"Right Here, Right Now" is a song by British

big beat Big beat is an electronic music genre that usually uses heavy breakbeats and synthesizer-generated loops and patterns – common to acid house/techno. The term has been used by the British music industry to describe music by artists such as th ...

musician Fatboy Slim, released on 19 April 1999 as the fourth single from his second studio album, '' You've Come a Long Way, Baby'' (1998). The song samples "Ashes, the Rain & I" by James Gang and an Angela Bassett quote from American

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...

'' Strange Days'' (1995). "Right Here, Right Now" reached number two on 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 ...

and became a top-40 hit in Australia, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, New Zealand, and the Walloon region of Belgium. It was voted by ''

Mixmag ''Mixmag'' is a British electronic dance and clubbing magazine published in London. Launched in 1983 as a print magazine, it has branched into dance events, including festivals and club nights. History The first issue of ''Mixmag'' was prin ...

'' readers as the 10th-greatest dance record of all time.

Composition

The basic string melody of the song was sampled from the James Gang song "Ashes, the Rain & I" and Antonin Dvorak „Humoresque”. The lyrics "''right here, right now''" are a sample of Angela Bassett's voice saying "''This is your life, right here, right now!''" from the film '' Strange Days'' at the 1:43:21 mark. The album version of "Right Here, Right Now" ends with a radio talk between Bradley Jay, a DJ of the WBCN radio station of

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, and a Fatboy Slim fan called Brad.

Critical reception

'' Daily Record'' said the song is "brilliant".

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 promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

for the song, created by

Hammer & Tongs Hammer & Tongs is the pseudonym of British director and producer duo, promo and film director Garth Jennings and producer Nick Goldsmith, as well as the name of their production company. Best known for their work on music videos for Blur ("Co ...

, is an elaborate homage to the famous opening sequence of the French educational series '' Once Upon a Time... Man''. It shows a (scientifically inaccurate) timeline depicting the entire process of

human evolution Human evolution is the evolutionary process within the history of primates that led to the emergence of '' Homo sapiens'' as a distinct species of the hominid family, which includes the great apes. This process involved the gradual development o ...

condensed into three and a half minutes. The beginning of the music video is set "350 billion years ago", and starts with a single celled eukaryote in the ocean evolving into a

jellyfish Jellyfish and sea jellies are the informal common names given to the medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animals with umbrell ...

, a

worm Worms are many different distantly related bilateral animals that typically have a long cylindrical tube-like body, no limbs, and no eyes (though not always). Worms vary in size from microscopic to over in length for marine polychaete wo ...

, a

pipefish Pipefishes or pipe-fishes (Syngnathinae) are a subfamily of small fishes, which, together with the seahorses and seadragons (''Phycodurus'' and '' Phyllopteryx''), form the family Syngnathidae. Description Pipefish look like straight-bodied se ...

, a pufferfish, and then a predatory fish. It manages to eat a smaller fish before leaping up onto dry land. With a

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

visible in the background and an insect in front, it stays still for a few seconds before setting off and eating the insect. The land-fish evolves into a small

alligator An alligator is a large reptile in the Crocodilia order in the genus ''Alligator'' of the family Alligatoridae. The two extant species are the American alligator (''A. mississippiensis'') and the Chinese alligator (''A. sinensis''). Additiona ...

as it enters a forest. It sees a tall tree, which it climbs up. Its body is obscured by the tree as its hands visibly evolve until it arrives at the top as a

baboon Baboons are primates comprising the genus ''Papio'', one of the 23 genera of Old World monkeys. There are six species of baboon: the hamadryas baboon, the Guinea baboon, the olive baboon, the yellow baboon, the Kinda baboon and the chacma ...

-like

ape Apes (collectively Hominoidea ) are a clade of Old World simians native to sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia (though they were more widespread in Africa, most of Asia, and as well as Europe in prehistory), which together with its sister g ...

. It jumps from the tree into an icy landscape, enduring a

blizzard A blizzard is a severe snowstorm characterized by strong sustained winds and low visibility, lasting for a prolonged period of time—typically at least three or four hours. A ground blizzard is a weather condition where snow is not falling ...

as it evolves into a larger,

gorilla Gorillas are herbivorous, predominantly ground-dwelling great apes that inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The genus ''Gorilla'' is divided into two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla, and either four or fi ...

-like ape. At the end of a large cliff, the ape beats its chest as the camera zooms out to show a vast desert. The ape jumps onto the ground, where it has evolved into a primate resembling homo erectus. A large storm blows away much of its hair, turning it into a

human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, cultu ...

(at this point the timer at the bottom right slows dramatically). The human runs faster and puts on some

trousers Trousers (British English), slacks, or pants are an item of clothing worn from the waist to anywhere between the knees and the ankles, covering both legs separately (rather than with cloth extending across both legs as in robes, skirts, and ...

and a T- shirt with the logo "I'm #1 so why try harder". When fully clothed, it turns into a modern human with a beard. The man walks through a city environment and eats a

hamburger A hamburger, or simply burger, is a food consisting of fillings—usually a patty of ground meat, typically beef—placed inside a sliced bun or bread roll. Hamburgers are often served with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, bacon, ...

(taken from a cardboard cutout of Fatboy Slim himself), he pulls off the beard and morphs into the obese character depicted on the cover of the album. He finally sits down on a bench as night falls, then smiles and leans back to look up as the human star constellation of Orion appears above.

Track listings

UK and Australian CD single, UK 12-inch single # "Right Here, Right Now" # "Don't Forget Your Teeth" # " Praise You" (original version) UK cassette single and European CD single # "Right Here, Right Now" # "Don't Forget Your Teeth"

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

In popular culture

Manchester City, Arsenal,

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter is ...

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

and many other teams play this song when their players walk out of the tunnel prior to a match. On 8 October 2019, Fatboy Slim made a remix of the song using environmental activist

Greta Thunberg Greta Tintin Eleonora Ernman Thunberg (; born 3 January 2003) is a Swedish environmental activist who is known for challenging world leaders to take immediate action for climate change mitigation. Thunberg's activism began when she persuaded ...

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

speech. The song was used for the opening sequence of the pilot episode for the television series ''

Third Watch ''Third Watch'' is an American crime drama television series created by John Wells and Edward Allen Bernero that aired on NBC from September 26, 1999, to May 6, 2005, with a total of 132 episodes spanning over six seasons. It was produced ...

''.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 1998 songs 1999 singles Fatboy Slim songs Pittsburgh Steelers Skint Records singles Songs written by Joe Walsh Songs written by Norman Cook UK Independent Singles Chart number-one singles