"You Know I'm No Good" is a song written and performed by English singer
Amy Winehouse
Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was an English singer and songwriter. She was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, rhythm and blues and jazz.
A m ...
from her second and final studio album, ''
Back to Black'' (2006). "You Know I'm No Good" was released as the second single from ''Back to Black'' on 5 January 2007. Originally recorded as a solo track, it was remixed with guest vocals from the
Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan is an American hip hop group formed in Staten Island, New York City, in 1992. Its original members include RZA, GZA, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, and Masta Killa. Close a ...
member
Ghostface Killah. The original appeared on Winehouse's album, while the version with Ghostface Killah appears on his album ''
More Fish''.
Arctic Monkeys
Arctic Monkeys are an English rock band formed in Sheffield in 2002. The group consists of Alex Turner (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Jamie Cook (guitar, keyboards), Nick O'Malley (bass guitar, backing vocals), and Matt Helders (drums, ...
performed this song on
Jo Whiley's
Live Lounge on
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...
in their second appearance there, along with their single at the time, "
Brianstorm". In summer 2007, "You Know I'm No Good" was used in advertisements and in the first season opening for
AMC's TV drama ''
Mad Men
''Mad Men'' is an American period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on the cable network AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, lasting for seven seasons and 92 episodes. Its ...
'', although it was replaced with the current theme song for DVD release. It was also used for the opening to
ITV's ''
Secret Diary of a Call Girl
''Secret Diary of a Call Girl'' is a British drama television series that aired from 27 September 2007 to 22 March 2011 on ITV2, based on the blog and books by the pseudonymous Belle de Jour. It stars Billie Piper as Belle, a high-end London ...
''. On the recap of The Best Songs of 2007 by ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cult ...
'' magazine, this song ranked at number two.
Music video
The music video, directed by Phil Griffin (who also directed the video for her previous hit "
Rehab
Rehabilitation or Rehab may refer to:
Health
* Rehabilitation (neuropsychology), therapy to regain or improve neurocognitive function that has been lost or diminished
* Rehabilitation (wildlife), treatment of injured wildlife so they can be retur ...
"), was released to music channels in late November 2006. The video features Winehouse in numerous settings including a bar, a bedroom, and a bathtub. The plot is based around Winehouse's fictional character's relationship with the male character in the video. Video was shot by director of photography Adam Frisch.
The video premiered on
VH1
VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Commun ...
during the weekend of 3 March 2007. Following its VH1 premiere, it was placed on MTV's Big 10 rotation as of 5 March 2007 and was premiered on ''
TRL'' the same day. The song was heard on a sneak preview of AMC's original series ''Mad Men''.
Release
The single was released in the UK on 8 January 2007. The track made it onto
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...
's A-list playlist. A UK edit of the remix featuring
Ghostface Killah was also sent to radio, and to download services, and the original full-length US version, featuring Ghostface Killah name-checking
Kelly Clarkson
Kelly Brianne Clarkson (born April 24, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter, author, and television personality. She rose to fame after winning the first season of '' American Idol'' in 2002, which earned her a record deal with RCA. Her de ...
amongst others, also received airplay in the United States, where it was added to numerous
Rhythmic radio stations.
Following Winehouse's success at the
50th Grammy Awards, the song was re-released in the US in mid-February 2008.
A
documentary film
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...
based on the life and death of Winehouse was released, ''
Amy'' (2015) and a performance of Winehouse performing ''You Know I'm No Good'' at ''45th at Night'', in 2007 was featured.
Reception
Critical response to the single was positive. For the week of 16 January 2007, the track was chosen as the Single of the Week on the US
iTunes Store
The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...
as a free download. ''
Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely ...
'' also chose the song as its Pick of the Week for 15 January of the same year. ''
Billboard'' found that the track—"in original form—could be no better"; however, it acknowledged that the Ghostface Killah remix added a "ferocious discordant sputter at the midsection." ''
People
A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of proper ...
'' magazine called the track "instantly memorable."
Prior to this, Winehouse had not seen any success in the US, as her debut album ''
Frank'' was not released there until November 2007. On the
''Billboard'' Hot 100, "You Know I'm No Good" debuted at number 91 spot ahead of "
Rehab
Rehabilitation or Rehab may refer to:
Health
* Rehabilitation (neuropsychology), therapy to regain or improve neurocognitive function that has been lost or diminished
* Rehabilitation (wildlife), treatment of injured wildlife so they can be retur ...
", which also debuted on the chart the same week. The single peaked 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 ...
at number 18 for the week ending 14 January 2007, in an excellent week for Winehouse that saw ''Back to Black'' achieve a new UK peak of number one, previous single "Rehab" return to the UK top 20, and ''Frank'' re-enter the UK chart at number 62 more than three years after its first release. To date, the single, which spent a total of 11 consecutive weeks on the UK Singles Chart, has sold 53,272 copies in the UK.
Winehouse performed the song at the
50th Annual Grammy Awards
The 50th Annual Grammy Awards took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, on February 10, 2008. It honored musical achievement of 2007 in which albums were released between October 1, 2006, through September 30, 2007. The primary ceremonie ...
ceremony while in London, along with her hit single "Rehab". The performance was broadcast internationally via satellite. The song's performance on the awards ceremony subsequently led to an increase in digital downloads, notably on iTunes, where the song re-entered the Top Songs chart at number 55 in the United States. This resulted in a new peak for the song on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, of number 77, one spot ahead of its previous peak.
Arctic Monkeys
Arctic Monkeys are an English rock band formed in Sheffield in 2002. The group consists of Alex Turner (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Jamie Cook (guitar, keyboards), Nick O'Malley (bass guitar, backing vocals), and Matt Helders (drums, ...
performed a cover of the song on their 2007 tour.
Eliscu, Jenny
Jenny Eliscu is a radio host for Sirius XM and a contributing editor for ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. She also had a recurring presence on the TV program ''I'm from Rolling Stone'' and has been on other music programs, including ''Behind the Music' ...
(2007-06-14)
"The Diva and Her Demons"
''Rolling Stone''. (1028):58–69 Retrieved 14 December 2007
A remix by Ghostface Killah appears on the reissue of ''Back to Black'', featuring one verse by Ghostface, and a second remix, featuring more Ghostface verses, appears on his album ''
More Fish''.
English actor
Roger Moore
Sir Roger George Moore (14 October 192723 May 2017) was an English actor. He was the third actor to portray fictional British secret agent James Bond in the Eon Productions film series, playing the character in seven feature films between 1 ...
jokingly said he had no idea why Winehouse chose to include him in the lyrics, unless she wanted a word that rhymed with "door", or could not find a word that rhymed with "
Connery".
Following her death, the song re-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 37.
Track listings
*UK CD 1
#"You Know I'm No Good" (radio edit) – 3:36
#"
To Know Him Is to Love Him" (
Napster
Napster was a peer-to-peer file sharing application. It originally launched on June 1, 1999, with an emphasis on digital audio file distribution. Audio songs shared on the service were typically encoded in the MP3 format. It was founded by Sh ...
Live Session)
*UK CD 2
#"You Know I'm No Good" – 4:16
#"Monkey Man"
#"You Know I'm No Good" (Skeewiff Mix)
*European CD single
#"You Know I'm No Good" – 4:16
#"You Know I'm No Good" (radio edit) – 3:36
"You Know I'm No Good" (featuring
Ghostface Killah)
#"You Know I'm No Good" (Skeewiff Mix)
*German 12-inch promotional single
:A1. "You Know I'm No Good" (Skeewiff Mix)
:A2. "You Know I'm No Good" – 4:16
:A3. "You Know I'm No Good" (Instrumental) – 4:16
:B1. "You Know I'm No Good" (Ghostface Killah Version)
:B2. "You Know I'm No Good" (Fettes Brot Remix)
:B3. "You Know I'm No Good" (A Cappella)
*US 12-inch single (Universal Republic B0008491-11)
:A1. "You Know I'm No Good" – (radio edit) – 3:36
:A2. "You Know I'm No Good" (featuring Ghostface Killah) – 3:22
:B1. "Rehab" – 3:32
:B2. "Rehab" (Hot Chip Remix) – 6:58
*Digital download – Remixes & B-Sides EP (2015)
#"You Know I'm No Good" (featuring Ghostface Killah) (Ghostface UK Version) – 3:23
#"You Know I'm No Good" (Skeewiff Mix) – 5:45
#"You Know I'm No Good" – 4:16
#"You Know I'm No Good" (Vodafone Live at TBA) – 4:21
#"You Know I'm No Good" (Fettes Brot Remix) – 3:52
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications and sales
References
{{Authority control
2006 songs
2007 singles
Amy Winehouse songs
British hip hop songs
Island Records singles
Song recordings produced by Mark Ronson
Songs about infidelity
Songs written by Amy Winehouse
Wanda Jackson songs
Television drama theme songs