The Shamen – Ebeneezer Goode

Its all about the Jolly Roger instrumental on this one. Worth buying just for that one.

A well crafted, rave tinged pop song replete with cheery melody and catchy chorus. Love it or hate it the lyrics are genius - an early 90’s addition to a lineage of substance themed pop hits which tapped into the zeitgeist.

It’s subversive theme facilitated it’s meteoric climb up the UK charts - to the horror of the red tops, and - to the delight of every adolescent across the country (myself included) bouncing around their bedroom radios; most of whom’s association with warehouses began and finished with being dragged around B&Q - not the M25 - one dank weekend by their folks.

Contextually, it rolled in alongside the influx of popular crossover rave singles: 2 unlimited-like stuff, toytown techno, breakbeat and other commercial dance fluff that was mainlining the charts in 1992, a consequence of the burgeoning notoriety of the rave scene. An additional reason The Shamen were much maligned (ahem) Dance music was becoming mainstream and this was the rave equivalent of hippy wigs at Woolworths 🚬 🥕💨

There’s a remix for every day of the week

i dotn seem to this when it was out, but i have a fondness for it. so much better than the horrors of cascada, ultrabeat, dj sammy et al that was to come. the early 90s was good , for everyone. including me..

Ebeneezer Goode was one of those novelty Techno tracks that became a number one song in Australia in 1992. Even though the song has cryptic but heavy drug references, the song was not censored at all because the Australian censors, authorities and government had no idea about Rave music and its drug culture. I believe the song was number one in England during the BBC's Drug Awareness week in 1992, The Shamen must have loved that! It's also surprising that Ebeneezer Goode is gifted a Richie Hawtin remix. According to Mr. C, at the height of Ebeneezer Goode's success, everywhere he went, people would shout at him: "E's are good, E's are good!!"

The Meat Beat Manifesto remixes take a "pop" hit and turns it into a ragged breakbeat beast of a tune. The vocal mix leaves you with vestiges of the orignal so you can orientate yourself, but once you hit the MBM instrumental, you're off the map. Every other remix on this shows its age, but the MBM instrumental is still a very respectable tune unto itself. This (along with some Orb remixes) set the standard of how to approach remixing for me. Don't just make a slightly different version/arrangement, but turn it inside out and upside down and make it yours.

I never understood why he was singing "A's are good A's are good.." ??
I always thought Move any Mountain was better anyway thats what we all danced to up in Scotland!

The regular version is mediocre but the Acid Remixes (A3, B1) are awesome if you like the acid rave type songs from the early '90s.

This record is interesting, because on the back cover it is mentioned " Made in England " but on the record it is mentioned "Made In ". 78TP12 on the cover and the record.

Often blamed for being the final nail in the coffin of the “serious” rave scene, I think "Ebeneezer Goode" is a fantastic pop moment and a definite cultural event - a point where a nation had to face the fact that a significant portion of its population were not only using large quantities of illegal substances, but were thoroughly enjoying themselves and laughing in the face of the establishment while doing so. It was also a great modern sounding techno pop song and catchy as Chlamydia. It wouldn’t have worked if it hadn’t been - to be truly subversive, you have to infiltrate the mainstream. The Small Faces had done a similar thing with "Here comes the Nice" and “Itchycoo Park” back in 1967.

Of course the Shamen argued that it wasn’t about drugs - almost as hilarious as the song itself. But they somehow managed to avoid a BBC ban and it went to the top of the UK charts. What many forget is that the Shamen actually deleted this themselves, possibly fearing that their credibility was suffering. By then though, the damage was done.

Prior to Ebeneezer, the Shamen were considered THE FUTURE by many: A new techno psychedelia with a new enlightened philosophy, based on advocating the widespread use of Ecstasy, believing it would bring increased insight, empathy and understanding to an increasingly materialistic and selfish world: An update of the 13th Floor Elevators acid philosophy of 1966/7, but this time with a drug that didn’t send you mental. After this release, they were seen as a joke by just about everyone. I arguing with friends of mine who had accompanied me to the Hacienda to see them before Ebeneezer was released. They were horrified by the song, feeling that it was a betrayal of their underground ideals. I had always found the Shamen to be a little po-faced and preachy, whether they were talking politics or drugs, but this showed that they at least had a sense of humour.

Basically the nice thing about this mediocre The Shamen release 'Ebeneezer Goode', is the metaphorical humour. The track is about this strange guy called Ebeneezer Goode and everytime when he's around it's funtime. In fact the track is just an hommage to 3,14 mdma aka ecstacy. The "Eezer Goode, Eezer Goode!" shouts are just hilarious. E's are good, E's are good ... get it?

This excerpt from the track's lyrics is a lovely illustration of the above:

"Ebeneezer Goode, leading light of the scene
Know what I mean, see
He created the vibe
He takes you for a ride and as if by design
The party ignites like he's comin alive
He takes you to the top, shakes you all around
Then back down, you know as he gets mellow
Then as smooth as the groove that is making you move
He glides into your mind with a sunny Hello
A gentleman of leisure, he's there for your pleasure"

Unbvelievable that The Shamen topped 4 weeks at the number 1 spot in the UK charts with this cheeky drug hymn. Naughty, naughty, very naughty.