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 'em roll again

Good times baby, show me a sign
I need to know that your love is mine
Love me up girl 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 'em roll again

Said I'm hooked now, I'm not faking
I'm here till 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 girl yeah you reel me in
I'm hooked, line and sinker, she's my heroine

Lyrics by:
Squire

Music by:
Squire

Written:
1993

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 this from the 'In The Studio' CD are well worth checking out however. An earlier chorus (available to hear on that CD) was much stronger than the one the Roses later opted for:

Let it roll now
Past 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

The inspiration for Good Times is perhaps drawn from a couple of sources: a Led Zeppelin track, 'Good Times Bad Times' off their debut album, and a Hendrix track 'Come On (Let The Good Times Roll)' (originally written by Earl King) from his 'Electric Ladyland' LP. While Led Zeppelin are often namechecked as the biggest influence on Second Coming, I hear just as much an influence from Electric Ladyland on there.

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)

'What Katie Did Next' from Babyshambles' 2005 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 Euripides' play 'Medea', 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

The first recorded occurance of the proverb is in 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 'Mourning Bride' (1697) updated the quote to its current form:

ZARA. Thou shalt die.

OSM. I thank you.

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

OSM. 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.

OSM. 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.

* Or "she's my heroin".
** Ian Brown once commented, "I wish I'd heard Electric Ladyland when I was 12."
*** The Fury is a reference to the goddesses of classical mythology who avenged wrong and punished crime.

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