Good Times

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned
I'll tell you my story, man
I wish I'd never been born
I'm loose at the seams
I've broken my dreams
And my hand it shakes the pen
Come on, come on now baby
Let the good times roll again

Where did our sweet love go who stole away our time ?
Why do the stars above refuse to shine ?
The harder I try to paint a picture
Of the way it was back then
The more I miss the good times baby
Let it roll again

Good times baby, this is the time
I need to know that your love is mine
Love me up, yeah you reel me in
I'm hooked, line and sinker, she's my heroine

How many days have I been lying on my back ?
Staring at the ceiling girl, stretching on your rack
The harder I try to paint a picture of the way it was back then
The more I miss the good times baby, let it roll again

Good times baby, this is the time
I need to know that your love is mine
Love me up, yeah you reel me in
I'm hooked, line and sinker, she's my heroine

Said I'm hooked now, I'm not faking
I'm here 'til the day I die
Can't get enough now, my heart is aching
I'm in too deep to stop, all I want is those

Good times baby, show me a sign
I need to know that your love is mine
Love me up, yeah you reel me in
I'm hooked, line and sinker, she's my heroine

Lyrics by:
Squire

Music by:
Squire

Written:
1992

Personnel:
John Squire (guitar)
Ian Brown (vocals, harmonica)
Gary Mounfield (bass)
Alan Wren (drums, backing vocals)

Producer:
Simon Dawson & Paul Schroeder

Engineer:
Simon Dawson & Paul Schroeder

Available on:
Second Coming (5.40)

First live performance:
Oslo Rockefeller Music Hall (19 April 1995)

Details:
A low point on Second Coming. The rehearsal sessions of Good Times from the 'In The Studio' CD are well worth checking out however. The earlier chorus was much stronger than that which the Roses eventually settled for:

Let it roll now
Fast like thunder
Our love should know no end
And I can't break this spell I'm under
You're my one and only friend
You got it all and now I want it back again
We gotta try and make amends
Take me back to your bed and the good times
I know that we can never end

Good Times combines elements of 'Good Times Bad Times' from Led Zeppelin's debut LP, and 'Come On (Let The Good Times Roll)' (originally written by Earl King) from The Jimi Hendrix Experience's 'Electric Ladyland' LP.

Hey ! Yeah ! Let the good times roll !
Hey ! Feel me baby ! Come on, let the good times roll !
Come on and let me through your soul
Hey, let the good times roll

The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Come On (Let The Good Times Roll) (1968)

Electric Ladyland (1968) by The Jimi Hendrix Experience. John Squire first heard this Hendrix album just prior to release of the Roses' debut LP. Hendrix's mesmeric '1983... (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)', from Electric Ladyland, was played as The Stone Roses were about to take to the stage at New York Manhattan Center, in May 1995. Ian Brown once commented, "I wish I'd heard Electric Ladyland when I was 12."

'What Katie Did Next', from Babyshambles' debut album, 'Down in Albion', borrows from Good Times:

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned
I'll tell you my story, it'd make you wish you'd never,
wish you wish you'd never never, wish you'd never been born

Babyshambles, What Katie Did Next (2005)

The proverb "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" dates back to Renaissance times, but its sentiment can be traced much further back than that. For example, in the ancient Greek tragedy, 'Medea', written by Euripides , the title character observes:

"In all other things a woman is full of fear, incapable of looking on battle or cold steel; but when she is injured in love, no mind is more murderous than hers." 263

From Colley Cibber's comedy, 'Love's Last Shift' (1696):

"No fiend in hell can match the fury of a disappointed Woman ! - Scorned ! slighted; dismissed without a parting Pang !" IV. 71

The end of Act 3, Scene 2 of William Congreve's tragedy, 'The Mourning Bride' (1697) updated it to its current form:

ZARA: Thou shalt die.

OSMYN: I thank you.

ZARA: Thou ly'st; for now I know for whom thou'dst live.

OSMYN: Then you may know for whom I'd die.

ZARA: Hell ! Hell ! Yet I'll be calm - Dark and unknown Betrayer ! But now the Dawn begins, and the slow Hand Of Fate is stretch'd to draw the Veil, and leave Thee bare, the naked Mark of Publick View.

OSMYN: You may be still deceiv'd; 'tis in my Pow'r.

ZARA: Ha ! Who waits there ? -

Enter PEREZ - As you'll answer it, take heed This Slave commit no Violence upon Himself. I've been deceiv'd. The Publick Safety Requires he should be more confin'd; and none, No not the Princes self, permitted to Confer with him. I'll quit you to the King. Vile and ingrate ! too late thou shalt repent The base Injustice thou hast done my Love: Yes, thou shalt know, spite of thy past Distress, And all those Ills which thou so long hast mourn'd; Heav'n has no Rage, like Love to Hatred turn'd, Nor Hell a Fury*, like a Woman scorn'd.

* This is a reference to the goddesses of classical mythology who avenged wrong.

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