Today’s completely forgotten classic song of the day is “I Could Be So Good to You” by the equally forgotten band, Don and the Goodtimes. This track is virtually unplayed on oldies stations today, probably because it only reached #56 on the Billboard Hot 100 when it was released in 1967. It had more success regionally, especially in the Northwest, where the Goodtimes were from, topping the charts on radio stations in Seattle, Portland, and Vancouver.
The song was co-written by Jack Nitzsche and Greg Dempsey, and produced by Nitzsche. Nizsche, of course, was the legendary West Coast producer and songwriter, a veteran of Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound scene and a huge talent in his own right. Dempsey was less successful overall than his partner on this tune, but wrote songs that charted for Kathy Dalton and fellow Wall of Sound veteran Leon Russell.
“I Could Be So Good to You” has a very Spectorish Wall of Sound feel, perhaps a little dated by the time it was released in 1967. That’s enhanced by Nizsche’s use of L.A. studio musicians from the Wrecking Crew, including guitarists Glen Campbell, James Burton, and Ry Cooder; keyboardist Larry Knechtel; and uber-drummer Hal Blaine. It’s very much a Wrecking Crew track, with hints of Beach Boy-like harmonies.
As noted, Don and the Goodtimes hailed from the Northwest—Portland, Oregon, to be precise. The band was formed in 1964 by keyboardist and singer Don Galluci (ex of the Kingsmen, who had a huge hit with “Louie Louie”) with a rotating selection of Goodtimers backing him up. They started out as a garage rock band but eventually transformed into a bit of a show band, similar to Paul Revere and the Raiders, and in fact shared many of the same members with the Raiders on a rotating basis. Don and his little group got national attention when they became the house band on Dick Clark’s Where the Action Is weekly TV show.
“I Could Be So Good to You” was the group’s biggest hit, an attempt to sound more commercial by bringing in Nitzsche and the Wrecking Crew. It worked, to some extent, but it wasn’t enough to bring the stardom they’d been seeking, and the group broke up a year later.
Don Galluci went on to become a successful record producer; he was a house producer for Elektra records and produced the Stooges’ groundbreaking second album, Funhouse. Jack Nitzsche continued his long and storied career as a producer, collaborating with the likes of Neil Young, the Rolling Stones, Graham Parker, and Willie DeVille. He also had much success in the movies, writing songs and scores for many films, including An Officer and a Gentleman (he won an Oscar for the song “Up Where We Belong“), One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Exorcist, The Jewel of the Nile, Mermaids, and one of my personal favorites, the somewhat obscure Windy City. He passed away in 2000, following a massive stroke he suffered the previous year.
And here’s a real rarity, a clip of Don and the Goodtimes lip synching “I Could Be So Good to You” on American Bandstand back in 1967. They definitely had some Dick Clark connections.
