Feeling Good
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"Feeling Good" (aka Feelin' Good) is a song written by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse for the 1965 musical The Roar of the Greasepaint—the Smell of the Crowd and since covered by several artists, including Nina Simone, Muse, Sammy Davis Jr, Eels, Michael Bublé, The Pussycat Dolls and George Michael.
Due to the popularity of her rendition, most modern cover versions are played in the style of the Nina Simone version rather than the original and the song is often wrongly accredited to Simone.
Selective list of recordings
- 1965: Gilbert Price in the original Broadway cast
- 1965: John Coltrane On The John Coltrane Quartet Plays
- 1965: Nina Simone on the album I Put A Spell On You
- 1965: Julie London on the album Feeling Good
- 1965: Chris Connor on the album Sings Gentle Bossa Nova
- 1966: Bobby Darin on the album Bobby Darin: In A Broadway Bag
- 1969: Black Cat Bones on the album Barbed Wire Sandwich
- 1969: Traffic on the album Last Exit
- 1978: Olivia Newton-John on her eponymous TV special
- 1993: Elaine Paige on her album Romance and the Stage
- 1997: A remix by Huff & Herb of samples Nina Simone's "Feeling Good"
- 2000: Eels on the album Oh, What a Beautiful Morning
- 2000: Frank Cunimondo Trio on the album "Feelin' Good"
- 2001: Muse on the album Origin of Symmetry and with Hyper Music as part of a double A-side.
- 2002: Remix version by Joe Claussel on the album Verve Remixe
- 2004: Sophie B. Hawkins on the album Wilderness
- 2005: Michael Bublé on the album It's Time Template:Audio-nohelp
- 2005: The Pussycat Dolls on the album PCD
- 2005: Wax Tailor on the album Tales of the forgotten melodies, sampled on the track How I feel
- 2005: Alexandra Kerwin
- 2005: Quantic Soul Orchestra on the album Pushin' On
- 2005: Rex Goudie performed the song during the top 7 round of Canadian Idol's third season. He went on to finish second overall in the competition
- 2006: The goodboys featuring Mihirangi, used 'Feeling Good' in a young women's quit smoking TV campaign in Qld, Australia
- 2006: Ben Taylor, son of James Taylor, recorded the song for download from his MySpace page.
- 2007: A.J. Tabaldo and Leslie Hunt both performed the song in season 6 of American Idol in the second week of the semi-finals; both were eliminated that week.
- 2007: Chelsea Korka performed the song on Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll during the finale. She was a finalist and came in third.
- 2007: Brian Melo performed the song during Standards Week on Season 5 of Canadian Idol; he advanced to the next round and eventually went on to win the competition.
- 2007: Natalie Gauci performed the song during the Wildcard episode on Season 5 of Australian Idol; she went on to win the competition.
- 2007: Bobby Gray on the album The Greatest Thing You'll Ever Learn
- 2007: Michael Ball performed the song during his BBC Prom "An Evening with Michael Ball" (no. 58, 8-27-07, BBC TV4)
- 2007: Toše Proeski on the album Igri bez granici
- 2007: John Barrowman on the album Another Side
- 2008: George Michael on the album "Twenty Five (US release)"
- 2008: Fady Maalouf performed the song during Season 5 of DSDS; he advanced to the next round.
- 2008: Papa Eden on the album Never Forgotten
The track "About You" on Mary J. Blige's album The Breakthrough features an unusual take on the song. The bulk of the recording consists of new lyrics, composed by Mary J. Blige, will.i.am, and Keith Harris. However, the chorus samples several lines from "Feeling Good" as performed by Nina Simone. The original vocals are distorted so that the voice is almost unrecognizable. For this reason, Simone receives a credit as a feature artist, and writers Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse receive credit as writers. The track is produced by will.i.am. A song by 50 Cent Bad News contains a sample from the Nina Simone's version as well.
Nina Simone's version is also featured in the 1993 film Point of No Return, in which the protagonist uses the code name "Nina" and professes to be a longtime fan of Simone's music. (It is worth noting that at least half the soundtrack for the film featured Nina Simone songs.) The song was also featured in the promotional video of the TV series Six Feet Under (4th season), and is included in the show's volume 2 soundtrack. Additionally, Simone's version is also included in the 2006 film, Last Holiday.
The Muse version was used by Nescafé for their advertising, but without the band's permission. Nescafé replaced it with the Nina Simone version. Muse were subsequently paid settlement money, which they donated to Oxfam. The Muse version came 5th in the list of the best covers ever, in a poll by Total Guitar.
A sample of the Nina Simone recording is also featured in Swedish rap group Fjärde Världen's song Ingen Annan.
Teaser trailer for the Pandemic Studios' video game "Saboteur" contains a fragment of "Feeling Good", but with new lyrics.
The George Michael version of the song was also used in the season finale of Eli Stone including re-recorded sections sang by members of the cast including Victor Garber and Loretta Devine. The album lyrics of George Michael version also included a shout-out to Nina Simone's verbal acrobatics, saying that George Michael "a white man, can't do it like [she] can."
