Good Excuse

"Good Excuse"
Single by The John Butler Trio
from the album Grand National
A-side	"Good Excuse"
Released	March 2007 (2007-03)
Recorded	2004 Sing Sing Studios Melbourne, Australia
Genre	Alternative rock, roots rock, funk
Length	3:26
Label	Jarrah — AUS Atlantic — US
Songwriter(s)	John Butler
Producer(s)	John Butler Mario Caldato Jr.
The John Butler Trio singles chronology
"Funky Tonight" (2006) "Good Excuse" (2007) "Better Than" (2007)

"Good Excuse" is a promotional-only release by the Australian jam band, The John Butler Trio, from their fourth studio album Grand National .

"Good Excuse" was released in March 2007 in Australia by Jarrah Records and in the United States by Atlantic Records.

Butler describes the song as a "wake-up call to our self-obsessed consumerist society". ^{[1] [2]}

Awards

"Good Excuse" won 'Blues & Roots Work of the Year' at the 2008 Australasian Performing Right Association Awards. ^[3]

Video

The video for the song was directed by James Hackett and Jean Camden (Hackett Films) and features a combination of 2D and 3D animation together with live action. ^[4] The video was nominated 'Most Popular Music Video' at the 2008 West Australian Music Industry Awards.

Track listing

Written by John Butler ^[5]

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Good Excuse"	3:26
Total length:		3:26

Personnel

John Butler Trio

• John Butler — vocals, acoustic/amplified 6 string guitar, harmonica
• Shannon Birchall — double bass, backing vocals
• Michael Barker — drums, congas, shaker, tambourine, cow bells, vibraslap, backing vocals

Additional musicians

• Michael Caruana — piano, B3 Hammond

Production credits

• John Butler — producer
• Mario Caldato Jr. — producer, engineer, mixing
• Shannon Birchall — co-producer
• Michael Barker — co-producer
• Jarrad Hearman — assistant engineer
• Bernie Grundman — mastering
• Tom Walker — artwork

Certifications

Certifications for "Good Excuse"

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA) [6]	Gold	35,000‡
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

1. "John Butler Trio Biography". ArtistDirect. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
2. "Grand designs". Sydney Morning Herald. 22 March 2007. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
3. "APRA/AMCOS: 2008 Winners". Australasian Performing Right Association. Archived from the original on 1 April 2014. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
4. "John Butler Trio - Good Excuse". Hackett Films. Archived from the original on 19 February 2014. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
5. ""Good Excuse" at APRA search engine". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Archived from the original on 27 February 2014. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
6. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2025 Singles" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association . Retrieved 3 September 2025.

External links

• Video clip for "Good Excuse"