G.O.D. (Good Old Days)

Album: All The Pain Money Can Buy (1998)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Fastball's career took some curves in the '90s. Signed to the major label Hollywood Records, it looked like they blew their shot when their 1996 debut album fell flat. The label was in transition, which worked in their favor because there was nobody to drop them, so they got to make another album. That ended up being All the Pain Money Can Buy, which sold a million copies and contained the monster hit "The Way."

    "G.O.D. (Good Old Days)," is another track from that album; it reflects this time of ambition and uncertainty, when the band was working and playing at a breakneck pace. "It has to do with moving so fast and running," Tony Scalzo, who wrote the song and sang lead said in a Songfacts interview. "When I wrote that, we were well on our way to burnout because we were in a van every day, sharing hotel rooms and just going, going, going. We did that for two years until this particular album [All the Pain Money Can Buy] came out. So, we were all over the place.

    It's all about the party every night, too. It's not like we were the most hardcore partiers, but I feel like we did party pretty good at those times."
  • Fastball had just three members at the time, so they used a number of outside musicians on this track, which includes a horn section. Here's the outside instrumentation:

    Organ – Kim Bullard
    Baritone Saxophone – Greg Smith
    Tenor Saxophone – Doug Norwine
    Trombone – Nick Lane
    Trumpet – Dennis Farias, Rick Braun
  • In the line, "We'll get together and ride around in the black and white," the "black and white" could be a police car, but that doesn't make much sense. Scalzo recalls it being about monochrome memories. "Memories are sometimes in that black-and-white look," he said.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Chris Tomlin

Chris TomlinSongwriter Interviews

The king of Christian worship music explains talks about writing songs for troubled times.

Trans Soul Rebels: Songs About Transgenderism

Trans Soul Rebels: Songs About TransgenderismSong Writing

A history of songs dealing with transgender issues, featuring Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Morrissey and Green Day.

Phone Booth Songs

Phone Booth SongsSong Writing

Phone booths are nearly extinct, but they provided storylines for some of the most profound songs of the pre-cell phone era.

Ramones

RamonesFact or Fiction

A band so baffling, even their names were contrived. Check your score in the Ramones version of Fact or Fiction.

Songs in Famous Movie Scenes: '80s Edition

Songs in Famous Movie Scenes: '80s EditionMusic Quiz

You know the scenes - Tom Cruise in his own pants-off dance off, Molly Ringwald celebrating her birthday - but do you remember what song is playing?

Bryan Adams

Bryan AdamsSongwriter Interviews

What's the deal with "Summer of '69"? Bryan explains what the song is really about, and shares more of his songwriting insights.