About The Song
Good Feeling (1957) by Three Dog Night is one of those hidden gems that never became a radio single but still managed to become a fan favorite for all the right reasons. It appeared on the band’s album It Ain’t Easy, which dropped on March 31, 1970, and climbed to No. 8 on the Billboard 200. While the record is best remembered for the massive hit “Mama Told Me (Not to Come),” this track quietly earned its own spot in the band’s live sets for years.
The song started life in late 1968 when Alan Brackett of the Los Angeles band The Peanut Butter Conspiracy sat down to write it. At the time, his group was the house band at The Factory, a glamorous Hollywood club where Frank Sinatra and his crowd hung out. The venue needed something upbeat that people could dance to, so Brackett knocked out a breezy, feel-good number he simply called “Good Feelin’.” He later recalled, “I needed something with a good feeling, so I wrote that song. It was just to have a good dance tune.” He gave it a swinging rhythm he had been playing since his school days and even tossed in a little studio trick at the end he had learned at home.
Brackett and bandmate John Merrill sent a demo—sung by their own Barbara—to various artists on a whim. Three Dog Night heard it and instantly clicked with the track. Chuck Negron started singing along right there in the studio when the tape rolled. The band decided to cut their own version for It Ain’t Easy, keeping the joyful, party spirit intact but giving it a full-on 1950s doo-wop makeover. They even retitled it “Good Feeling (1957)” to lean into the nostalgia.
Though Three Dog Night never released it as a single, the song quickly became a live staple. The band turned it into a full theatrical bit on The Midnight Special, complete with 1950s outfits and a short film segment showing them getting dressed up in period clothes. Audiences loved the tongue-in-cheek energy, and the routine stayed in the set list for years. Brackett has said he made more money from this one song than from everything he did with The Peanut Butter Conspiracy combined. Ironically, the original group’s own recording of “Good Feelin’” stayed in the vault until 2014, when it finally surfaced on their album Barbara. By then, most people already knew the tune through Three Dog Night’s version.