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

Janis Ian

Janis IanSongwriter Interviews

One of the first successful female singer-songwriters, Janis had her first hit in 1967 at age 15.

Lace the Music: How LSD Changed Popular Music

Lace the Music: How LSD Changed Popular MusicSong Writing

Starting in Virginia City, Nevada and rippling out to the Haight-Ashbury, LSD reshaped popular music.

Jimmy Jam

Jimmy JamSongwriter Interviews

The powerhouse producer behind Janet Jackson's hits talks about his Boyz II Men ballads and regrouping The Time.

Dar Williams

Dar WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

A popular contemporary folk singer, Williams still remembers the sticky note that changed her life in college.

Commercials

CommercialsFact or Fiction

Was "Ring Of Fire" really used to sell hemorrhoid cream?

Reverend Horton Heat

Reverend Horton HeatSongwriter Interviews

The Reverend rants on psychobilly and the egghead academics he bashes in one of his more popular songs.