Songs about Johnny...

Cafe Society
1

hm… lost the OP… here it is again:

I was thinking today… it seems that every song that tells a story about a rock star who makes it big and then either burns out or fades away is about “Johnny.” Two examples off the top of my head are “Shooting Star” by Bad Company, and “Blaze of Glory” by Joe Jackson.

  1. Any other songs about musicians named Johnny?

  2. Why are all songs of this type about Johnny? Is there some actual Johnny that they’re all referencing, or is it just an easy name to fit into a song?

2

Don’t know of any actual Johnny but I’ll just add Johnny B Goode (spl?). Go Johnny Go!

I thought the thread was about all Johnny songs. I was going to add Johnny 99 by Bruce Springsteen but I decided against it. Oh wait?

3

Don’t know of any actual Johnny but I’ll just add Johnny B Goode (spl?). Go Johnny Go!

I thought the thread was about all Johnny songs. I was going to add Johnny 99 by Bruce Springsteen but I decided against it. Oh wait, his real name was Ralph in the song but he was nick named Johnny 99. But it don’t mater since he wasn’t a musician.

4

the fiddler in Devil Comes Down To Georgia was named “Johnny”

There’s just a lot of songs about people named Johnny . . . also “Who’s Johnny” and “Angry Johnny”, come to think of it. I’ve been wondering about that for a while now.

5

Maybe Johnny is part of the illuminati… or the clique!

6

(Makes note of Eonwe’s post.)

7

I’m guessing it’s an homage to Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode,” the seminal song about a boy named Johnny making it big in rock-n-roll.

8

Now here’s a reference for you…

In the video, “Everybody Run, the Homecoming Queen has a Gun,” the Homecoming Queen says she did it all for Johnny.

That fits with the Illuminati/mind control theme.

9

Another one for the list: come back jonee by Devo.

10

Didn’t Tom Petty’s Into the Great Wide Open have a Jonny?

11

“Johnny played guitar, Jenny played bass.
Name of the band is The Human Race.
Everybody tell me have you heard? Pop goes the world.”
–Men Without Hats

12

Men at Work’s Be Good Johnny is very different from Chuck Berry’s song, but may have started out as an homage.

13

Don’t forget Johnny does the Walk of Life:

Here comes Johnny singing oldies, goldies
Be-Bop-A-Lula, Baby What I Say

as chronicled by Dire Straits

14

“When Johnny Strikes Up The Band”

  • Warren Zevon

“New Kid in Town”

  • The Eagles

“It Ain’t 1918”

  • Sparks
15

Phil Lynott from Thin Lizzy had something of an alter-ego named Johnny the Fox. Lizzy did an album called ‘Johnny the Fox’ and had several songs which also referenced the character ('Johnny" and “Johnny the Fox Meets Jimmy the Weed”), who was more of an urban hustler type than a rockstar.

16

Tom Petty’s new one, The Last DJ , has a song called “Money Becomes King” which is a narrative about a musician named Johnny. He sure gets around.

17

Nope. “Eddie waited 'till he finished high school.”

18

Neil Young’s Hey, Hey, My, My and also his My, My, Hey, Hey are stories of a Johnny Rotten.

19

Don’t think he’s a musician, but I’ll never forget k.d. lang singing “Johnny Get Angry, Johnny Get Mad” in a Purple zoot suit on Saturday Night Live. Yum-I nearly switched teams!

20

“Hey there, Johnny-boy, I hope you fry!”