Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Tell Me Something Good

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B-side
  
"Smokin' Room"

Format
  
7" single, 12" single

Genre
  
R&B, Soul, Funk

Released
  
June 1974

Recorded
  
1974

Length
  
4:36 (album) 3:30 (single)

"Tell Me Something Good" is a song by Rufus and Chaka Khan, written by Stevie Wonder and released in 1974. The single was a hit in the United States, peaking at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent one week at number one on the Cash Box Top 100. It was among the earliest hits to use the guitar talk box, by Tony Maiden.

Contents

The song has been described as having ".. rude metallic guitar" (by Al Ciner) and ".. a beautiful bass, clav and heavy breathing groove." The song can be difficult to count as there is an off-count into the verse. The first note is on the "and of four."

Awards

Rufus won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus for the song at the 17th Annual Grammy Awards in 1975.

Samples

  • The Ronnie Laws version was sampled by the Beastie Boys on their 1989 album Paul's Boutique.
  • The UGK song "Something Good", from their 1992 debut album Too Hard to Swallow, samples the song - later chopped and screwed by DJ Screw on his 1995 release Volume II: All Screwed Up.
  • The Case song "Tell Me", on his 1999 album Personal Conversation, was based on this song.
  • The chorus is sampled in Bay Area rapper Mac Dre's song "Too Hard For The Fuckin' Radio".

    • Cover versions

  • Yvonne Fair recorded an acclaimed cover of the song on her 1975 album The Bitch is Black.
  • Saxophonist Ronnie Laws recorded a version on his 1975 debut album Pressure Sensitive.
  • Maceo Parker recorded a cover of the song for his album FunkOverload.
  • Eric Marienthal included it on his album Sweet Talk.
  • Robbie Nevil recorded a cover on his album Day 1 in 1991.
  • Lee Aaron recorded a cover on her album Some Girls Do in 1991.
  • Guitarist Steve Fister recorded a cover on his 2006 album Dodgin Bullets.
  • Pink recorded a cover of the song for the 2006 film Happy Feet which was included on the soundtrack album.
  • Guitarist Greg Howe recorded an instrumental version of the song for his 2008 album, Sound Proof.
  • Matthew Morrison performed the song as his Glee character Will Schuester in the first season episode "Funk". The single was released on iTunes.

    • Live covers

  • In 2002, En Vogue performed the song on their concert DVD, "Live in the USA".
  • Dave Matthews & Friends covered the song live from 2003 to 2005.
  • Singer Kim Yarbrough successfully auditioned for Season 2 of The Voice with the song, landing a spot on Team Adam.
  • Stevie Wonder has performed this song live on several occasions.
  • Gov't Mule with Susan Tedeschi and Eric Krasno on guitar on 6/7/14 at Mt. Jam, Hunter Mountain, NY.

    • Personnel

    source:

  • Chaka Khan - lead vocals, background vocals
  • Dennis Belfield - bass, background vocals
  • AndrĂ© Fischer - drums, percussion
  • Kevin Murphy - organ, clavinette
  • Al Ciner- guitar
  • Ron Stockert - vocals, keyboards
  • Tony Maiden (uncredited) - guitar, talk box
  • Nate Morgan (uncredited) - keyboards

    • References

    Tell Me Something Good Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA