Tell Me Something Good

"Tell Me Something Good" is a song by Rufus and Chaka Khan, written by Stevie Wonder and released in 1974. The single was a hit in the United States, peaking at number three on the Billboard Hot 100. It was among the earliest hits to use the guitar talk box.

The song has been described as having ".. rude metallic guitar" (by Al Ciner) and ".. a beautiful bass, clav and heavy breathing groove." The song can be difficult to count as there is an off-count into the verse.^[1]

Awards

Rufus won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus for the song at the 17th Annual Grammy Awards in 1975.

Cover versions

Yvonne Fair recorded an acclaimed cover of the song on her 1975 album The Bitch is Black.
Saxophonist Ronnie Laws recorded a version on his 1975 debut album Pressure Sensitive.
Maceo Parker recorded a cover of the song for his album FunkOverload.
Eric Marienthal included it on his album Sweet Talk.
Robbie Nevil recorded a cover on his album Day 1 in 1991.
Lee Aaron recorded a cover on her album Some Girls Do in 1991.
Guitarist Steve Fister recorded a cover on his 2006 album Dodgin Bullets.
Pink recorded a cover of the song for the 2006 film Happy Feet which was included on the soundtrack album.
Guitarist Greg Howe recorded an instrumental version of the song for his 2008 album, Sound Proof.
Matthew Morrison performed the song as his Glee character Will Schuester in the first season episode "Funk". The single was released on iTunes.

Live covers

In 2002, En Vogue performed the song on their concert DVD, "Live in the USA".
Dave Matthews & Friends covered the song live from 2003 to 2005.
Singer Kim Yarbrough successfully auditioned for Season 2 of The Voice with the song, landing a spot on Team Adam.
Stevie Wonder has performed this song live on several occasions.
Gov't Mule with Susan Tedeschi and Eric Krasno on guitar on 6/7/14 at Mt. Jam, Hunter Mountain, NY.

Samples

The Ronnie Laws version was sampled by the Beastie Boys on their 1989 album Paul's Boutique.
The UGK song "Something Good", from their 1992 debut album Too Hard to Swallow, samples the song.
The Case song "Tell Me", on his 1999 album Personal Conversation, was based on this song.
The chorus is sampled in Bay Area rapper Mac Dre's song "Too Hard For The Fuckin' Radio".

Pop culture references

On Will & Grace, Karen tells Jack that this is the song to which she and Stan make love. She then walks in on her husband cheating on her with the same song playing. Closed captioning for that episode incorrectly credits the song to Sly and the Family Stone.

In That '70s Show, in the episode "Water Tower", Eric walks in on his parents having sex, and the song plays every time he has recurring nightmares and thoughts of his parents.

References

↑ Miller, S., (2010) "Music: What Happened?" 125 Records, ISBN 0615381960, ISBN 978-0615381961