Feeling Good

 ‘Feeling Good’ is a song by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse written for the musical The Roar of the Greasepaint the Smell of the Crowd in 1965. It was a slow burning classic, now available in numerous cover versions. The Wikipedia list includes Muse, Sammy Davis Jr, Michael Bublé, The Pussycat Dolls, Julie London, Bobby Darin, Olivier Newton John, among others. The first version I heard, and for many years the only version I knew, was by Traffic on the album Last Exit (1969). This was an odds and ends album, released for contractual reasons. Traffic’s version was recoded live at the Fillmore West. It is a stripped down 3-piece Traffic and Winwood’s voice and organ dominate it. This version has always thrilled me. The organ is over recorded and seems to have a harsh fuzz tone applied but it is curiously compelling. It is a song of yearning with Winwood’s voice at its plaintive best. And then there are some jazzy treats, tricky tempo changes and a heart-breaking Bach-like organ passage.

Then I started to hear the other versions. I was aware of Nina Simone for decades before she became my favourite female singer. She crept up on me. I’m ashamed now that I knew the Animals' ‘Don’t Let me be Misunderstood’ and Alan Price’s ‘I Put a Spell on You’ for years before I heard Nina’s orginal. Besides her classic version there is a remix by Joe Claussel on the album Verve Remixed.

So what is it with this song? It came to me when I finally heard, only weeks ago Anthony Newley's original. It is almost unrecognisable. The fact is that ‘Feeling Good’ is a rather characterless song. The melody is weak and predictable: it is almost spoken. The main chord progression is one of the most over-worked in musical history: the flamenco Am G F E7. It is this blandness that has invited so many versions. John Coltrane was a great spotter of tunes he could make his own so it's not surprising that he covered it. Vocally, it attracts dramatic voices like Simone or Winwood who can embellish the simple melody with their own vocal flourishes. That chord progression may be hackneyed but it is a great improvisation vehicle and in the right hands it doesn't sound hackneyed at all.

I wonder if Winwood's addition of the Bach-like passage was inspired by another Nina Simone tune on the same chord progression: ‘Love Me or Leave Me’, which has an extended Back workout at a fast tempo.

We haven’t heard the last of ‘Feeling Good’: it is an almost blank slate for musicians to write upon. Everyone wants their own new day dawning: ‘a new life for me’.