Best Song Ever: Jesse Matheson's "Good Times"

We've decided that "Good Times" by Jesse Matheson is the Best Song Ever!

So we talked to Matheson about his awesome tune.

CHARTattack: Can you tell me a little bit about how you wrote "Good Times"?
Jesse Matheson: I think the genesis is just trying to be an optimist and looking on the bright side of things and not being a negative nilly or ninny or whatever that term is.

A lot of the things in this song you could get really negative about, it seems like some of them more than others.
Yeah, glass half full or half empty. Goes back to being an optimist, I guess.

Indeed. Do you mind if we just go through the song and talk about some of the lyrics?
Sure. It's a little personal, but... sure.

So, did any of this stuff happen to you or anyone you know?
Yes, it did.

So did anyone ever give you the first full season of Felicity on DVD?
In fact, I did get the first full season of Felicity and Moonlighting. It was a tossup between the two to go in the song, but I think Felicity's a little more relevant these days than Moonlighting.

Um, someone actually threw up on you while you were making out with them?
Well, no, they didn't throw up on me...

They threw up and you kept making out?
(Laughing) Well... yes. Things were happening, progressing and we were young and excited and she said she wasn't feeling too well and she left the room, and then she came back into the room.

I said, "Are you OK? Did something happen?" and she was like, "Yeah, I'm fine. I just threw up, but... it's OK!"

She brushed her teeth. That's what part I left out of the song.

I played a festival a few years ago and that old girlfriend, she came to the festival, and her and I hadn't spoken in years and years, and when I was getting ready for that, y'know, that lyric, that line in the song, man, I was so excited that she was sitting there in the crowd. Right when I got to it, somebody tapped her on the shoulder and started chatting with her and it broke my heart! I don't think she's aware that it's been immortalized, our little puke story.

So is this song all about the same woman, or...?
(Laughing) I wouldn't say all about necessarily the same woman, no.

Leaving you in the room when the phone rang... that's like something out of Seinfeld, you know, when George gets his wallet stolen by the woman who takes him back to her apartment?
Yeah, when she steals his pants?

Yeah, I don't know what to say.
I'd say from here on, quite a bit is exaggerated. Thank goodness I didn't catch anybody in bed with a hobo.

The whole bris thing, is that exaggerated as well?
I dated a Jewish girl for a while, and that was always the conversation about the possibility of, you know, leading towards her denomination and it always would have been a hilarious thing if at the end of everything she had been like, "Haaaa! Psyche!" But, yeah, phew!

Tony Danza. Are you a Tony Danza fan, or...?
I find joy in Tony Danza.

Who's The Boss? more than anything else?
It's the big question in life: who IS the boss? Tony Danza's kind of one of the first people to bring that out into the popular mainstream. But I also think it's hilarious that Tony, every single show he's been on, his name's been Tony.

It's very hilarious. It's like he can't do any other role.
I know, it's like, "My name's Tony and I used to be a professional boxer," in Taxi. "My name's Tony, I used to be a professional baseball player" in Who's The Boss? and I think he had a couple other sitcoms where he was Tony.

So, no one's ever opened a crystal meth lab in your basement?
No, but I had a friend in Alabama who that happened to.

Really?
Yeah, the funny thing was the place was right across the street from the courthouse in a small town called Fayette, Alabama.

Were they caught?
They did get caught, but it was pretty dubious to be, you know, running a crystal meth lab right across across the street from a courthouse.

Yeah, that's very bold. So when you wrote this, what were you hoping to inspire in people who heard it?
Well, I think everybody kind of has their relationships that when you look back on it, part of you says, "Man, I love that person and I miss that person and things were so great." But then when you say what you thought was so great out loud, sometimes it's pretty horrific and awful and they were pretty toxic relationships.

I think everybody can relate to that one. You know, just having nostalgia for awful times. I do. That puke story, I still think that's very sweet and there's something kind of, I won't say naive, but we were young and enthusiastic, and we weren't going to let a little thing like that get in the way.

So, what did you do with that first season of Felicity? Do you still have it? Did you give it so someone?
I haven't done anything with it yet. It's on my to do list. It's not very high up there on my to do list, but...

Do you have any messages for anyone who's kind of down on their luck or going through a bad breakup, that kind of thing?
I think it's really simple: just think about the good times. There's always a silver lining, but sometimes the silver lining is that you are away from that person now. I think that's kind of the big message.

Jesse Matheson has kindly provided us with a free download of "Good Times," which you can get by clicking here.