Home | Songs By Year | Songs from 1946
Let the Good Times Roll (Louis Jordan song)
Buy Let the Good Times Roll (Louis Jordan song) now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the song. And once you've experienced the song, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
"'Let the Good Times Roll'" is a jump blues song recorded in 1946 by Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five. A mid-tempo twelve-bar blues, the song became a blues standard and one of Jordan's best-known songs.
Composition
"Let the Good Times Roll" is "Louis Jordan's buoyant invitation to party":
The song was written by Sam Theard, a New Orleans-born blues singer and songwriter, and was co-credited to Fleecie Moore, Jordan's wife.Fleecie Moore, Jordan's wife name, was sometimes substituted for Jordan's to get around an inconvenient publishing contract; this strategy backfired when Louis and Fleecie divorced acrimoniously and she kept ownership of the songs he'd put her name on thus denying him any income from them. Chilton (1997). p. 110. Theard first showed Jordan the song in 1942, while playing in Chicago clubs. The tune developed over the years until Jordan recorded it in New York City in June 1946.
Charts and recognition
"Let the Good Times Roll" reached number two in the Billboard R&B chart in 1947. Its flip side, "Ain't Nobody Here but Us Chickens", was the top number one record of 1947 both songs spent nearly six months on the chart. In 2009, the song was acknowledged with a Grammy Hall of Fame Award. Jordan and the Tympany Five performed the song in the 1947 film 'Reet, Petite, and Gone', although the studio recording rather than a live performance is used in the soundtrack.
The Blues Foundation added the song to its Hall of Fame in 2013 in the "Classic of Blues Recording Singles or Album Tracks" category. The induction announcement noted that the song "became a standard show opener for countless blues artists over the years, from B.B. King to Koko Taylor". "Let the Good Times Roll" has also been identified as inspiring "Come On" by Earl King and "Bon Ton Roulet" by Clifton Chenier.
References
Category:1946 songs
Category:Louis Jordan songs
Category:Ray Charles songs
Category:B.B. King songs
Category:Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients
Category:Songs written by Sam Theard
Buy Let the Good Times Roll (Louis Jordan song) now from Amazon
<-- Return to songs from 1946