"I'm into Something Good" is a song composed by
Gerry Goffin (lyrics) and
Carole King (music) and made famous by
Herman's Hermits.
The song was originally recorded (as "I'm into Somethin' Good") by
Cookies
A cookie is a baked or cooked snack or dessert that is typically small, flat and sweet. It usually contains flour, sugar, egg, and some type of oil, fat, or butter. It may include other ingredients such as raisins, oats, chocolate chi ...
member
Earl-Jean on
Colpix Records
Colpix Records was the first recording company for Columbia Pictures–Screen Gems. Colpix got its name from combining Columbia (Col) and Pictures (Pix). CBS, which owned Columbia Records, then sued Columbia Pictures for trademark infringement ov ...
in 1964. It entered the U.S. ''
Cash Box'' Top 100 charts in the US on 4 July 1964 and spent 8 weeks there, reaching a high of number 42 on 15 August 1964, and number 38 ''Billboard''.
On 26 July 1964, Herman's Hermits recorded the song as their debut single, reaching number one in the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
on 30 September 1964, and staying there for two weeks.
The song peaked at number 13 in the US later that year and number 7 in Canada. The 'A' section from the song is a
twelve-bar blues.
Herman's Hermits' release at the height of the
British Invasion
The British Invasion was a cultural phenomenon of the mid-1960s, when rock and pop music acts from the United Kingdom and other aspects of British culture became popular in the United States and significant to the rising "counterculture" on ...
came while
Brill Building
The Brill Building is an office building at 1619 Broadway on 49th Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, just north of Times Square and further uptown from the historic musical Tin Pan Alley neighborhood. It was built in 1931 as t ...
songwriters, Goffin and King in this case, found themselves in danger of obsolescence, as most of the British groups wrote their own material. The song has since been featured in films such as ''
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!'', ''
The Brave Little Toaster to the Rescue
''The Brave Little Toaster to the Rescue'' is a 1997 American animated film, animated musical film. Unlike other novellas in "The Brave Little Toaster" lineup, it is the first film not to be based on the novella of the same name by Thomas M. Dis ...
'', and ''
Ouija: Origin of Evil''. The song was also featured in the
season 5 episode "
Road to Rupert" of ''
Family Guy''.
Carole King has said that in writing the song she was inspired by
Brian Wilson: "I make no bones about it, that song was influenced by Brian's music".
Chart history
;Earl-Jean/The Cookies
;Herman's Hermits
Personnel (Herman's Hermits)
*
Peter Noone
Peter Blair Denis Bernard Noone (born 5 November 1947) is an English singer-songwriter, guitarist, pianist and actor. He was the lead singer "Herman" in the 1960s pop group Herman's Hermits.
Early life
Noone was born in Davyhulme, Lancashir ...
– vocals
*
Derek Leckenby
Derek "Lek" Leckenby (14 May 1943 – 4 June 1994)Chris Welch ''The Independent'', 9 June 1994. Retrieved 28 November 2010. was an English musician and lead guitarist, most famous for his work with English pop group Herman's Hermits.
Early lif ...
– lead guitar
*
Keith Hopwood
Keith Hopwood (born 26 October 1946) is an English pop and rock musician, singer-songwriter, composer, businessman and record producer, who served as the rhythm guitarist and backing vocals for the 1960s pop band, Herman's Hermits. Hopwood al ...
– rhythm guitar
*
Karl Green – bass
*
Barry Whitwam – drums
Cover versions
The song was featured in the 1988 film ''
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!''. From its inclusion in the soundtrack, a solo version by
Herman's Hermits frontman
Peter Noone
Peter Blair Denis Bernard Noone (born 5 November 1947) is an English singer-songwriter, guitarist, pianist and actor. He was the lead singer "Herman" in the 1960s pop group Herman's Hermits.
Early life
Noone was born in Davyhulme, Lancashir ...
climbed the
adult contemporary
Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...
chart that year.
The song was featured in the 1999 film "
The Brave Little Toaster to the Rescue
''The Brave Little Toaster to the Rescue'' is a 1997 American animated film, animated musical film. Unlike other novellas in "The Brave Little Toaster" lineup, it is the first film not to be based on the novella of the same name by Thomas M. Dis ...
", in the opening credits and also when the Master puts the WFC 11-12-55 into Radio and turns him on.
Brian Wilson covered the song, which features
Carole King, and it is included in the
Best Buy edition of his 2008 album, ''
That Lucky Old Sun
"That Lucky Old Sun (Just Rolls around Heaven All Day)" is a 1949 popular song with music by Beasley Smith and words by Haven Gillespie.
Background
Like " Ol' Man River", its lyrics contrast the toil and intense hardship of the singer's li ...
''.
The Bird and the Bee covered the song and released it as a single in March 2010. Their version was also included on the
soundtrack
A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack ...
for the film, ''
Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring one or two early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine and, thr ...
'' and television ''
Love Bites'' show season 1 episode 6 "TMI."
On television, the sitcom ''
The Partridge Family
''The Partridge Family'' is an American musical sitcom starring Shirley Jones and featuring David Cassidy. Jones plays a widowed mother, and Cassidy plays the oldest of her five children, in a family who embarks on a music career. It ran from S ...
'' featured a cover version (lead vocal by
David Cassidy
David Bruce Cassidy (April 12, 1950 – November 21, 2017) was an American actor, singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He was best known for his role as Keith Partridge, the son of Shirley Partridge (played by his stepmother, Shirley Jones), in t ...
) recorded in 1973, that was seen twice during the fourth season. The song (produced by Wes Farrell) was never officially released on either vinyl or CD.
Another version was recorded as part of ''
The Langley Schools Music Project'' in 1976.
The
Stool Pigeons covered the song in 1999 on their Herman's Hermits tribute album ''
Rule, Hermania!''.
Using the title "Something Good"
Marianne Faithfull
Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull (born 29 December 1946) is an English singer and actress. She achieved popularity in the 1960s with the release of her hit single " As Tears Go By" and became one of the lead female artists during the British I ...
covered the song on her 2002 album ''
Kissin Time''. It featured
Billy Corgan as a guest musician.
The song was included in the CD release of the 1982 album by
Janis Siegel
Janis Siegel (born July 23, 1952) is an American jazz singer, best known as a member of the vocal group The Manhattan Transfer.
Musical career
In 1965, Siegel made her recording debut with a group called Young Generation on Red Bird Records. A ...
, "Experiment in White".
In 2020, the famous party band
The Gypsy Queens
The Gypsy Queens is a French pop band formed in Nice by Didier Casnati. They play a large repertoire of multi-lingual covers, with a rich vocal style likened to bands such as The Beach Boys or The Beatles.
Although the band successfully release ...
recorded the song as the first single of their album "''Reminiscing with Friends"'' (2022), in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
, at
The Village Studios, Featuring the original
Herman's Hermits lead singer
Peter Noone
Peter Blair Denis Bernard Noone (born 5 November 1947) is an English singer-songwriter, guitarist, pianist and actor. He was the lead singer "Herman" in the 1960s pop group Herman's Hermits.
Early life
Noone was born in Davyhulme, Lancashir ...
, and produced by multiple
Grammy winner producer
Larry Klein
Larry Klein (born March 17, 1956) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is based in Los Angeles.
He began his career as a bassist, playing with jazz artists Willie Bobo, Freddie Hubbard, Carmen McRae, Joe Henderson, Bobb ...
. It was released 12 February 2021, under the label Sonico Productions.
In 2021, the animated series
F Is for Family
''F Is for Family'' is an American adult animated comedy drama streaming television series created by Bill Burr and Michael Price for Netflix. It is produced by Vince Vaughn's Wild West Television, King of France Productions, Loner Production ...
featured an unpracticed rendition of the song in season 5 episode 2.
Football song
The song, with adapted lyrics, has been adopted as an anthem by fans of
Manchester United F.C.
Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd), or simply United, is a professional football club based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. The club competes in the Premier League, ...
.
YouTube
/ref>
Herman's Hermits performance credits
Barry Whitwam has stated that the Hermits themselves played on the track, not Jimmy Page, since Mickie Most and former lead singer "Herman" (Peter Noone
Peter Blair Denis Bernard Noone (born 5 November 1947) is an English singer-songwriter, guitarist, pianist and actor. He was the lead singer "Herman" in the 1960s pop group Herman's Hermits.
Early life
Noone was born in Davyhulme, Lancashir ...
) had implied otherwise after having lost the rights to the band's name. Whitwam further states, in regard to exaggerations of songs on which they supposedly did not play: "Everything he says is that it was Jimmy Page, and Jimmy Page probably can't remember any of the songs that he played. If you look at our top ten in America, "I'm into Something Good", it was us. All Hermits. There was only a piano added on. That was on a two track machine so we played at the same time. That got to number thirteen. “Can't You Hear My Heartbeat
"Can't You Hear My Heartbeat" is a song written by John Carter and Ken Lewis, produced by Mickie Most, and performed by Herman's Hermits. It reached #2 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1965. "Can't You Hear My Heartbeat" was kept from the #1 ...
”, there were no other instruments. That got to number two. "Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter" got to number one. "I'm Henry the VIII". Number one. "A Must to Avoid". Number eight. "Listen People". "Leaning on the Lamppost". That's six in the top ten with Jimmy Page or anybody else not involved! Another seventy of the tracks on the albums is only the Hermits. I think I worked it out, and I think in only thirty percent of all the songs ever recorded the Hermits didn't do the backing, but the Hermits were always on the vocals doing the harmonies. So he's trying to discredit us, saying that we didn't have anything to do with anything."
References
External links
Herman's Hermits official website
UK Official Charts
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{{authority control
1964 debut singles
Herman's Hermits songs
Peter Noone songs
Songs with lyrics by Gerry Goffin
Songs written by Carole King
Song recordings produced by Mickie Most
UK Singles Chart number-one singles
Irish Singles Chart number-one singles
1964 songs
Pye Records singles
MGM Records singles
Columbia Graphophone Company singles