I should be fan of the month. No question about that. Why? 

I wrote a song about Johnny. How about that, huh? 

Here’s the story:
I live in a French city named Lyon, which sounds pretty good for a Southside fan. In 1992, the Jukes toured in Europe, and stopped in Besancon, a French town halfway between Zurich and Paris. Now, nothing ever happens in Besancon. But they did stop. So I went there to catch the show, which happened to be tremendous. Anyway, after the show, I and a few other fans waited outside the hall, spoke with LaBamba and Rusty Cloud for a while and asked if Johnny was around. They told us he felt a little sick and was already asleep in the tour coach. But they asked him and the man came out, shook hands, signed autographs, etc... When I got close to him, I shook his hand, congratulated him for the show and jokingly complained that he never came to my city (which wears his name) and that I had to travel hour and miles to see him on a stage. And just as jokingly, he answered, “Well, son, you have to suffer if you want to sing the blues!”

I am an amateur musician, I had been writing songs for about three years (I still do) and when I heard him say that, I knew that sentence would end up in one of my songs someday. Now how do you write a song? Sometimes it’s a question of seconds, sometimes it takes years. The 1992/93 tour ended and trouble started (again) for Johnny. We long-distance fans heard about money problems, divorce, band splitting up, record company ignoring him and so on...Rumors? Well, maybe so. But his words came back to my mind, “You gotta suffer if you want to sing the blues.” And they sounded just perfect for the plight HE was in. So the song lyrics came to me. They go like this:

JOHN LYON ONCE SPOKE TO ME

I am happy as a pig in shit
Feeling lucky, living on the street
Living my dreams, playing all the games
Once forbidden, feeling like Jesse James

On the backstreets, nothing ever shines
Except for hooks and long swords and knives
What I need’s hope, and faith and money
As you can see, I’m like anybody

CHORUS:
Johnny Lyon once spoke to me
Sipping the bottom of his booze
He said son you have to suffer
If you wanna play the blues

So I’m trying to live up to the legend
Doing my best, learning my lessons
It hurts so good, I’m a legal outlaw
Won’t do you harm if you give me the dough

CHORUS

I can’t send you the complete song through the internet as it was only recorded on an analog tape. I did an acoustic and electric version of the song. It was in 1997. I can send you a copy in the mail if you send your address. Now you tell me, shouldn’t I be fan of the month?

Ludovic MICHEL

PS: The funny thing is, Johnny may be named Lyon, but I don’t know how to actually pronounce his name. The french way, or more like the English word “lion”? That was embarrassing to me when I had to record the vocals. I decided to choose the English way.