I Got You (I Feel Good)

"I Got You (I Feel Good)"
US vinyl release
Single by James Brown
from the album I Got You (I Feel Good)
B-side	"I Can't Help It (I Just Do-Do-Do)"
Released	October 1965 (1965-10)
Recorded	May 6, 1965 Criteria Studios Miami, FL
Genre	Soul funk
Length	2:44
Label	King 6015
Songwriter(s)	James Brown
Producer(s)	James Brown
James Brown singles chronology
"Try Me" (1965) "I Got You (I Feel Good)" (1965) "Lost Someone" (1966)

	"I Got You (I Feel Good)" Menu 0:00 James Brown's "I Got You (I Feel Good)" from I Got You (I Feel Good)
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"I Got You (I Feel Good)" is a song by American singer James Brown. First recorded for the album Out of Sight and then released in an alternate take as a single in 1965, it was his highest-charting song and is arguably his best-known recording.

Description[]

"I Got You (I Feel Good)" is a twelve-bar blues with a brass-heavy instrumental arrangement similar to Brown's previous hit, "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag". It also features the same emphasis "on the one" (i.e. the first beat of the measure) that characterizes Brown's developing funk style. The lyrics have Brown exulting in how good he feels ("nice, like sugar and spice") now that he has the one he loves, his vocals punctuated by screams and shouts. The song includes an alto sax solo by Maceo Parker.

Precursors[]

"I Got You (I Feel Good)" developed from an earlier Brown-penned song, "I Found You", with a nearly identical melody and lyrics. "I Found You" had been recorded by Brown's back-up singer Yvonne Fair and released as a single (King 5594) in 1962, with little success.^[1][2]

In 1964, Brown recorded an early version of "I Got You (I Feel Good)" with a different arrangement, including a stuttering rhythm and prominent baritone sax line, under the title "I Got You". This version appeared on the Smash Records album Out of Sight and in the 1965 film Ski Party, in which Brown lip synchs his performance. It was intended for a single release but was withdrawn due to a court order from King Records, with whom Brown was involved in a contract dispute.^[3]

Reception[]

Of Brown's 91 hits to reach the Billboard Hot 100, "I Got You (I Feel Good)" is Brown's highest-charting song, peaking at number three. The song remained at the top of the Billboard Rhythm and Blues Singles chart for six non-consecutive weeks, after his previous single, "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag", held the number-one spot for eight weeks.^[4] Brown's screams at the beginning and end of the song have been sampled a number of times for hip hop and dance songs. The song has also been covered many times by other performers, and is frequently played at sporting events. The song is played at the Zentralstadion whenever RB Leipzig scores a goal.

In 2000, "I Got You (I Feel Good)" reached number 21 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs in Rock and Roll and number 75 on VH1's 100 Greatest Rock and Roll Dance Songs, one of only seven songs to make both lists. In 2004, "I Got You (I Feel Good)" was ranked number 78 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Appearances in film and television[]

In 1965, James Brown, and his vocal group, The Famous Flames (Bobby Byrd, Bobby Bennett and Lloyd Stallworth) performed the song in a cameo in the American International Pictures comedy film Ski Party.^[5] Since then, the song has appeared in numerous film soundtracks, including The Big Chill (2004's Delux Edition), The Nutty Professor; Good Morning, Vietnam; Home Alone 4; Mr. Jones; It Takes Two; Dr. Dolittle; Boat Trip; Astérix & Obélix: Mission Cléopâtre; K-9; Garfield: The Movie, where it was used as the main theme; Exit Wounds; Ernst & Lyset, Transformers, Paddington, and Big Eyes. It has also appeared in film trailers, including It Could Happen to You.

The song's television appearances include Tour of Duty episode "The Road to Long Binh", the Simpsons episode "Bart's Inner Child" (with Brown himself singing it), the Alvin and the Chipmunks episode "Kong!" (a parody of the 1976 King Kong film) as performed by Alvin and the Chipmunks, the Full House episode "The Return of Grandma", the Malcolm in the Middle episode "Morp", the Lost episode "The Greater Good", and the Miami Vice episode "Missing Hours" in which Brown made a guest appearance as a former music star-turned-con man who promotes extraterrestrial life. In the series finale of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, "I, Done", Philip Banks dances to the song on his birthday; also in the episode "Cold Feet, Hot Body", when Will Smith sees the homewrecker girl Denise again at Lisa's bridal shower he screams and then sings this song just so Lisa doesn't know that he and Denise kissed, but Will already turned Denise down since he loves Lisa and becomes friends with Lisa afterwards, thus being invited to the bridal shower. In the Family Matters episode "Father of the Bride," Carl sings this song to celebrate that he doesn't have to take Steve Urkel bowling after Laura agrees to go bowling with Urkel after Carl bribes her. Step By Step episode "Home Alone" when Frank and Carol Lambert are on a romantic weekend at a hotel and when Frank throws his back out and doesn't want Carol to know he threw his back out he sings this song when he screams "Ow!" out of pain; also in the episode of Step By Step "College Bound" when Dana gets her first D and her siblings find out, Mark starts singing this song to celebrate that he's now the number one smartest kid in the family. Also in the episode of Step By Step "Party Animal" this song can be heard playing at the party at the sorority house that Dana moved into and when she is drunk. In the Punky Brewster episode "Just Say No", Mike Fulton sang this song to Punky Brewster when he was telling her his life story about peer pressure and how he does an impression of James Brown and sings this song. Kids Incorporated covered "I Feel Good" in 1993 in the Season 9 episode "Dating Anxiety". It is heard in a 2020 TV commercial for Applebee's.

It was also played on NTV7, a Malaysian television channel, as it plays the song accompanied by the clips of its programmes at the start and end of the day's broadcast since its launch in 1998 until around 2006. It reflects the slogan of the channel, that is "Your Feel Good Channel". It also makes occasional appearances on Soccer Saturday when presenter and lifelong Hartlepool United fan Jeff Stelling produces a doll each time winger James Brown scores, much to the mirth of the studio experts and the viewers (with some viewers being made to drink if they are playing the drinking game to accompany it).

The song, recorded possibly by a sound-alike band, was used in a commercial for Autolite spark plugs in the 1980s where human beings were used as spark plugs and were dancing or exercising to the song and informing the person who opened the hood about their guarantee.

Personnel[]

• James Brown — vocals

with the James Brown Orchestra:

• Ron Tooley — trumpet
• Joe Dupars — trumpet
• Levi Rasbury — trombone
• Mike Ridley — trumpet
• Nat Jones — alto saxophone, Hammond organ
• St. Clair Pinckney — tenor saxophone
• Eldee Williams – tenor saxophone
• Al "Brisco" Clark – tenor saxophone
• Maceo Parker — alto saxophone
• Jimmy Nolen — electric guitar
• David "Hooks" Williams – bass guitar
• Melvin Parker — drums

Chart positions[]

Other versions[]

Live recordings[]

Brown performs the song on the live albums Live at the Garden (1967), Live at the Apollo, Volume II (1968), Soul Session Live (1989), and Live at the Apollo 1995 (1995).

1975 remake[]

Brown re-recorded the song for his 1975 album Sex Machine Today. This version was featured in the film White Men Can't Jump, the video game Rock Band 3, and Don King Presents: Prizefighter.

Paul Dakeyne remix[]

In 1992, producer and remixer Paul Dakeyne released a 12" remix of "I Got You (I Feel Good)" on FBI Records under the title "James Brown v. Dakeyne – I Got You (I Feel Good) (The Remixes)". It reached No. 72 on the UK Singles Chart.

References[]