
Right Said Fred: It struck us how natural it is for people to congregate and have a good time and how unnatural the lockdown was.
Fred Fairbrass of the returning 90s pop sensations gives us the inside information on each track from the new EP
The brothers Fred and Richard Fairbrass are two pop princes who, along with Rob Manzoli, charmed music lovers around the world in the early 90s as Right Said Fred. Though best known for the iconic singles I’m Too Sexy, Don’t Talk Just Kiss and Deeply Dippy, their debut album Up was also a massive hit, earning two-times platinum status in the UK and going gold in the US.
Thankfully, the (now) duo’s story didn’t end there and they’ve continued doing their thing ever since. The last few years have seen something of a mainstream resurgence (partly inspired by Taylor Swift interpolating I’m Too Sexy on her 2017 single Look What You Made Me Do). That’s not to say they necessarily need the help of global megastars. Sweet Treats, their own single from the same year, showed that they still have that of matching catchy pop numbers with Richard’s distinctive baritone.
The brothers now return with new EP Good Times Everybody. Here, Fred give us the lowdown on each of the tracks.
GOOD TIMES EVERYBODY
The song is based on a four-chord turnaround. We had the guitar riff sitting around awhile but couldn’t find a home for it until we played it against the four chords.
Brexit was in full swing, the verse lyrics and the “better this time” section were written about the division in the UK; the animosity online between Leave and Remain was toxic.
The chorus “good times everybody” was written during the first week of lockdown in the UK. We were compiling live footage and it struck us how natural it is for people to congregate and have a good time and how unnatural the lockdown was. It was important to us that the song had a feel-good-factor and conveyed a positive message.
TIDE
We wrote this with Paul Statham in 2015. I think we were working on another track, Paul had an arpeggio on a synth looping and we started humming the chorus topline and possibly the lyric, I can’t remember exactly. We took it away to work on, we wrote the verse quite a while later.
The song is about time passing, the idea being to count your blessings, realise what you have as opposed to what you want or what you think you need. All we have is now so enjoy it as best you can. We added a ticking clock to the percussion track to accentuate that message.
We initially had programmed drums but, during an Abbey Road session, we got Johnny Brister to put down the drum track. Rich is a bass baritone. We really liked the low D he hits throughout the track, it’s very arresting, few contemporary singers can do that.

Right Said Fred: We have spent quite a lot of time drinking in strip bars, plus they generally play good music.
LAP DANCE JUNKIE
This song was on our Fredhead album from 2001. We love the song and in particular the lyrics, so we decided to revisit it.
On the road we often fancy a drink after a show. It’s very common for hotel bars to close but if there’s a strip bar in town it will almost definitely be open. We have spent quite a lot of time drinking in strip bars, plus they generally play good music.
The song is about observing the type of guys we saw in the bars, addicted to the girls or a particular girl. Some of the guys seemed to believe they had a relationship with one of the girls. They fall in love, they look longingly at the girls, it’s quite sad.
Basically it’s a song about unrequited love.
The Good Times Everybody EP is out now. For all the latest Right Said Fred news, check out rightsaidfred.com
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