Why John Lennon called Chuck Berry his hero: “He’s the greatest rock ‘n’ roll poet”
John Lennon beautifully mixed rock ‘n’ roll with poetry, putting him on the map as a poster boy for an entire generation. While Lennon could eloquently get his desired point across during conversation, songwriting was always his preferred method of communication and allowed him to speak to the souls of millions.
His work with and without The Beatles saw him transcend music to become an iconoclast who will be embedded into popular culture for eternity. While there are plentiful metrics to measure Lennon’s everlasting relevancy, in 2025, 45 years after his death, he won a Grammy with The Beatles for ‘Best Rock Performance’. Although the win was somewhat controversial, it speaks volumes about their unrivalled stature in the music business.
Lennon continues to inspire new generations of artists through the greatest gift he left behind: his catalogue of music. Growing up in Merseyside, Lennon consumed as many sounds as he could, which wasn’t an easy task in the 1950s, but it transformed his life. Like any other artist, Lennon started as a fan, and he worshipped Chuck Berry as a teenager. Even though they came from different corners of the world, something about Berry’s music spoke on a deep, meaningful level to Lennon that he’d never felt before.
“If you had to give rock ‘n’ roll another name, you might call it Chuck Berry,” Lennon once said. Not only did Berry help soundtrack the budding friendship between Lennon and his musical accomplice McCartney, but the entire rock ‘n’ roll revolution of the 1960s, including The Rolling Stones. “To us, he was a magician making music that was exotic, yet normal, at the same time,” McCartney posted on his website following Berry’s death in 2017. “We learnt so many things from him which led us into a dream world of rock and roll music.”
Lennon’s professional life peaked when he performed with Berry in 1972. The occasion happened when he and Yoko Ono took over the US TV programme The Mike Douglas Show for a whole week, which provided him with a platform to share a stage with his hero. Together, they collided on energetic live versions of ‘Johnny B. Goode’ and ‘Memphis Tennesee’.
“Chuck Berry, my hero,” Lennon said during one interview. “I don’t think there’s any group in the world (not influenced by Chuck Berry), white or black, but mainly the white kids were really turned on by Chuck Berry. You name any top group. They’ve all been influenced by him.”
Lennon continued: “His lyrics were very intelligent in the ’50s when people were singing virtually about nothing. He was writing social comment songs, and all these types of songs with incredible metre to the lyrics which influenced Dylan, and me, and many other people.”
The Beatles guitarist concluded his statement with the ultimate compliment, adding, “He’s the greatest rock ‘n’ roll poet, and I really admire him.”
When John’s son, Julian Lennon, performed with Berry in 1986, during a concert to celebrate the latter’s 60th birthday, the rock ‘n’ roll icon showed the respect was mutual, “I’d like to introduce a young man, who is the seed of the greatest influence in rock music,” Berry said, when he brought Julian out onto the stage. Then, in a poignant moment after the track, the ‘Johnny B. Goode’ singer says, “Tell papa hello,” before adding, “I’ll tell you what he says. I’ll see him.”
Berry’s labelling of Lennon as “the greatest influence in rock music” is an equal compliment to “the greatest rock ‘n’ roll poet.” However, Lennon would have never reached that position of influence if it hadn’t been for Berry’s impact on his artistry. No matter how many records he sold or how famous he became, Lennon never allowed himself to forget Berry’s importance.
