"Tell Me Something Good"

(hat tip to Discogs for the pic)

There are some songs that are just cool. Stevie Wonder has more than his share of cool songs, and Tell Me Something Good is one of the best examples, even though he never had a successful cover of it.

The best known and most popular cover of it was by the band Rufus (with Chaka Khan) back in 1974, going all the way to number 1 on the Cash Box top 100 chart. They also garnered a Grammy Award for it.

From the lyrics, it is a song of seduction:

You ain't got no kind of feeling inside
I got something that will sure 'nough set your stuff on fire
You refuse to put anything before your pride
What I got something will knock all your pride aside 

Tell me something good
Tell me that you love me, yeah
Tell me something good
Tell me that you like it, yeah

The most clever part of the lyrics is in the second verse:

Got no time is what you're known to say
I'll make you wish there was forty eight hours to each day

More recently, the song was given a good cover by Pink, in the 2006 movie Happy Feet.


Pink shows Tell Me Something Good covers cannot travel too far from the original. The song requires that slow, awkward tempo, which helps to give the lyrics their seductive power.

Tell Me Something Good is a song which has stood the test of time quite well, even if it is very much an example of the 1970's R&B genre.