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Alyssa Campbell

Professor Hellmers

ENG 1201

March 31, 2021

Feeling Good

“Feeling Good” is a song most of us know well because of the popularized version

created by Michael Bublé. A feel good song that creates an enrapturing ambiance with both the

lyrics and overscore. Less well known is the cover of this song created by Muse which takes the

song in a more angsty, alternative direction than Bublé and speaks to a completely different

audience. However, both versions are aimed at telling the story of overcoming adversity and

strife. Which, at its core, is what this song has always been about.

Originally created in 1964 for the musical The Roar of the Greasepaint, the Smell of the

Crowd, the song “Feeling Good” was performed in context by a black man who, after being the

subject of racist ridicule, came out on top and sang of his triumph. A year later Nina Simone

became the first artist to take over the song individually and during the height of the civil rights

protests the song became an anthem amongst the oppressed. Now, although the purpose of the

song has changed, present day artists have carried along the same message to impact their own

social groups.

One of those artists would be the band Muse who released the cover as part of their

album Origin of Symmetry in 2001. The music video for the song “Feeling Good” created in

2010 was one entrenched with visual imagery depicting the desire to break out of restrictive roles

in society in order for one to feel free. Much of the imagery is thanks to the musical editing work

Matthew James Bellamy did on the movie Jane Eyre which came out one year after the music
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video’s release. The red room that the band is seen playing in at the beginning of the video I

believe is meant to reference the same red room Jane found herself trapped in within the book.

This is the first moment Muse creates the theme surrounding exile and adversity. Continuing on,

the camera pans around to show us the disfigured faces of other actors walking up to surround

the band. They seem to be outsiders attracted not only to the message but attracted to the anthem

of freedom that the band is expressing. As cherry blossom petals start to fall down both upon the

band and the disfigured outsiders the visual seems to be alluding to the natural elements

performed in the song,

Fish in the sea

You know how I feel

River running free

You know how I feel

Blossom on a tree

You know how I feel

The genre is done in an alternative rock style which coupled with the crescendo of the song and

the outcasts crawling up the walls creates the feeling of the need to escape. The consistent and

impactful symbolism used throughout the song creates an appeal to pathos as it tugs at the

heartstrings of listeners who have been through a similar ordeal.

The other artist who gave this song a new dynamic and social climate is Michael Bublé.

Bublé released this song as his lead single in his album It’s Time in 2005. The music video,

similar to Muse’s, wasn’t released until much later in 2009 in which the fullness of Bublé’s

interpretation of the song came to life. The video opens in an underground lab where Bublé is

characterized much similarly to a Bond type hero. As he sings the opening lyrics along to a jazzy
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easy listening style of the cover we are shown who he is up against. Women in white latex suits,

lab technicians, and a complex lab that seemingly only Bublé is capable of taking on single

handedly. With the coupling of watching Bublé seamlessly take on each challenge at hand and

listening to the song reach its climax the viewer is led to feel empowered just as James Bond

himself would be. The approach that Bublé takes in this video is an interesting alternative appeal

to pathos as it allows the viewer to feel confident in one’s own ability and to feel as if they could

take on any difficulty or trouble in life and come out on the other side victorious.

Although each of these artists have chosen wildly different ways to display the prominent

message Simone created in the 60’s both do this with respect and justice to the original song.

They both also do so while alluding to great literary classics that bring life to characters who

have faced great adversity and found liberation in different forms. Overall I would say there is no

greater claim either of these songs could get across than the overwhelming desire we all have to

feel free, to belong, and to be accepted. To simply feel good.

Works Cited

Muse. Muse - Feeling Good (Video). Youtube, 8 Feb. 2010, www.youtube.com/watch?

v=CmwRQqJsegw. Accessed 31 March 2021

Bublé, Michael. Michael Bublé - Feeling Good [Official Music Video]. YouTube, 26 Oct.

2009, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Edwsf-8F3sI. Accessed 31 March 2021

Cheal, David. “Feeling Good — Nina Simone’s Anthem of Liberation.” Financial Times,

Financial Times, 3 Feb. 2020, ig.ft.com/life-of-a-song/feeling-good.html#:~:text=This

%20meant%20that%20%E2%80%9CFeeling%20Good,and%20musicians%20seized
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%20on%20it.&text=Released%20during%20the%20ferment%20of,movement's

%20burning%20desire%20for%20freedom. Accessed 4 April 2021.