The opening guitar riff on "Johnny B. Goode" may be the most famous single riff in rock and roll history. It is essentially a note-for-note copy of the opening single-note solo on Louis Jordan's "Ain't That Just Like a Woman" (1946), played by guitarist Carl Hogan.

Although partly autobiographical, some of the inspiration for the song is said to have been Johnnie Johnson, Berry's piano player and a contributor to the Berry sound. Johnson had been drinking too much, and Chuck thought, "Johnnie be good." Chuck said when he started writing the song it had "coloured boy" instead of "country boy", which he changed for reasons of racial sensitivity. As a possible source for the last name, it has been noted that Berry was born on Goode Avenue in St. Louis. [1]

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