1960 Jimmy Jones: Good Timin'

An R&B singer from the old school, Jones had only just missed out on the number one spot with his keynote 'Handy Man' a few weeks earlier and so to avoid any similar shortfall he gets stuck into 'Good Timin'' with the gusto of a man who knows a good thing when he hears it and is determined to nail it down under his colours before any other singer gets wind and pinches it. So much so that his normally solid falsetto skitters like Bambi on ice - a source of irritation for some, but for me it adds to the charm and emphasises the wide eyed wonder at the serendipity of the lyric; "What would've happened if you and I hadn't just happened to meet? We might've spent the rest of our lives walkin' down Misery Street". But they didn't because they had "A tick, a tick, a tick, good timin'" - blunt maybe, just like the flat drumming and tuneless backing vocals; there's nothing particularly clever about 'Good Timin'' beyond its catchiness, but Jones injects good humour enough to sell the song all by himself.