Do you see that? Do you feel that? THAT, dear reader, is the feeling you get knowing summer is right around the corner. It’s getting warm. It’s the exact time of the year that reminds me why I bought a convertible in the Northeast.
That being said, there’s no better song to go along with that feeling than Paul Revere & the Raiders’ Good Thing. It’s a song that is undoubtedly in the hall of fame of forgotten driving songs. Oddly specific categorization? Maybe, but I don’t care.
A little history on Paul Revere and his raiders. They first came to be in the late 1950s in Boise, Idaho (real America, so I’m told). Their first run lasted all the way through 1976. They took a couple years off and were back and better than ever in 1978 – lasting all the way until 2014 when Paul Revere was no longer alive. As for the Raiders? There were a shit ton over the years so it’s hard to say – over 30.
But back to “Good Thing.” The song was originally released in 1966. Being that I am only 25, I did not hear it then. However, I did hear it when Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood premiered in 2019. Immediately after I watched the movie I was obsessed with the song – especially when I was driving.
Something about the song just felt so – I don’t know – warm. I’d analyze the lyrics, but I’m really not smart enough to do that, and there’s no way you’re interested enough to read about that. What you need to do is listen, put the top down (or lower the windows), bask in the early-Spring sunlight and pretend you’re Brad Pitt.