Right Here, Right Now (Fatboy Slim song)

"Right Here, Right Now"
Single by Fatboy Slim
from the album You've Come a Long Way, Baby
B-side"Don't Forget Your Teeth"
Released19 April 1999 (1999-04-19)[1]
Length
  • 6:27 (album version)
  • 5:58 (single version)
  • 3:56 (radio edit)
LabelSkint
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Fatboy Slim
Fatboy Slim singles chronology
"Praise You"
(1999) 		"Right Here, Right Now"
(1999) 		"Build It Up – Tear It Down"
(1999)
Music video
"Right Here, Right Now" on YouTube

"Right Here, Right Now" is a song by British big beat musician Fatboy Slim, released on 19 April 1999 as the fourth single from his second studio album, You've Come a Long Way, Baby (1998). The song samples "Ashes, the Rain & I" by James Gang and an Angela Bassett quote from American science fiction thriller film Strange Days (1995).[2] "Right Here, Right Now" reached number two on the UK Singles Chart and became a top-40 hit in Australia, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, New Zealand, and the Walloon region of Belgium. It was voted by Mixmag readers as the 10th-greatest dance record of all time.[3]

Critical reception

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The Scottish newspaper Daily Record called the song "brilliant".[4] Its popularity was further spread across Europe through viral use in advertisements by companies such as Adidas.[5]

Upon release, Right Here, Right Now rose to #2 on the UK singles chart. Over the course of the year, it placed 71 out of 100 on the Top 100 UK Singles Chart.[6] Later, in February of 2013, Mixmag readers voted for it to be number 10 on a list of 50 of the greatest Dance Tracks.[7]

Music video

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The music video for the song, created by Hammer & Tongs, is an elaborate homage to the famous opening sequence of the French educational series Once Upon a Time... Man. It shows a timeline depicting the entire process of human evolution condensed into three and a half minutes. The beginning of the music video is set "350 billion years ago" and starts with a single-celled eukaryote in the ocean transforming into a jellyfish, an aquatic worm-like creature, a pipefish, a pufferfish, and then a barracuda-like fish. It manages to eat a smaller fish before leaping up onto dry land. With a tyrannosaur visible in the background and a mantis in front, it stays still for a few seconds, becoming an amphibian before setting off and eating the insect, while a volcano erupts in the background.

The amphibian transforms into a small alligator as it enters a forest. It sees a tall tree, which it climbs up. Its body is obscured by the tree as its hands visibly change into those of three different primates until it arrives at the top as an ape that vaguely resembles a chimpanzee. It jumps from the tree into an icy landscape, enduring a blizzard as it morphs into a larger, gorilla-like ape.

At the end of a large cliff, the ape beats its chest as the camera zooms out to show a vast desert. The ape jumps onto the ground, where it begins running. A large storm blows away much of its hair, turning it into a hominid reminiscent of a homo erectus (at this point the timer at the bottom right slows dramatically). It runs faster and puts on some trousers and a T-shirt with the logo "I'm #1 so why try harder". When fully clothed, it turns into a modern human with a beard.

The man walks through a city environment and eats a hamburger (taken from a cardboard cutout of Fatboy Slim himself), he pulls off his facial hair and morphs into the obese character depicted on the cover of the album. He finally sits down on a bench as night falls, then smiles and leans back to look up as the human star constellation of Orion appears above.

Track listings

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UK and Australian CD single; UK 12-inch single[8][9]

  1. "Right Here, Right Now"
  2. "Don't Forget Your Teeth"
  3. "Praise You" (original version)

UK cassette single and European CD single[10][11]

  1. "Right Here, Right Now"
  2. "Don't Forget Your Teeth"

Charts

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Certifications

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Region Certification Certified units/sales
Brazil (Pro-Música Brasil)[30] Gold 30,000*
United Kingdom (BPI)[31] Platinum 600,000‡

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

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In 2004, then–Leader of the Labour Party Tony Blair used the song during a Labour Party conference without Cook's permission, just one year after the start of the Iraq War. Cook openly opposed its usage, claiming that the usage "implies that I support Blair. Nothing could be further from the truth."[32]

On 8 October 2019, Fatboy Slim made a remix of the song using environmental activist Greta Thunberg's United Nations speech.[33]

The song was used for the opening sequence of the pilot episode for the television series Third Watch.[34]

References

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  1. ^ "New Releases – For Week Starting 19 April, 1999: Singles" (PDF). Music Week. 17 April 1999. p. 27. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  2. ^ "Film buffs are just noticing an iconic Angela Bassett line is sampled in a huge song | indy100".
  3. ^ What is the Greatest Dance Track of All Time? Mixmag (15 February 2013).
  4. ^ "Chart Slot". Daily Record. 7 May 1999. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  5. ^ Shepherd, John; Horn, David; Laing, Dave; Oliver, Paul; Wicke, Peter (6 March 2003). Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World, Volume 1: Media, Industry, Society. A&C Black. p. 31. ISBN 978-1-84714-473-7.
  6. ^ "UK-Charts - Top 100 1999". www.uk-charts.co.uk. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
  7. ^ "What is the greatest dance track of all time?". Mixmag. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
  8. ^ Right Here, Right Now (UK & Australian CD single liner notes). Fatboy Slim. Skint Records. 1999. SKINT 46CD, 667149 2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  9. ^ Right Here, Right Now (UK 12-inch single sleeve). Fatboy Slim. Skint Records. 1999. SKINT 46.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  10. ^ Right Here, Right Now (UK cassette single sleeve). Fatboy Slim. Skint Records. 1999. SKINT 46MC.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  11. ^ Right Here, Right Now (European CD single liner notes). Fatboy Slim. Skint Records. 1999. SKI 667149 1.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  12. ^ "Fatboy Slim – Right Here, Right Now". ARIA Top 50 Singles.
  13. ^ "Fatboy Slim – Right Here, Right Now" (in Dutch). Ultratip.
  14. ^ "Fatboy Slim – Right Here, Right Now" (in French). Ultratop 50.
  15. ^ "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 16, no. 19. 8 May 1999. p. 8. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
  16. ^ "Fatboy Slim – Right Here, Right Now" (in French). Les classement single.
  17. ^ "Fatboy Slim – Right Here, Right Now" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  18. ^ "Top National Sellers" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 16, no. 24. 12 June 1999. p. 10. Retrieved 8 June 2020. See LW column.
  19. ^ "Íslenski Listinn (3.6–10.6. 1999)". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). 4 June 1999. p. 10. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  20. ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Right Here Right Now". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  21. ^ "Fatboy Slim – Right Here, Right Now" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
  22. ^ "Fatboy Slim – Right Here, Right Now". Top 40 Singles.
  23. ^ "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  24. ^ "Fatboy Slim – Right Here, Right Now". Singles Top 100.
  25. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  26. ^ "Official Dance Singles Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  27. ^ "Official Independent Singles Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  28. ^ "Archívum – Slágerlisták – MAHASZ" (in Hungarian). Single (track) Top 40 lista. Magyar Hanglemezkiadók Szövetsége.
  29. ^ "Best Sellers of 1999: Singles Top 100". Music Week. 22 January 2000. p. 27.
  30. ^ "Brazilian single certifications – Fatboy Slim – Right Here Right Now" (in Portuguese). Pro-Música Brasil. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
  31. ^ "British single certifications – Fatboy Slim – Right Here Right Now". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  32. ^ NME (25 October 2004). "FATBOY FURY AT BLAIR-FACED CHEEK!". NME. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  33. ^ Kaufman, Gil (8 October 2019). "Watch Fatboy Slim Play the Greta Thunberg 'Right Here, Right Now' Remix Live". Billboard. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
  34. ^ ""Third Watch" Welcome to Camelot (TV Episode 1999)". IMDb.
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