Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CLXXXI--Richard Thompson: I Feel So Good

You might think, as this is the second tune from Richard Thompson ("Wall of Death" with now ex-wife Linda Thompson was the first) that's been featured here on FNJ that I was a big fan of  Richard Thompson...but I actually only own two of his albums.  So much for my street cred....

As I've already done my half-ass bio of Richard Thompson, I'll just do a brief recap--born in England, modicum of commercial success with Fairport Convention, much critical success with Linda Thompson (especially Shoot Out the Lights), with continued modicum of commercial success and much critical success as a solo artist.  Thompson is quite well regarded as a guitarist.  He continues to release new material (the last in 2017) and tour regularly.  Also known for converting to Islam in the 1980s.  Over the course of his career he has released 27 albums and been on more tours than I can count.  In sum, another in a long line of talented musicians who has managed to make a more or less fifty year career out of playing music--and good for him.

Released in 1991 on his Rumor and Sigh LP (and a fine LP it was--even garnering a Grammy nomination), "I Feel So Good" did not chart as a single, though it made #15 (with a bullet!) on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks.  The album didn't chart here in the States, either, though it was Thompson's only top 40 hit in his native U.K., and is considered his best selling solo effort.  I came to the song from seeing on MTV the video you'll see below, which is once again proof that MTV wasn't always completely fucking irrelevant.  It's a nice video, too.

Not really sure where my love for this song came from--I'm generally not into songs about a young man just released from prison on a Bacchanalian rampage.  But Thompson does an excellent job both musically and vocally of capturing the abandon one supposes one would have upon release from prison.  Thompson's guitar verges on delirium and his vocals evoke the elated ravings of a budding psychopath.  Thompson has said that the protagonist is neither a hero nor a villain, and that the song is an indictment of the society that created him.  In any case, the premise of the young man in such a state of joy that he feels the need to break somebody's heart is a tour de force for a pop song, and that Thompson could create such a premise and put it in a pop song is a testament to why forty some odd years down the road I am still fascinated by the machinations of rock and roll.

Lyric Sheet:  "They put me in jail for my deviant ways/Two years, seven months, and sixteen days/Now I'm back on the street in a purple haze..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee