BETTER BE GOOD TO ME
Writers: Holly Knight/ Mike Chapman
A prisoner of your love
entangled in your web
hot whispers in the night
I’m captured by your spell
Oh yes I’m touched by this show of emotion
Should I be fractured by your lack of devotion
Should I should I
Oh you better be good to me
That’s how it’s gotta be now
Cause I don’t have no use
for what you losely call the truth
You better be good to me
And I think it’s oh so right
That we don’t need to fight
When we stand face to face
and you present your case
and I know you keep telling me that you love me
and I really do wanna believe
but did you think I’d just accept you in blind faith
Oh sure babe, anything to please you
But you better be good to me
That’s how it’s gotta be now
Cause I don’t have the time
For your over loaded lines
and I don’t have no use
for what you loosely call the truth
You better be good to me
And I really don’t see why it’s so hard to be
Good to me
And I don’t understand what’s your plan
that you can’t be good to me
What I can’t feel I surely cannot see why can’t you be
Good to me
If it is not real I do not wish to see why can’t you be
Good to me
Oh you better be good to me
That’s how it’s gotta be now
Cause I don’t have no use
for what you losely call the truth
You better be good to me
1. BETTER BE GOOD TO ME
‘This is the first song I ever wrote with Mike Chapman and it was a life changing moment for me, the whole experience. (The writing credits also include Mike’s longtime partner, Nicky Chinn, but the truth is Nicky wasn’t in the country when we wrote ‘Better be Good To Me’. Because of his contractual agreements with Mike, I had to agree to let his name go on as a writer. I was never happy about that) .
My band Spider was in the finishing stages of the second record, and I wanted Mike to produce a track this time. (I had always wanted Mike to produce us from the beginning, but he had other commitments so he designated Peter Coleman, his longtime engineer as our producer). I thought that if I wrote the song with Mike, I could convince him to produce the track as well, which he did. It was soon after its release, when I left Spider that it was played to Tina Turner in an A & R meeting at Capitol Records. Legend has it that she jumped out of her seat and said, ‘this is it, this is what I want to sing, and the message I’ve been wanting to say’. Nine songs later, it has been my experience that Tina does not like to sing songs where she is perceived as a victim. She only wants to sing positive, empowering songs. I love that about her’. -HK
- Worldwide, Private Dancer has been estimated to have sold over 20 million copies
- Has been on every Tina Turner Greatest Hits package and been performed on every Tina Turner tour to this day
- Featured on the platinum selling Miami Vice Soundtrack
