Good at Tonight

Album: Fighter (2016)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • The Brothers Osborne wrote this seize-the-moment song with Troy Verges and Barry Dean. When the Osbourne siblings pitched the demo, David Nail thought it was so good, he was worried they'd later change their minds about recording it themselves. But he needn't have been concerned. "They were like, nah, man, if you love it, man, do it," Nail recalled. "So I said, I'm gonna do it, but there's one stipulation: you have to sing on it."

    John and T.J. Osborne are credited with "clapping and background vocals" on the song.
  • David Nail recalled the story of the song to The Boot:

    "The glorious thing of being here as long as I have is, I have various friends in the music business, and then they have friends, and then they have friends, who get my email, who, I don't know who they are, but they get my email.

    Very quickly, in a matter of a week, I got this song. We had been on the road with Brothers Osborne, I think the fall before that, and I texted TJ and John and said, 'Hey, I don't know what you're thinking here, but I just got this song pitched to me, and I think it's amazing.' In fact, I could just envision from that moment, opening every show for the next 20 years with that song."
  • It was a few months after the Osborne brothers gave the song to David Nail that the pair realized its true potential.

    "We're like, 'No, no, no, man! It's not a big deal at all. We'd love if you cut it. Please do it.' He got us in there to sing, and it was a blast. We did some big gang vocals — sounded like a bunch of drunk buffoons on it," John Osborne recalled to The Boot. "And then, a couple months later, we saw him perform at Watershed [Country Music Festival], up in Washington State, and it was at that moment, we were like, 'Damn! We should have cut that damn song. It's so good!'"

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Pam Tillis

Pam TillisSongwriter Interviews

The country sweetheart opines about the demands of touring and talks about writing songs with her famous father.

Concert Disasters

Concert DisastersFact or Fiction

Ozzy biting a dove? Alice Cooper causing mayhem with a chicken? Creed so bad they were sued? See if you can spot the real concert mishaps.

Jimmy Webb

Jimmy WebbSongwriter Interviews

Webb talks about his classic songs "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," "Wichita Lineman" and "MacArthur Park."

Julian Lennon

Julian LennonSongwriter Interviews

Julian tells the stories behind his hits "Valotte" and "Too Late for Goodbyes," and fills us in on his many non-musical pursuits. Also: what MTV meant to his career.

Scott Gorham of Thin Lizzy and Black Star Riders

Scott Gorham of Thin Lizzy and Black Star RidersSongwriter Interviews

Writing with Phil Lynott, Scott saw their ill-fated frontman move to a darker place in his life and lyrics.

Amy Lee of Evanescence

Amy Lee of EvanescenceSongwriter Interviews

The Evanescence frontwoman on the songs that have shifted meaning and her foray into kids' music.