Tell Me Something Good


"Tell Me Something Good" is a song by Rufus included on their 1974 album Rags to Rufus, written by Stevie Wonder and released in 1974. This was the first and only hit credited to Rufus, as once singer Chaka Khan's voice became the focus of the group, they changed their name to "Rufus featuring Chaka Khan" for their next album. The single was a hit in the United States, peaking at number three on the [Billboard Hot 100|Billboard Hot 100] and spent one week at number one on the Cash Box Top 100. It was among the earliest hits to use the guitar talk box, by Tony Maiden.

Production

The record was written by Stevie Wonder and produced by the band alongside Bob Monaco.
The song has been described as having ".. rude metallic guitar" and ".. a beautiful bass, clav and heavy breathing groove." The song can be difficult to count as there is an off-count into the verse. The first note is on the "and of four."

Critical reception

Bud Scoppa of Rolling Stone found the song has lots of "tension and charm from 's tough, sexy vocals."
Jason Elias of AllMusic described the song as "a rare instance of an artist like Stevie Wonder giving away a tune that he could have had a big hit with himself."

Promotion

On July 5, 1974, the band played the song on The [Midnight Special |The Midnight Special] and on September 7, played the song, along with "You Got The Love", on Don Cornelius's show Soul Train.

Accolades

Rufus won a Grammy in the category of Grammy Award for [Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals|Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus] for "Tell Me Something Good".

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Personnel

  • Chaka Khan – lead vocals, background vocals
  • Ron Stockert – vocals, keyboards
  • Kevin Murphy – organ, Hohner clavinet
  • Nate Morgan – keyboards
  • Al Ciner – guitar
  • Tony Maiden – guitar, talk box
  • Dennis Belfield – bass, background vocals
  • André Fischer – drums, percussion

    In popular culture

  • BET cable network aired and produced a phone-in game show named after the song. Julie Rogers hosted this show which was a short-lived, live call-in game show where home viewers have to answer one question of the day that was followed by a panel of three celebrity judges ranking the best responses for a prize. It aired from 1988 to 1989.
  • On Will & Grace, Karen tells Jack that this is the song to which she and Stan make love. She then walks in on her husband cheating on her with the same song playing. Closed captioning for that episode incorrectly credits the song to Sly and the Family Stone.
  • In That '70s Show, in the episode "Water Tower", Eric walks in on his parents having sex to the song and it plays every time he has recurring nightmares and thoughts of his parents. It also plays on his radio.
  • Ray Romano's character sings in a variation of the song while eating his wife's braciole in the Everybody Loves Raymond season 4 episode 18, "Debra Makes Something Good".
  • New York radio station WCBS-FM had a show in the morning named after the song. The host told the listeners about a positive true event that happened that day. The [Bobby Bones Show] also has a segment named after the song.
  • The song is featured in the season 3 finale of Titans. After Dick Grayson, Conner Kent, and Gar Logan defeat Jonathan Crane, Dick calls Barbara Gordon and asks her to "tell him something good". Bruce Wayne's computer mistakes this request for Dick telling it to play the song, which leads into a montage of the aftermath of the Titans’ heroism.

    Ewan McVicar version

In 2021, Scottish DJ and producer Ewan McVicar released a dance version of the song on Trick Records which was licensed to Ministry of Sound. It reached the UK Singles Chart in September 2021, entering the top 40 of the chart dated October 15–21, 2021. On 5 November 2021, the song had reached number 15. It was certified gold by the BPI in 2022. It also reached No. 12 in Ireland, No. 34 on the Dutch Top 40 and No. 49 on the US Billboard Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart.

Charts

Certifications

Covers and samples