Good Times

"Good Times"
Single by Chic
from the album Risqué
B-side	"A Warm Summer Night"
Released	1979
Format	7", 12"
Recorded	1979
Genre	Disco, R&B
Length	3:24 (7") 8:08 (12"/LP)
Label	Atlantic 3584
Writer(s)	Bernard Edwards Nile Rodgers
Producer	Bernard Edwards Nile Rodgers
Chic singles chronology
"I Want Your Love" (1978) "Good Times" (1979) "My Forbidden Lover" (1979)
Audio sample file info · help

"Good Times" is a 1979 song composed by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers. It was first recorded by their band Chic, for their 1979 album Risqué. In August of that year, it became the band's second number one single on both the Billboard Hot 100 and soul singles chart. ^[1]. Along with the tracks, "My Forbidden Lover", and "My Feet Keep Dancing", "Good Times" reached number three on the disco charts^[2]. The song has become one of the most sampled pieces of music in history, most notably in rap and hip-hop music.

The song is ranked #224 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Chart positions

Songs that sample "Good Times"

In late 1979, Debbie Harry suggested that Nile Rodgers join her and Chris Stein at a Hip hop event in a communal space taken over by young kids and teenagers with boom box stereos, who would play various pieces of music to which performers would break dance. The main piece of music they would use was the break section of "Good Times." A few weeks later, Blondie, The Clash and Chic were playing a gig in New York at Bonds nightclub. When Chic started playing "Good Times," rapper Fab Five Freddy and members of the Sugarhill Gang jumped up on stage and started freestyling with the band; Rodgers allowed them to "do their improvisation thing like poets, much like I would playing guitar with Prince."

A few weeks later Rodgers was on the dance floor of New York club LaViticus and suddenly heard the DJ play a song which opened with Edwards bass line from "Good Times". Rogers approached the DJ who said he was playing a record he had just bought that day in Harlem. The song turned out to be an early version of "Rapper's Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang, which Rogers noted also included a scratched version of the song's string section. Rogers and Edwards threatened The Sugarhill Gang with legal action, which resulted in them being credited as co-writers on "Rappers Delight".^[3]

"Rapper's Delight" did not achieve as much chart success as "Good Times" (peaking at #36 on the U.S. pop chart and #4 on the American R&B charts, compared to Chic's #1 peak on both charts) but it helped to popularize the bassline and the song, and it became one of the most sampled tracks (and hence one of the most distinctive basslines) in the history of recorded music. Having agreed on a commercial structure for the use of their song in "Rappers Delight", Edwards and Rodgers agreed to later uses in other songs, subject to their strict criteria.

Sampling and motifs

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

This is an incomplete list of songs that either use direct samples from "Good Times", or feature an original recording where the bassline or other motifs (particularly that of the instrumental break) are inspired by the song.

• "2345meia78" by Gabriel, O Pensador
• "Another One Bites the Dust by Queen
• "Around the World" by Daft Punk
• "Back to the Old School" by Just Ice
• "Basic Mega-Mix" by DJ Shadow
• "B-Boy Bouillabaisse" by The Beastie Boys
• "Birthday Party" by Furious Five
• "Body Hot" by Joe Budden
• "Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll" by Vaughan Mason & Crew
• "Charmed Life" (song) by Mick Jagger
• "Dangerous" by Busta Rhymes (in the Soul Society remix)
• "Doowutchyalike" by Digital Underground
• "Everything's Gonna Be Alright" by Father MC
• "Good Times" by Mark Knight
• "Glow Of Love" by Change
• "High Tension" by SPK
• "Hit Me with That PINGAS" by G.P. WU
• "Hot Hot Hot" (song) by The Cure
• "I Like Cherries" by Audio Two
• "It's All Good" by Will Smith
• "Just the Two of Us" by Chubb Rock
• "Last Night A DJ Saved My Life" (song) by Indeep
• "Leave This Off Your Fu*kin Charts" by Public Enemy
• "Like This " by Mixmaster Gee and the Turntable Orchestra
• "Made It Back '99" by Beverley Knight
• "Megamix II (Why Is It Fresh?)" by Grand Mixer DST
• "Monster Jam" by Spoonie Gee
• "Music to be Murdered By" by Dan the Automator
• "Na Onseng Delight" by Dyords Javier
• "Need You Tonight" by INXS
• "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel" by Grandmaster Flash
• "The Breaks" by Kurtis Blow
• "Rapper Do Vai" by Flaminio Maphia featuring Inoki, Benetti DC, KO
• "Rapper's Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang
• "Rapture" by Blondie
• "Refugees on the Mic" by Fugees
• "The Reverend" by DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince
• "Rhapazooty in Blue" by Sicle Cell & Rhapazooty
• "Rip It Up" by Orange Juice
• "Rock Your Body" (song) by Justin Timberlake
• "A Roller Skating Jam Named 'Saturdays'" by De la Soul
• "Rock the Bells" by LL Cool J
• "Scratch Monopoly" by T. La Rock
• "Shut Up and Let Me Go" by The Ting Tings
• "Steppin with..." by Justin Warfield
• "SuperGood" by Club House
• "The Anthem" by Dredknotz
• "The Crown" by Gary Byrd & The G.B. Experience
• "13 and Good" by Boogie Down Productions
• "Tripple Trouble" and "A.W.O.L" by The Beastie Boys
• "Try It Out" (song) by Gino Soccio
• "Underground Blues" by College Boyz
• "Wildstyle" by Timezone featuring Afrika Bambaata
• "MC's Delight" by Grandmaster Caz
• "Wikka Rap" by Evasions
• "Wot?" by Captain Sensible
• "You Never Heard of Me & I Never Heard of You" by Spicey Ham

Covers

• "Good Times" was covered in concert by John Taylor of Duran Duran during his solo days, and released in a medley with "Planet Earth" on his live album 5.30.98.

Lyrics

The lyrics are largely based on Milton Ager's "Happy Days Are Here Again." It also contains lines based on lyrics featured in "About a Quarter to Nine" made famous by Al Jolson. Nile Rodgers has stated that these depression-era lyrics were used as a hidden way to comment on the then-current economic depression in the United States.^[4] The line during the chorus, "Our new state of mind", is infamous for being mistaken as "Are you straight or bi?"

References

External links

• chictribute.com: Chic Emulators