I Got You (I Feel Good)

"I Got You (I Feel Good)" is a twelve-bar blues with a brass-heavy instrumental arrangement similar to Brown's previous hit, "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag". It also features the same emphasis "on the one" (i.e. the first beat of the measure) that characterizes Brown's developing funk style. The lyrics have Brown exulting in how good he feels ("nice, like sugar and spice") now that he has the one he loves, his vocals punctuated by screams and shouts. The song includes an alto sax solo by Maceo Parker.

"I Got You (I Feel Good)" developed from an earlier Brown-penned song, "I Found You", with a nearly identical melody and lyrics. "I Found You" had been recorded by Brown's back-up singer Yvonne Fair and released as a single (King 5594) in 1962, with little success.[1][2]

In 1964, Brown recorded an early version of "I Got You (I Feel Good)" with a different arrangement, including a stuttering rhythm and prominent baritone sax line, under the title "I Got You". This version appeared on the Smash Records album Out of Sight and in the 1965 film Ski Party, in which Brown lip synchs his performance. It was intended for a single release but was withdrawn due to a court order from King Records, with whom Brown was involved in a contract dispute.[3]

Of Brown's 91 hits to reach the Billboard Hot 100, "I Got You (I Feel Good)" is Brown's highest-charting song, peaking at number three. The song remained at the top of the Billboard Rhythm and Blues Singles chart for six non-consecutive weeks, after his previous single, "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag", held the number-one spot for eight weeks.[4] Brown's screams at the beginning and end of the song have been sampled a number of times for hip hop and dance songs. The song has also been covered many times by other performers, and is frequently played at sporting events. The song is played at the Zentralstadion whenever RB Leipzig scores a goal.

In 2000, "I Got You (I Feel Good)" reached number 21 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs in Rock and Roll and number 75 on VH1's 100 Greatest Rock and Roll Dance Songs, one of only seven songs to make both lists. In 2004, "I Got You (I Feel Good)" was ranked number 78 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

"I Got You (I Feel Good)" has appeared in numerous film soundtracks, including The Big Chill (2004's Delux Edition), The Nutty Professor; Good Morning, Vietnam; Home Alone 4; Mr. Jones; It Takes Two; Dr. Dolittle; Boat Trip; Astérix & Obélix: Mission Cléopâtre; K-9; Garfield: The Movie; Exit Wounds; Ernst & Lyset (Ernst and the Light), Transformers, Paddington, and Big Eyes. It has also appeared in film trailers including It Could Happen to You. In 1965 , James Brown, and his vocal group, The Famous Flames (Bobby Byrd, Bobby Bennett and Lloyd Stallworth) performed the song in a cameo appearance, in the American International Pictures comedy film "Ski Party".[5]

The song's television appearances include Tour of Duty episode "The Road to Long Binh", the Simpsons episode "Bart's Inner Child" (with Brown himself singing it), the Alvin and the Chipmunks episode "Kong!" (a parody of the 1976 King Kong film) as performed by Alvin and the Chipmunks, the Full House episode "The Return of Grandma", the Malcolm in the Middle episode "Morp", the Lost episode "The Greater Good", and the Miami Vice episode "Missing Hours" in which Brown made a guest appearance as a former music star-turned-con man who promotes extraterrestrial life. In the series finale of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, "I, Done", Philip Banks dances to the song on his birthday; also in the episode "Cold Feet, Hot Body", when Will Smith sees the homewrecker girl Denise again at Lisa's bridal shower he screams and then sings this song just so Lisa doesn't know that he and Denise kissed, but Will already turned Denise down since he loves Lisa and becomes friends with Lisa afterwards, thus being invited to the bridal shower. In the Step By Step episode "Home Alone" when Frank and Carol Lambert are on a romantic weekend at a hotel and when Frank throws his back out and doesn't want Carol to know he through his back out he sings this song when he screams "Ow!" out of pain; also in the episode of Step By Step "College Bound" when Dana gets her first D and her siblings find out, Mark starts singing this song to celebrate that he's now the number one smartest kid in the family. In the Punky Brewster episode "Just So No", Mike Fulton sang this song to Punky Brewster when he was telling her his life story about peer pressure and how he does an impression of James Brown and sings this song. Kids Incorporated covered "I Feel Good" in 1993 in the Season 9 episode "Dating Anxiety". It is heard in a 2020 TV commercial for Applebee's.

It was also played on NTV7, a Malaysian television channel, as it plays the song accompanied by the clips of its programmes at the start and end of the day's broadcast since its launch in 1998 until around 2006. It reflects the slogan of the channel, that is "Your Feel Good Channel". It also makes occasional appearances on Soccer Saturday when presenter and lifelong Hartlepool United fan Jeff Stelling produces a doll each time winger James Brown scores, much to the mirth of the studio experts and the viewers (with some viewers being made to drink if they are playing the drinking game to accompany it).

The song, recorded possibly by a sound-alike band, was used in a commercial for Autolite spark plugs in the 1980s where human beings were used as spark plugs and were dancing or exercising to the song and informing the person who opened the hood about their guarantee.

• James Brown — vocals

with the James Brown Orchestra:

• Ron Tooley — trumpet
• Joe Dupars — trumpet
• Levi Rasbury — trombone
• Mike Ridley — trumpet
• Nat Jones — alto saxophone, Hammond organ
• St. Clair Pinckney — tenor saxophone
• Eldee Williams – tenor saxophone
• Al "Brisco" Clark – tenor saxophone
• Maceo Parker — alto saxophone
• Jimmy Nolen — electric guitar
• David "Hooks" Williams – bass guitar
• Melvin Parker — drums