Thursday, April 2nd, 1998 - #655
Guest: Jon Cryer & Duane Martin
Host: Adam, Dr. Drew
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Show Summary:
From the TV show Getting Personal
John Cryer is a great guest and they spend the majority of the show trying to figure out the lyrics to the "Good Times" theme "Hanging in a chow line".
Seriously they spend the majority of the show having people call in to figure out the lyrics to the "Good Times" theme song.
spinfly
Giovanni
The show opens up to some cut of a couple banging away on each other – “sounds like a washing machine’s broken”. GOTTA GET IT ONNNNNNNNN GOTTA GET IT ONNNNNNNNNNNNN!
Btw – it was totally “Hangin in a chow line” – I would be willing to gamble.
A caller says “Hangin’ in a job line,” which is the only thing that makes sense, since the lyrics right before it mention getting laid off, being broke, etc.
The last segment with the guests is them trying to figure out a line from the theme to “Good Times”. Very, very amusing. As a fun bonus, Duane lets out an uncensored “shit” right before they leave.
It’s hanging in a chow line. Also Chapelle covered this on his show…
The actual singers from back it the day confirmed it was “Hanging in and Jiving.,,, good times!!!!!”
it’s both, in the DVD cover of season 1 it says “hangin’ in a chow line” the lyricists (Alan & Marilyn Bergman) confirmed it as “hangin’ in and jivin’ “
i just read the same thing online: (* The season one DVD box set has the lyric as “Hangin’ in a chow line”.
However the writers, the Bergmans, confirmed that it is actually “Hangin’ in and jivin’.)
source: http://www.lyricsondemand.com/tvthemes/goodtimeslyrics.html
Amazingly strange but awsome show. Starts out at the end with a bitch getting nailed… U can sorta hear her say the f word, then restarts from begining… U can hear one of the guest drop an s bomb at the end (mike probably busy doing research on the theme and got caught off guard)
Based on context clues i thought it was either chow line or job line… Good show
I looked into this (a little, full disclosure, but I do alot of this stuff for a living), and unfortunately it appears we’ll never know. I can’t track down a “real” source for the correct words to the good times theme. In general, when you have two sources that appear to be rock solid, yet directly contadict each other, one or both is fake (usually both). I realize peolpe are aware this happens on the web, but I’m not sure everyone grasps the full extent. People will put out amazingly detailed frauds/hoaxes/pranks for various “questions” that have a sort of urban-legend association with them, down to fake police reports or death certificates. The great and famous mystery of the Good Times theme is a prime candidate…I would bet you would find hundreds of “confirmations” of the correct lyrics. Hell, if you just listen, the fact is it really doesn’t sound very much like any of the suggestions-completely unintelligible. OK, long-winded, semi-relevant comment over.
Worth noting that both “hangin in a chow line” and “hangin and a’jivin” seem like things that people said or would say, but really aren’t. When have you heard either of these, ever ( I realize most of us weren’t alive in the 70’s)? perhaps you might hear the chow line one in a prison or military context, but I haven’t. And don’t give me the homeless shelter argument…it doesn’t fit the rest of the context. They’re talking about being poor, not homeless.
Why doesn’t someone just contact the composers of the theme song, Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman, and Dave Grusin?
I think the little girl towards the end of the show nailed it. It’s job line. All day long. Now THAT makes sense, and it does sound like that. Adam get’s it down to “jar line”…but it’s jo(b) line…she glosses over the ‘b’ but you can hear it a little. It’s job line. Totally. Have I spent way too much time on this?
i thought it was job line, but there was no b sound so i googled it and it was indeed chow line like so many of u guys suggested. that S*ht that got in at the end was funny. i guess mike was too busy with that porn… 😉
The only thing that makes sense is “job line.” It’s almost irrelevant what it actually sounds like she’s saying. As Adam says, it’s clear that the singer got so into it that she didn’t get hung up on enunciating every vowel and consonant. Listening over and over again to pick out “ch” or “j” or “b” sounds doesn’t get us any closer.
So, all we have is context, and in the context of hard times and economic woes, “job line” is the only thing that makes sense. How can you argue otherwise? As knucklhd said, “chow line” is not something people say, and they’re not singing about being homeless. It’s “job line.”
You guys stop debating the good times theme, I solve it on my 1st or 2nd ACP episode with Adam, go buy the DVD and enjoy it!
I feel like the first call with the triplets is blatantly bogus; 2004 drew and adam would have called that
I don’t know what the line is… It sounds like “jivin'”. Im certain it’s not “jar”…. Great episode!!