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"Ebeneezer Goode" is a song by Scottish electronic music group
the Shamen
The Shamen ( ) were a Scottish psychedelic band, formed in 1985 in Aberdeen, who became a chart-topping British electronic dance music act by the early 1990s. The founding members were Colin Angus, Derek McKenzie and Keith McKenzie. Peter St ...
which, heavily remixed by
the Beatmasters, became their biggest hit when released as a single on 24 August 1992. The group's original version featured on the vinyl edition of their fifth album, ''
Boss Drum
''Boss Drum'' is the Shamen's 1992 album, released a year after the death of bassist Will Sinnott. It features their hit UK number one single " Ebeneezer Goode". Critics gave the album positive feedback and the album reached number three on the ...
''.
"Ebeneezer Goode" was one of the most controversial
UK number-one hits of the 1990s due to its perceived oblique endorsement of
recreational drug use
Recreational drug use indicates the use of one or more psychoactive drugs to induce an altered state of consciousness either for pleasure or for some other casual purpose or pastime by modifying the perceptions and emotions of the user. When a ...
, and it was initially banned by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
. It has been claimed the single was eventually withdrawn after the band were hounded by the
British tabloid press,
though, according to The Shamen themselves, it was deleted while at number one due to its long chart run "messing up our release schedule".
Lyric
The song is best known for its chorus, "'Eezer Goode, 'Eezer Goode / He's Ebeneezer Goode", the first part of which is aurally identical to, "Es are good" – 'E' being common slang for the drug
ecstasy.
However, 'E' is also sung many other times during the song, ostensibly as ''
'e'' (i.e. ''he''), such as in "E's sublime, E makes you feel fine".
The lyric alludes to the advantages of the drug, though with an admonition against excessive use:
The song also contains references to the use of cannabis with ecstasy, referencing the rolling of a cannabis joint with the lines "Has anybody got any Veras?" ("
Vera Lynn
Dame Vera Margaret Lynn (; 20 March 191718 June 2020) was an English singer and entertainer whose musical recordings and performances were very popular during World War II. She is honorifically known as the " Forces' Sweetheart", having giv ...
s" being
rhyming slang
Rhyming slang is a form of slang word construction in the English language. It is especially prevalent among Cockneys in England, and was first used in the early 19th century in the East End of London; hence its alternative name, Cockney rhymin ...
for "skins" or
rolling paper
Rolling paper is a specialty paper used for making cigarettes (commercially manufactured filter cigarettes and individually made roll-your-own cigarettes). Rolling papers are packs of several cigarette-size sheets, often folded inside a cardbo ...
s) and "Got any salmon?" ("salmon and trout" being rhyming slang for "snout" or
tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
).
The "A great philosopher once wrote.." sample at the start of the song is
Malcolm McDowell
Malcolm McDowell (born Malcolm John Taylor; 13 June 1943) is a British actor, producer, and television presenter. He is best known for portraying Alex DeLarge in ''A Clockwork Orange.'' He was born in the Horsforth suburb of Leeds and raised i ...
from Lindsay Anderson's 1973 film ''
O Lucky Man!
''O Lucky Man!'' is a 1973 British comedy-drama fantasy film directed by Lindsay Anderson, and starring Malcolm McDowell as Mick Travis, whom McDowell had first played as a disaffected public schoolboy in his first film performance in Ander ...
''
Critical reception
Pan-European magazine ''
Music & Media
''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later ...
'' said the song "is a thinly disguised tribute to the drug
XTC
XTC were an English rock band formed in Swindon in 1972. Fronted by songwriters Andy Partridge (guitars, vocals) and Colin Moulding (bass, vocals), the band gained popularity during the rise of punk and new wave in the 1970s, later playing in ...
, although some might think it's about nice chocolates". They added, "Whatever the moralists may say — 'naughty, naughty' like the lyrics
icin the intro — it's a brilliantly constructed pop song with both radio and club appeal as proved before by other Euro-crossover hits such as
Move Any Mountain
"Move Any Mountain" is a song by Scottish electronic music group the Shamen, first released under the title "Pro›gen". With an official remix by the Beatmasters, the song was re-released in the UK in summer 1991 and was their first top-10 sin ...
and
Love Sex Intelligence." Andy Beevers from ''
Music Week
''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future.
History
Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...
'' commented, "Bringing together very authentic old-fashioned acid house sounds and a cheeky rap, this has instant appeal and is going to be a huge hit. A word of warning, however: it will make 'absolutely outrageous, mate' this summer's most irritating catchphrase."
James Hamilton from the magazine's ''RM'' Dance Update described it as "pure corny pop with a laddishly spoken and chanted very silly vocal about a geezer what's called Ebeneezer, punctuated by "wicked mate" comments and
Sid James
Sidney James (born Solomon Joel Cohen; 8 May 1913 – 26 April 1976) was a British actor and comedian whose career encompassed radio, television, stage and screen. He was best known for numerous roles in the Carry On film series.
Born to a mid ...
-like guffaws" and a "twittery bleeping jaunty bounder".
Chart performance
The song entered 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 ...
at number six in September 1992, climbing to number one two weeks later (ironically during the BBC's drug awareness week) and staying there for four weeks.
It was the UK's 13th-biggest-selling single of 1992.
Music video
The
music video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...
for the song consisted of club scenes intermixed with a caped man (ostensibly Ebeneezer Goode himself, played by
Jerry Sadowitz
Jerry Sadowitz (born June 1961) is an American-born Scottish stand-up comedian and magician.
Notorious for his frequently controversial brand of black comedy, Sadowitz has said that audiences going to see a comedian should suspend their beliefs ...
) running around parts of a city. Due to the use of flashing images in the video, some TV music channels make epilepsy warnings. Some channels, including
VH1, edit the video to reduce the frame rate of these scenes, which deletes each bright frame.
The video was played in episode 5 and 6, season 3 of ''
Beavis and Butt-head
''Beavis and Butt-Head'' is an American adult animated series created by Mike Judge. The series follows Beavis and Butt-Head, both voiced by Judge, a pair of teenage slackers characterized by their apathy, lack of intelligence, lowbrow humor, ...
'', "Kidnapped".
Performance on ''Top of the Pops''
When the Shamen appeared on BBC1's ''
Top of the Pops
''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, 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 ...
'',
Mr C
Richard West (born 2 January 1965), known as Mr. C, is an English house music DJ, producer and rapper. He was the resident DJ at the early acid house "RIP" nights at Clink Street, London, and later was the co-owner/co-founder of London's The E ...
was expected to tone down the song due to its being broadcast. The group replaced the final lyric "Got any salmon?" with "Has anyone got any
underlay
Underlay may refer to flooring or roofing materials, bed padding, or a musical notation.
Flooring
Underlay or underlayment"Underlayment." ''The Oxford English Dictionary''. 2nd ed. 1989. generally refers to a thin layer of cushioning made of mate ...
?" When later asked about this in a radio interview, he replied it referenced ''rugs'', not drugs.
[Bussmann, Jane: ''Once In A Lifetime: The Crazy Days of Acid House'' ()]
Charts and sales
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications and sales
References
{{Authority control
1992 songs
1992 singles
Songs about drugs
The Shamen songs
UK Singles Chart number-one singles
Irish Singles Chart number-one singles
Music Week number-one dance singles
Number-one singles in Israel
Controversies in the United Kingdom
Obscenity controversies in music
1992 controversies
One Little Indian Records singles