Let the Good Times Roll (Louis Jordan song)

"Let the Good Times Roll" is "Louis Jordan's buoyant invitation to party":[2]

Hey everybody, let's have some fun
You only live but once, and when you're dead you're done
So let the good times roll, let the good times roll
Don't care if you're young or old, get together let the good times roll

The song was written by Sam Theard, a New Orleans-born blues singer and songwriter, and was co-credited to Fleecie Moore, Jordan's wife, who never wrote a lyric in her life (however, her name was sometimes substituted for Jordan's to get around an inconvenient publishing contract; this strategy backfired when Louis and Fleecie divorced acrimoniously and she kept ownership of the songs he'd put her name on – thus denying him any income from them). Jordan and the Tympany Five performed the song in the 1947 film Reet, Petite, and Gone, although the studio recording rather than a live performance is used in the soundtrack.

"Let the Good Times Roll" reached number two in the Billboard R&B chart in 1947. Its A-side, "Ain't Nobody Here but Us Chickens", was the top number one record of 1947 in that chart — both songs spent nearly six months there.[3] In 2009, the song was acknowledged with a Grammy Hall of Fame Award.[4]

The Blues Foundation added the song to its Hall of Fame in 2013 in the "Classic of Blues Recording — Singles or Album Tracks" category.[2] The induction announcement noted that the song "became a standard show opener for countless blues artists over the years, from B.B. King to Koko Taylor.[2] "Let the Good Times Roll" has also been identified as inspiring "Come On" by Earl King[5] and "Bon Ton Roulet" by Clifton Chenier.[6]