General Norman Johnson 

The Blacker the Berry  (the Sweeter the Juice)

The Blacker the Berry, the Sweeter the Juice is one of the most important songs I’ve written during my long career.  It expresses the true feelings of any black man who has black grandmothers, a black mother, wife, daughters, sisters, aunts and black female friends.  The song was written to lift up the black woman, not to put down women of other ethnic groups.  Mainstream society believes some songs, recorded by rappers, have tainted the image of the black woman.  Frankly, songs performed by young black recording artist who are portraying “gangstas,” thugs and pimps, should not affect the image of anyone or anything. 

No matter what others think, black men know that under all kinds of circumstances, no matter how bleak, the black woman has stood by and stood up for us.  We do appreciate her unconditional love, loyalty and tremendous sacrifices.  “Ask me why I love my woman so and I’ll tell ya, what the whole world already knows - - The Blacker the Berry, the Sweeter the Juice.” 

The Blacker the Berry, the Sweeter the Juice will be included in the Chairman of the Boards CD All in the Family (Southern Soul Mix).  General Johnson is the Grammy winning, song writer of these million selling songs:

The Music Bandit

By General Johnson

I’m speaking on behalf of anyone who is an artist, a songwriter or music producer who has chosen music as a profession.  You’ve got to love what you do because your long hours of work can be instantly stolen with the click of a button.  What is amazing to me is that nobody really seems to care. 

The lawmakers don’t care and those that download the music definitely don’t care.  Maybe it’s because no one outside the music business really understands the long hours of work and financial costs necessary to deliver a good product of newly recorded music.   Let me try to explain.

The songwriter conceives an idea and then translates that idea lyrically within the boundaries of a commercial melody.  The lyric has to tell an interesting story which sometimes can take as long as a year to complete.  I finished the chord progression (the music) to the song Patches within two weeks.  However, I had to write and rewrite the lyrics until everyone involved was satisfied that the lyrics were the best that they could be.  It took almost six months to perfect the song Patches.

The artist’s performance must capture the feeling of what the songwriter is trying to say.  The performance also has to please the musical ear of the producer - - no easy task.  Many hours of costly studio time is spent trying to capture the best performance the artist can project. 

The arranger has to arrange the music with instruments that paint a picture of what the songwriter and the artist are trying to say.  His work also has to satisfy the musical ear of the producer.  Once again, costly hours of work are necessary.

The producer is responsible for overseeing every aspect of the recording project both creative and budget-wise.  He spends countless hours tediously adjusting the sounds and volume levels of each instrument and every vocal performance. This process is called mixing.  Mixing is one of the most important phases of the recording process.  Many recordings have lost the magic because the vocals and instruments were not mixed properly.

The final process of the recording project is called mastering.  Overseen by the producer, the mastering engineer perfects the overall sound of the project.  When this process is completed the recording is finished. 

All this costly, creative and technical work is done for one song.  Most CD’s contain at least twelve songs that require the same amount of work and financial costs.  Imagine the long hours spent by talents like Stevie Wonder and Prince who write, sing, play instruments, arrange and produce the recorded music.

Conservatively, the cost of a professionally recorded CD of twelve songs is approximately $100,000 to $150,000.  This includes studio time, producer advancements, musicians, background vocalists, hotels, travel and a long list of additional miscellaneous expenses.  All recording costs are charged to the artist.   For their long hours of work, the songwriter, artist and  producer depend on the royalties from CD sales.  A large portion of these royalties are lost because of illegal downloading of their music.

Music thievery continues to get worse each day.  As a result, independent recording companies, recording studios, recording distributors and music stores are going out of business at a frightening rate. 

I know this article may not discourage the theft of music because you enjoy the music free of charge.  But maybe, just maybe it will make those who steal the music feel a little bit guilty.

*This article does not pertain to the cost of recording sessions that feature samples of music previously recorded.