Knack – Good Girls Don’t ….Power Pop Friday

Good girls don’tGood girls don’tBut, she’ll be telling youGood girls don’tBut I do

The Knack was huge after their debut album but the record company wanted another one quickly. That was a huge mistake. A band takes years and years to make their first album. What I mean is they are writing songs as teenagers and later until they get a record deal. They use most of them up for the debut and now are stuck with coming up with a new album in a few months. That is a hard chore to do and why there is a sophomore slump with some bands.

Good Girls Don’t was released by the Knack in 1979 off the album Get the Knack. It was written by Knack singer  Doug Fieger and peaked at 11 on the Billboard Charts. Everyone knows their other big single off that album “My Sharona” but I really liked this one at the time and still do. I was going to write…this song would not fly today but…I’ve heard rap songs that make this sound like Mother Goose.

One of the main reasons I like this song is the bridge. I don’t talk about a song’s bridge very much but it’s put together well. It starts with it’s a teenage sadness and builds. I will say this…I still like My Sharona…but I’ve My Sharonaed out. I still like it but in small doses. This one is a lot of fun.

I was 12 about to be 13 when I heard this song for the first time. For a new teenage boy, it was a great song. Fieger wrote this song in 1972 and didn’t want to record it for the album until the producer talked him into it. It is a strong power pop song with some edgy lyrics for 1979 and a “clean” single was released also that edited out the naughty things. It is a teenage song but it’s still fun.

The first video is the cleaner version of them in the studio…the second is the real version.

Good Girls Don’t

She’s your adolescent dreamSchool boy stuffA sticky, sweet romanceAnd she makes you wanna screamWishing you could get inside her pants

So you fantasize awayWhile you’re squeezing herYou thought you heard her saying

Good girls don’tGood girls don’tBut, she’ll be telling youGood girls don’tBut I do

So you call her on the phoneTo talk about the teachers that you hateAnd she says she’s all aloneAnd her parents won’t be coming home ’til late

There’s a ringing in your brain‘Cause you could have sworeYou thought you heard her saying

Good girls don’tGood girls don’tBut, she’ll be telling youGood girls don’tBut I do

And it’s a teenage sadnessEveryone has got to tasteAn in-between age madnessThat you know you can’t erase‘Til she’s sitting on your face

You’re alone with her at lastAnd you’re waiting ’til you think the time is right‘Cause you’ve heard she’s pretty fastAnd you’re hoping that she’ll give you some tonight

So, you start to make your play‘Cause you could have sworeYou thought you heard her saying

Good girls don’tGood girls don’tBut, she’ll be telling youGood girls don’tBut I do

And it’s a teenage sadnessEveryone has got to tasteAn in-between age madnessThat you know you can’t erase‘Til she’s sitting on your face(And it hurts)

Good girls don’tGood girls don’tBut, she’ll be telling youGood girls don’tBut I do

Good girls don’tGood girls don’tBut, she’ll be telling youGood girls don’tBut I doBut I doBut I doBut I do

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

30 thoughts on “Knack – Good Girls Don’t ….Power Pop Friday”

  2. A #1 hit in Canada if I remember correctly. It’s a good one…I was just getting old enough to have an idea of what the ‘naughty’ bits were about, and of course as a tween I couldn’t get enough! Still do think it’s a catchy song. Unfortunately , like you said, Capitol rushed them , marketed them badly (directly comparing them to the Beatles… not smart) and Fieger, back then , from what I’ve read did not come across well at all to radio people or journalists when interviewed. Put together , it marked them as a One Hit Wonder, even if they actually did have TWO hits.

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    1. They had a song in the 80s that was a minor hit…it was called Rocket of Love I believe…it was really good…check it out when you can.

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    2. Well WP didn’t save the chart postiitions I did…I touched it up last night….I had the US, Canada, and New Zealand on there… Well I probably didn’t hit “Update”

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  4. Great track and man how about that first verse lol…. Record company destroyed there career as the followup was a flop but like yourself I was 12 going on 13 and when I heard those lyrics it was like Feiger was teaching me the birds and bees and than of course a year later when AC/DC put out Back In Black I was really schooled by that whole albums lyrics! lol

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      1. Sex Ed via vinyl? Things sure were different then. Ah, silly youthful days; even in the first verse it had any growing acne-faced near teen snickering.
        Great song and its a shame they were relegated to one-hit wondersville.

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  7. I was never a big fan of “My Sharona”, and it got tons of airplay. It even failed to win me a free bike in a contest in which I was to choose a specific bike and tell them why they should give it to you. I picked a bike built by Ben Serotta and gave my reasons in a parody song “My Serotta”.

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    1. See… I thought you would know this one….the next two not so much but next week….ALL covers…that is the theme.
      Oh this is a dream song for a teenage boy. Not a song you would want to sing out loud as a girl lol

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    1. Oh yea! That song was great but whew…it was worn out lol. I loved this one when it was released…it was a good hit at #11…but not as g-g-g-good as that other one.

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