Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley wrote "Feeling Good" for the 1965 musical "The Roar of the Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd." Bricusse, a British lyricist and composer, and Newley, an actor and songwriter, created a song that transcended its theatrical origins to become a standard recorded by everyone from Nina Simone to Michael Bublé. Their gift for crafting memorable melodies with sophisticated harmonic underpinnings made this tune endure across genres and generations.
The song's combination of accessible melody and jazz sensibility reflects the composers' ability to write material that works equally well in a theater pit or a concert hall. For music educators, their work demonstrates how a strong song can serve multiple musical contexts while maintaining artistic integrity.
