Songwriter, harmonica player and singer Johnny Mars was raised in a sharecr… Read Full Bio ↴Songwriter, harmonica player and singer Johnny Mars was raised in a sharecropping family. He was given his first harmonica at age nine. His family lived in various places around the South, including North Carolina, Georgia and Florida.
When Mars' mother died in 1958, the older family members settled in Florida, while Johnny and his younger brother went to live in New Paltz, N.Y. After he graduated from high school, he played club shows around New York and recorded with his band Burning Bush for Mercury Records.
In the mid-1960s, Mars moved to San Francisco, where he met Dan Kennedy and formed the Johnny Mars Band, playing clubs and festivals in northern California, as well as shows for rock promoter/impresario/producer Bill Graham.
However, Mars could not seem to expand his audience much in San Francisco. After hearing about the greener pastures across the pond from his friend Rick Estrin of Little Charlie and the Nightcats, he toured England in 1972. There, he recorded a couple of albums, eventually moving to West London in 1978. Working with producer Ray Fenwick, who also worked with Spencer Davis and Ian Gillan, Mars met with success on the much praised album, Life On Mars.
In 1991, Mars became a featured soloist with the British New Wave pop group Bananarama. The group used him on their singles "Preacher Man," "Megalomaniac," and "Long Train Running," and he appeared in the group's video of "Preacher Man." Through the 1990s, Mars retained his strong European fan base, and he enjoys particularly strong followings in Ireland, Scotland and Scandinavia. Critics there have called him "the Jimi Hendrix of the harmonica." Over the years, Mars has shared bills with Hendrix (before he was well-known) and Magic Sam.
In 1992, after a long absence from the Bay Area blues scene, owing to his new foothold in England and the rest of Europe, Mars was invited to play at the San Francisco Blues Festival. Mars' 1994 U.S. release for MM&K Recordings, Stateside with Johnny Mars, features brilliant, original, topical compositions and superb, unique harmonica playing, unfettered by the standard Chicago blues conventions.
When Mars' mother died in 1958, the older family members settled in Florida, while Johnny and his younger brother went to live in New Paltz, N.Y. After he graduated from high school, he played club shows around New York and recorded with his band Burning Bush for Mercury Records.
In the mid-1960s, Mars moved to San Francisco, where he met Dan Kennedy and formed the Johnny Mars Band, playing clubs and festivals in northern California, as well as shows for rock promoter/impresario/producer Bill Graham.
However, Mars could not seem to expand his audience much in San Francisco. After hearing about the greener pastures across the pond from his friend Rick Estrin of Little Charlie and the Nightcats, he toured England in 1972. There, he recorded a couple of albums, eventually moving to West London in 1978. Working with producer Ray Fenwick, who also worked with Spencer Davis and Ian Gillan, Mars met with success on the much praised album, Life On Mars.
In 1991, Mars became a featured soloist with the British New Wave pop group Bananarama. The group used him on their singles "Preacher Man," "Megalomaniac," and "Long Train Running," and he appeared in the group's video of "Preacher Man." Through the 1990s, Mars retained his strong European fan base, and he enjoys particularly strong followings in Ireland, Scotland and Scandinavia. Critics there have called him "the Jimi Hendrix of the harmonica." Over the years, Mars has shared bills with Hendrix (before he was well-known) and Magic Sam.
In 1992, after a long absence from the Bay Area blues scene, owing to his new foothold in England and the rest of Europe, Mars was invited to play at the San Francisco Blues Festival. Mars' 1994 U.S. release for MM&K Recordings, Stateside with Johnny Mars, features brilliant, original, topical compositions and superb, unique harmonica playing, unfettered by the standard Chicago blues conventions.
Desert Island
Johnny Mars Lyrics
We have lyrics for 'Desert Island' by these artists:
ADIAM I had a dream that I was on a desert…
Architecture in Helsinki Life on the outside of a fantasy The more I bleed,…
Architecture in Helsinki/Cameron Bird Life on the outside of a fantasy The more I bleed,…
Arkane Skye (Pull me quicker from the lines and keep me in…
Cacophony So much you notice noise I wanna spend my life on…
Horse Head & Yawns Remember when we saw that film it was black and…
Leatherface Tell me, it takes a one to wall you tips…
Magnetic Fields I'll be the madness that carries you away I'll…
Mystic Braves These people carry names some will claim they've never felt …
Roy Harper Gonna paint my room like a desert island With yellow sand…
Serdimontana I swing in a fog Like in a cot I go on…
Slowcoaster Where does the fun end? Where does the fun end? Where does…
Soapbox Marathon A desert island Configurated space I lay In a bed of…
The Magnetic Fields I'll be the madness that carries you away I'll be the…
XTC Cast away on a desert island Me and poor Crusoe are…
We have lyrics for these tracks by Johnny Mars:
Cash Ain't Nothing [Spoken:] Your cash ain't nothing but trash. Here we go. …
Cash Ain't Nothing But Trash [Spoken:] Your cash ain't nothing but trash. Here we go. …
Cash Aint Nothing [Spoken:] Your cash ain't nothing but trash. Here we go. …
I'Ll Go Crazy If you leave me, I'll go crazy If you leave me,…
Imagination Magic mirror come and search my heart Can you tell me…
Rocket 88 One, two, one, two, three, four You heard of jalopies You h…
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
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