Cover art for Good People by Jack Johnson

Good People

Mar. 1, 20051 viewer28K views

Good People Lyrics

[Chorus]
Where'd all the good people go?
I've been changing channels
I don't see them on the TV shows

Where'd all the good people go?
We got heaps and heaps of what we sow

[Bridge]
Sitting around feeling far away
So far away but I can feel the debris
Can you feel it?
You interrupt me from a friendly conversation
To tell me how great it's all going to be
You might notice some hesitation
Because it's important to you, it's not important to me
But way down by the edge of your whole reason
Well, it's beginning the show
And all I really want to know is...

[Chorus]
Where'd all the good people go?
I've been changing channels
I don't see them on the TV shows

Where'd all the good people go?
We got heaps and heaps of what we sow
[Outro]
(Where'd all the good people go?)
They got this and that with a rattle a tat
Testing, one, two, man whatcha gonna do
Bad news misused give me some truth
You got too much to lose
Now whose side are we on today, anyway
(Where'd all the good people go?)
Okay, whatever you say
Wrong and resolute but in the mood to obey
Station to station desensitizing the nation
(Where'd all the good people go?)
Going, going, gone

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  • If you don’t understand a lyric, use [?]

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Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

What did Jack Johnson say about "Good People"?
Genius Answer

It’s a little bit about reality TV. A TV show called ‘Boarding House’ was being done in Hawaii. And the lady who was producing it asked if I wanted to play on the grand finale of the show. I said that I wasn’t interested. She came up to me while I was having a conversation at this community gathering, which was a fundraiser for Sunset Elementary School. And then she interrupted me again and said that I didn’t understand, that this was for national TV and that it would be a great opportunity for me. So that’s where that line, ‘You interrupt me from a friendly conversation/To tell me how great it’s all going to be’ comes from. That verse is about how sometimes, even when you’re trying not to pay attention to it, television and the entertainment industry and all that, still sneaks into your world. It’s obviously in jest (and) just a funny song. But it’s (about) that feeling you get sometimes when you flip through the channels and there isn’t one thing on TV that’s not sensationalized or just completely about some of the lower parts of humanity. And you just start wondering where all the good people are.

Credits
Written By
Composed by
Recorded At
The Mango Tree, Hawaii
Release Date
March 1, 2005
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