A-side Good Tradition Released 1988 Genre Folk rock | B-side Valentine Heart Recorded 1988 Length 2:52 | |
"Good Tradition" is a song, written and originally recorded by Tanita Tikaram and released as the first single in 1988 from the album Ancient Heart.
Contents
Story
Released in 1988, Good Tradition is Tanita Tikaram's debut song. When it was released, it went largely unnoticed and attracted little media attention. The song therefore did not get much airplay, but weeks after its release, the single started climbing up the charts and finally reached #10 at the UK Singles Chart in August 1988.
To celebrate, Wea records released a limited edition hand design by Tikaram herself in which she tells the brief story of the song, the song's success on the charts, and thanks everyone that supported the song. In the design Tikaram notes each Sunday week ending date from the first week of single release, alongside its chart position for that week in question. The positions noted by Tikaram are 149-163-80-67-36-23-15-10, all up to the point the single made the top 10. Tikaram however made a mistake indicating 36 for the fifth week, whereas the actual chart position was #39.
The full top 75 chart run before and after the peak position was attained went 149-163-80-67-39-23-15-{10}-11-17-32-46-67.
The Video
The video for "Good Tradition" features Tikaram playing in front of judges at an audition, following on from an unsuccessful auditionee. At first shy, Tikaram strikes a couple of notes and the song begins and, as it develops, the judges and the crew from the theatre start dancing to the tune. At the end Tikaram can be seen with a big smile on her lips.
Cover versions
With lyrics in Swedish by Keith Almgren, the song was covered by Kikki Danielsson & Roosarna on the 1990 album På lugnare vatten as I god tradition ("In good tradition").