Dub Be Good to Me

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"Dub Be Good to Me" is a 1990 single by British dub group Beats International featuring singer Lindy Layton, released on 29 January 1990. It was a #1 hit in the United Kingdom, and hit #1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play in the United States. It is generally considered the band's signature song.

"Dub Be Good to Me" was written by Beats International frontman Norman Cook. It interprets The SOS Band's "Just Be Good to Me" (1983), which it is named after. It also samples the songs "Guns of Brixton" by The Clash, the Once Upon a Time in the West theme by Ennio Morricone, and the song "Jam Hot" by Johnny Dynell.

Video Dub Be Good to Me

Song information

Written by Norman Cook (aka Fatboy Slim), "Dub Be Good to Me" was the sole number one single for Cook's genre-hopping outfit Beats International.

The track started out as an instrumental with the title "The Invasion of the Estate Agents". While also included as the B-side to this single, it originally appeared as the B-side to Cook's 1989 single "For Spacious Lies". This instrumental track is heavily based on the bassline from The Clash's "Guns of Brixton" with a sample of the distinctive "harmonica" theme from the epic western film Once Upon a Time in the West, written by Ennio Morricone. This instrumental, in slightly remixed form, had vocals added from The SOS Band's "Just Be Good to Me" (as re-recorded by Lindy Layton) to form "Dub Be Good to Me".

The track also features the distinctive vocals of David John-Baptiste, more commonly known as DJ Deejay or just DJ. The opening and closing line "tank fly boss walk jam nitty gritty you're listening to the boy from the big bad city, this is jam hot, this is jam hot" was from Johnny Dynell's 1983 hit "Jam Hot" and became an instant classic and was repeated often, being used as the most common reference to the song. The song was a hit, spending four weeks at number one on the UK Singles Chart in March 1990. It was the seventh best-selling single of 1990 in the UK. In the U.S., the song reached #1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart and #76 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The Smith & Mighty Remix was included in Pitchfork Media's 2010 list of "twenty-five great remixes" of the 1990s. Tom Ewing of Freaky Trigger ranked the song as the 97th best single of the 1990s, and described it as "the Wild Bunch/Massive Attack dub-dance Bristol sound, commercialised before it had even come close to breaking through."

Maps Dub Be Good to Me

Critical reception

Billboard wrote about the song: "Reggae-fled, Soul II Soul-tinged reworking of the S.O.S. Band classic. Big on import, stateside release sports the new remixes. Only misgiving is absence of fab original."

Cash Box wrote in their review: "This brainchild of Norman Cook, erstwhile Housemartin, revamps the old S.O.S. Band hit into a shoulderswaying, hip-swinging groove that never lets up."

Music & Media wrote: "An appealing mixture of house and reggae from the band led by ex-Housemartins' bass player Norman Cook. Good vocals by Lindy and some tasteful blues harmonica."

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Cover versions

"Dub Be Good to Me" was covered in 2002 by Faithless and Dido for the album NME & Warchild Presents 1 Love.

Jack Peñate covered "Dub Be Good to Me" as a B-side to his re-released single "Second, Minute or Hour" in September 2007.

Rapper Professor Green and Lily Allen released their version of the song, titled "Just Be Good to Green".

British band The Ting Tings covered "Dub Be Good to Me" on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge.

British Urban duo MK1 performed the song during the judges' houses stage of the ninth series of The X Factor.

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Track listings

7" single

1. "Dub Be Good to Me" (edit)
2. "Invasion of the Estate Agents"

12" single

1. "Dub Be Good to Me" (featuring Lindy Layton) (full length)
2. "Just Be Good To Me (acapella)"
3. "Invasion of the Freestyle: Discuss" (featuring RPM)
4. "Invasion of the Estate Agents"

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Charts

Chart successions

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See also

• List of number-one dance hits (United States)

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References

Source of article : Wikipedia