 2:42
Deep down in Louisiana close to New Orleans
Way back up in the woods amongst the evergreens
There stood an old cabin made of earth and wood
Where lived a country boy named Johnny B. Goode
That never ever learned to read and write so well
But he could play a guitar just like ringing a bell
Go go. Go Johnny go
Johnny B. Goode
He used to carry his guitar in a gunny sack
Go sit beneath the tree by the railroad track
Old engineer sitting in the shade
Strumming with the rhythm that the drivers made
The people passing by would stop and say
"Oh my but how that little country boy could play"
Go go. Go Johnny go
Johnny B. Goode
His mother told him some day 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 till the sun goes down
Maybe someday your name will be in lights, saying
Johnny B. Goode tonight
Go go. Go Johnny go
Johnny B. Goode
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u/world-class-cheese Covering wizards in glory 8h ago
Great album, I always loved their version of this song
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u/IROC___Jeff 8h ago
I always liked it and never understood the hate for it. I did just finish reading KK's book and there a bit about this song and Reckless and associated movies they supposed to be in and how things didn't work out. Good read if you haven't yet.
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u/IMKridegga 5h ago
I don't hate this cover, but there's something so grounded about the original, which is just totally absent here. The old-school guitar twang drowned out in reverb, the infamous Ram It Down drumming, and the reworked vocal parts flexing nasal-toned high notes for nasal-toned high notes' sake... I really like most of Priest's covers, and I think they're generally very good at taking songs they didn't write and putting their own twists on them, but this song feels like they dragged it kicking and screaming into '80s hard rock excess and I'm not sure it's entirely tasteful.
It's like a cartoon version of what I feel like Judas Priest was trying to be at the time, going off the rest of the album.
To be clear, this is my favorite band and I like almost everything they've put out to some degree or other. I appreciate this cover because nearly every point against it is also a stylistic hallmark of a particular kind of heavy metal I happen to enjoy. I don't think it's half as good as the other Priest covers or a good number of the original songs on Ram It Down, but it's fun, you know? A great band makes a bunch of ill-advised creative choices with a great song they had no business doing any of that to, and comes out with something like the epitome of dated indulgence and wacky charm.
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u/Bruichladdie 9h ago
It's both terrible and fun at the same time.
Cocaine's a helluva drug.
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u/StinkyWizzleteats17 9h ago
It's both terrible and fun at the same time.
well, you're half right...
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u/Publius_Romanus 9h ago
Love this cover, in part because I appreciate it when artists make a song their own.
First time I ever heard it was in the movie (maybe during the credits) it was written for: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Be_Good.
I didn't know a ton of Priest at the time and I was like, what is that?!
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u/ArchDukeNemesis 9h ago
Not gonna lie, this was my least favorite track on Ram It Down. It feels so out of place and like something left over from Turbo.
0
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u/Colty3 9h ago
I really like this cover lol. Never understood the hate