Music Heard on Good Times

Hello Good Times fans. You just don't know how happy I am to finally see more Good Times sites on the web!

Are you one of those people (like me) who try to figure out what music your favorite TV shows use? Well after several years of listening and learning, I was able to compile this incomplete list of funky music that was used on the 70s sitcom Good Times.

Music played a big part in Good Times, and as a Funk/Soul music collector and DJ, I have some tidbits that you may find interesting.

For instance, the song that was playing at the Evans' New Year's Eve party when they got the telegram that James was dead was Movin' by Brass Construction. Below is a collection of several more songs:

Season 2 - Episode #34 My Girl Henrietta

Thelma takes Henrietta to her room for some girl talk. Henrietta grooves her pregnant body to the sounds of Pick Up the Pieces, by Average White Band.

Season 3 - Episode #51 Cleatus

The music the family is listening to as their brand new record player blows a fuse, causing their lights to go out, eventually helping them to nab Cleatus, is Once You Get Started, by Rufus and Chaka Khan.

Season 3 - Episode #61 The Rent Party

The Evans' neighbor, Wanda, is in danger of being evicted for failure to pay back rent. The Evans family holds a party and charges addmission. Michael sings When You're Young And in Love by Ralph Carter.

Season 4 - Episode #70 Florida's Night Out

Wilona takes Florida on a much needed night out on the town. They go to a club where they spot Bookman, and Florida dances the night away with a bald gentleman to the sounds of Hey Girl, Come and Get It by Van McCoy. McCoy's popular hit The Hustle was also sang and danced by the cast as they celebrated New Year's Eve with a dying elderly man on the "Season 3 - Episode #53 A Place to Die" episode.

Season 4 - Episode #62 The Big Move (Part 1)

The background music playing at the New Year's Eve party as the family reads the telegram informing them of James' death is Movin by Brass Construction.

Season 4 - Episode #67 J.J's New Career

In this episode JJ is unknowingly working for drug dealers. JJ, his two "employers," and some female friends are chilling in their posh apartment to the sounds of Get the Funk Out My Face by The Brothers Johnson, though we only hear the very end of the song.

Season 5 - Episode #91 Thelma Moves Out

Thelma's food-loving football player roomate, The Bear, dances around the apartment listening to Won't You Come Dance With Me by The Commodores on his transistor radio.

Season 5 - Episode #109 That's Entertainment, Evans Style

During the talent show, Thelma performs some modern dance moves to Native New Yorker by Odyssey.

Season 6 - Episode #112 Florida's Homecoming (Part 3)

The wedding song Michael sings is Stevie Wonder's You and I, re-made later in 1979 by O'Brien.

Season 6 - Episode #123 The Snowstorm

Florida and the school bus kids all dance and sing Jimmy Bo Horne's song called Dance Across the Floor in order to keep warm.

Season 6 - Episode #129 A Matter of Mothers

The music playing at the wild party that was planned by Penny's biological mother in order to set Willona up was Shake Your Body Down to the Ground by The Jacksons.

Other Odds and Ends:

Ralph Carter actually released a record album in 1976 on Mercury records called When You're Young and in Love. A single was also released for the title track. If you remember, Ralph Carter sang that song on "Episode #61 The Rent Party," when the Evans family helped out their neighbor, Wanda.

Ja'net DuBois wrote and sang the theme song for The Jeffersons, Movin' On Up. She was also a cast member of the short-lived TV sitcom featuring singer Morris Day of The Time, in which he played a hairdresser. I can't remember for the life of me the title of that sitcom, but some major Prince fans should know, perhaps.

Thelma Evans had a poster of Sly Stone in her bedroom. She also had a Stevie Wonder poster too.

The artist who did "J.J.'s paintings (Ernie Barnes) also did the cover of Marvin Gaye's album I Want You. You can check the album artwork out at this great Marvin Gaye site. The artwork looks just like one of the paintings that J.J. featured in the show.

The information on this page was researched and provided by Melissa. Visit her Funk/Soul D.J. Web Site where you may listen 'live' online, saturday nights.