"Goody Two Shoes" is the debut solo single by
Adam Ant
Stuart Leslie Goddard, better known as Adam Ant (born 3 November 1954), is an English singer, musician, and actor. He gained popularity as the lead singer of new wave group Adam and the Ants and later as a solo artist, scoring 10 UK top ten ...
, released on 7 May 1982.
History
There are two versions of the cover. The first has Adam and the Ants across the top of the sleeve and the later version just Adam Ant. This is probably due to the confusion around the timing of Ant going solo, particularly as the song was performed by three fifths of the band Ant, Pirroni and Hughes.
There are also two different studio versions of the song. The UK 7" single version is notably different from the re-recorded version which appears on ''Friend or Foe''. The single version has a different, more reverberating drum track. The ''Friend or Foe'' version, instead of Hughes on drums, features Bogdan Wiczling, drummer on the rest of the album.
Ant performed "Goody Two Shoes" at ''
Top of the Pops
''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most o ...
'' on 20 May 1982.
B-side
Ant sometimes recorded new versions of his pre-1980 compositions for the
B-side of his singles. For this single, an old Ant song from 1977 called "Red Scab" was used.
Track listing
All songs written by Adam Ant except as noted.
#"Goody Two Shoes" (Adam Ant, Marco Pirroni) – 3:15
#"Red Scab" – 4:06
Chart performance
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Music video
The video presents a stylized vision of a day in the life of Adam Ant, from dressing in the morning to performing on stage, to being hounded by the media. At the end of the day, he takes home a woman journalist played by British actress
Caroline Munro
Caroline Munro (born 16 January 1949)McFarlane, Brian (28 February 2014). ''The Encyclopedia of British Film: Fourth edition''. Oxford University Press. p. 538; is an English actress, model and singer known for her many appearances in horror, ...
, in effect answering the song's theme question, "What do you do?" The video also starred veteran actors
Graham Stark
Graham William Stark (20 January 1922 – 29 October 2013) was an English comedian, actor, writer and director.
Early life
The son of a purser on transatlantic liners, and
Dandy Nichols
Dandy Nichols (born Daisy Sander; 21 May 1907 – 6 February 1986) was an English actress best known for her role as Else Garnett, the long-suffering wife of the character Alf Garnett who was a parody of a working class Tory, in the BBC s ...
, as the butler and cleaning woman respectively.
Other media
*"Goody Two Shoes" was featured in the film ''
Hot Fuzz
''Hot Fuzz'' is a 2007 action comedy film directed by Edgar Wright and written by Wright and Simon Pegg. Starring Pegg, Nick Frost, Timothy Dalton, and Jim Broadbent, the film centres on two police officers investigating a series of mysteriou ...
'' and the television series ''
The Umbrella Academy
''The Umbrella Academy'' is an American comic book series created and written by Gerard Way and illustrated by Gabriel Bá. The first six-issue limited series, '' The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite,'' was released by Dark Horse Comics betw ...
''.
Covers
*Punk band
Unwritten Law
Unwritten Law is an American punk rock band formed in 1990 in Poway, California. They have released seven full-length studio albums and have toured internationally, including performances on the Warped Tour. They are notable for their singles ...
later covered this song.
*In 2014, singer-songwriters
Jim Boggia and
Pete Donnelly released a cover version of the song on the multi-artist compilation album ''Here Comes The Reign Again: The Second British Invasion''.
See also
*
The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes
''The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes'' is a children's story published by John Newbery in London in 1765. The story popularized the phrase "goody two-shoes" as a descriptor for an excessively virtuous person or do-gooder.
Plot
''Goody Two- ...
*
List of number-one singles in Australia during the 1980s
The following lists the number one singles on the Australian Singles Chart, along with other substantial hits, during the 1980s. The source for this decade is the Kent Music Report (retitled as Australian Music Report in 1987), and the ARIA Char ...
*
List of UK Singles Chart number ones of the 1980s
The UK Singles Chart is the official record chart in the United Kingdom. Until 1983, it was compiled weekly by the British Market Research Bureau (BMRB) on behalf of the British record industry with a two-week break each Christmas. The BMRB used ...
References
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1982 debut singles
1982 songs
Adam Ant songs
CBS Records singles
Epic Records singles
Number-one singles in Australia
Songs written by Adam Ant
Songs written by Marco Pirroni
UK Singles Chart number-one singles
Dance-rock songs