Good Times Roll
| "Good Times Roll" | ||||||||||||
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| Single by The Cars | ||||||||||||
| from the album The Cars | ||||||||||||
| B-side | "All Mixed Up" | |||||||||||
| Released | February 20, 1979 | |||||||||||
| Format | 7" | |||||||||||
| Recorded | AIR Studios, London, February 1978 | |||||||||||
| Genre | Rock, new wave | |||||||||||
| Length | 3:44 | |||||||||||
| Label | Elektra 46014 | |||||||||||
| Writer(s) | Ric Ocasek | |||||||||||
| Producer(s) | Roy Thomas Baker | |||||||||||
| The Cars singles chronology | ||||||||||||
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| 9 tracks |
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"Good Times Roll" is a song by American rock band The Cars. It is the first track from their 1978 debut album The Cars. With its slow, lumbering rhythm, the track became a modest hit when it was released as a single in 1979. It has since appeared on many of The Cars' compilation albums.
The track was produced by Roy Thomas Baker. Written and sung by Cars lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Ric Ocasek, it was released as the album's third single.
"Good Times Roll", along with the rest of the tracks from The Cars, was recorded in just two weeks. However, the album's chart success was so long-lived that the release of its follow-up, 1979's Candy-O, was delayed.
The song begins with electronic drums and a guitar riff, soon joined by Ocasek's lead vocals and synthesizers by keyboardist Greg Hawkes. Despite the up-tempo-sounding title, "Good Times Roll" is a mid-tempo song, with a beat described as "languid," "psychedelic" and "creepy." The lyrics are similarly described as "withering" and Ocasek's vocal style as "clinical."
The song was released as the third and final single from The Cars in February 1979, backed with "All Mixed Up". It reached number 41 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, performing slightly worse that its predecessors "Just What I Needed" and "My Best Friend's Girl."
Of the nine tracks on The Cars, "Good Times Roll" was the only song for which no demo recording could be found during the compilation of the 1999 The Cars: Deluxe Edition package. Instead, a live version of "Good Times Roll" is included alongside demo versions of the other eight tracks.
"Good Times Roll" has been featured on several Cars anthologies, including 1985's Greatest Hits, 1995's Just What I Needed: The Cars Anthology, and 2002's Complete Greatest Hits.
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