Dub Be Good to Me

"Dub Be Good to Me"
Single by Beats International
from the album Let Them Eat Bingo
Released	29 January 1990
Format	CD single, 12" single, 7" single
Recorded	1989
Genre	Dub
Length	3:59
Label	Go! Beat
Writer(s)	Norman Cook, James Harris III, Terry Lewis
Producer(s)	Norman Cook
Beats International singles chronology
"Dub Be Good to Me" (1990) "Won't Talk About It" (1990)

"Dub Be Good to Me" is a 1990 single by British dub group Beats International, 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 samples the songs "Guns of Brixton" by The Clash and the Once Upon a Time in the West theme by Ennio Morricone, and includes interpolations of the songs "Just Be Good to Me" by The SOS Band and "Jam Hot" by Johnny Dynell.

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.^[1] The song was a hit, spending four weeks at number one on the UK Singles Chart in March 1990.^[2] It was the seventh best-selling single of 1990 in the UK.^[3] 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.^[4]

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.

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"

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (1990) Peak position Australian ARIA Singles Chart[5] 12 Austrian Singles Chart[5] 2 Dutch Top 40[6] 2 French SNEP Singles Chart[5] 19 German Singles Chart[5] 4 Irish Singles Chart[7] 4 New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart[5] 6 Norwegian VG-lista Singles Chart[5] 10 Swedish Singles Chart[5] 10 Swiss Singles Chart[5] 6 UK Singles Chart[8] 1 US Billboard Hot 100[9] 76 US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play[9] 1 US Billboard Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales[9] 15 US Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs[9] 74

Year-end charts Chart (1990) Position Australian ARIA Singles Chart[10] 80 Austrian Singles Chart[11] 30 Dutch Top 40[6] 19 UK Singles Chart[3] 7

Chart successions

See also

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

References

1. "Beats International's Dub Be Good To Me sample of Johnny Dynell's Jam Hot". whosampled.com. Retrieved 5 July 2011.
2. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. pp. 511–2. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
3. "1990s Singles Chart Archive". everyHit.com. Retrieved 2014-03-30.
4. "Staff Lists". Pitchfork.
5. "Dub Be Good to Me", in various singles charts Lescharts.com (Retrieved March 28, 2008)
6. "Single top 100 over 1990" (PDF) (in Dutch). Top40. Retrieved 12 April 2010.
7. Irish Single Chart Irishcharts.ie (Retrieved March 28, 2008)
8. "Dub Be Good to Me", UK Singles Chart Chartstats.com (Retrieved March 28, 2008)
9. Billboard Allmusic.com (Retrieved August 1, 2008)
10. Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010. Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia: Moonlight Publishing.
11. 1990 Austrian Singles Chart Austriancharts.at (Retrieved August 1, 2008)