SiNGLE by
Chic
B-side.............................."A Warm Summer Night"
Released..........................1979
Format..............................45RPM
Genre...............................Disco
Total Time........................9' 50''ca.
Producer...........................Bernard Edwards & Nile Rodgers
Label................................Atlantic
Filetype............................Wav @ 48kHz
TRACKLiST:
Side A - Chic - Good Times
Side B - Chic - A Warm Summer Night
HiSTORY:
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.
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".
In the
USA "
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.
In recent concerts,
Nile Rodgers usually segues into his rendition of "
Rapper's Delight" when
Chic performs this song.
source: WiKiPEDiA The Free Encyclopedia
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