"Right Here, Right Now" is a song by British big beat musician Fatboy Slim, released on 19 April 1999 as the fourth single from his second studio album, You've Come a Long Way, Baby (1998). The song samples "Ashes, the Rain & I" by James Gang and an Angela Bassett quote from American science fictionthriller filmStrange Days (1995).[3] The title itself, "Right Here, Right Now," is also a direct reference to the lyrics of "Ashes, the Rain & I" by James Gang.[4] "Right Here, Right Now" reached number two on the UK Singles Chart and became a top-40 hit in Australia, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, New Zealand, and the Walloon region of Belgium. The song's popularity was spread across Europe through viral use in advertisements by companies such as Adidas.[5] It was voted by Mixmag readers as the 10th-greatest dance record of all time.[6]
The Scottish newspaper Daily Record called the song "brilliant".[7] In February 2013, Mixmag readers voted for it to be number 10 on a list of 50 of the greatest dance tracks.[8]
Music video
The music video for the song, created by Hammer & Tongs, is an elaborate homage to the famous opening sequence of the French educational series Once Upon a Time... Man. It shows a timeline depicting the entire process of human evolution condensed into three and a half minutes. The beginning of the music video is set "350 billion years ago" and starts with a single-celled eukaryote in the ocean transforming into a jellyfish, an aquatic worm-like creature, a pipefish, a pufferfish, and then a barracuda-like fish. It manages to eat a smaller fish before leaping up onto dry land. With a tyrannosaur visible in the background and a mantis in front, it stays still for a few seconds, becoming a primitive amphibian-like Tetrapod similar to Hynerpeton before setting off and eating the insect, while a volcano erupts in the background.
The amphibian transforms into a small alligator as it enters a forest. It sees a tall tree, which it climbs up. Its body is obscured by the tree as its hands visibly change into those of three different primates until it arrives at the top as an ape that vaguely resembles a chimpanzee. It jumps from the tree into an icy landscape, enduring a blizzard as it morphs into a larger, gorilla-like ape.
At the end of a large cliff, the ape beats its chest as the camera zooms out to show a vast desert. The ape jumps onto the ground, where it begins running. A large storm blows away much of its hair, turning it into a hominid reminiscent of a homo erectus (at this point, the timer at the bottom right slows dramatically). It runs faster and puts on some trousers and a T-shirt with the logo "I'm #1 so why try harder". When fully clothed, it turns into a modern human with a beard.
The man walks through a city environment and eats a hamburger (taken from a cardboard cutout of Fatboy Slim himself), he pulls off his facial hair and morphs into the obese character depicted on the cover of the album. He does finally sit down on a bench as night falls, then smiles and leans back to look up as the human star constellation of Orion appears above.
Track listings
UK and Australian CD single; UK 12-inch single[9][10]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
In popular culture
In 2004, then–Leader of the Labour PartyTony Blair used the song during a Labour Party conference without Cook's permission, just one year after the start of the Iraq War. Cook openly opposed its usage, claiming that the usage "implies that I support Blair. Nothing could be further from the truth."[33]
On 8 October 2019, Fatboy Slim made a remix of the song using environmental activist Greta Thunberg's United Nations speech.[34]
The song was used for the opening sequence of the pilot episode for the television series Third Watch.[35]
↑ Right Here, Right Now (UK 12-inch single sleeve). Fatboy Slim. Skint Records. 1999. SKINT 46.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
↑ Right Here, Right Now (UK cassette single sleeve). Fatboy Slim. Skint Records. 1999. SKINT 46MC.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
↑ Right Here, Right Now (European CD single liner notes). Fatboy Slim. Skint Records. 1999. SKI 667149 1.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
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