Good Tradition


"Good Tradition" is a song, written and originally recorded by Tanita Tikaram and released as the first single in 1988 from the album Ancient Heart.

Story

Released in 1988, "Good Tradition" is Tanita Tikaram's debut song. When it was released, it went largely unnoticed and attracted little media attention. The song therefore did not get much airplay, but weeks after its release, the single started climbing up the charts and finally reached #10 at the UK Singles Chart in August 1988.
To celebrate, WEA records released a limited edition design by Tikaram in which she tells the brief story of the song, the song's success on the charts, and thanks everyone that supported the song. In the design Tikaram notes each Sunday week ending date from the first week of single release, alongside its chart position for that week in question. The positions noted by Tikaram are 149-163-80-67-36-23-15-10, all up to the point the single made the top 10.
At the time of compiling the charts, Gallup only had around 3000 record stores connected to their EPOS system and estimated the rest of the country's shops on an average basis compared to sales in those registered. Tanita did indeed enter the UK Top 40 singles chart at #36 as broadcast on Sunday the 31st of July 1988 by Bruno Brookes on BBC Radio 1's Live Chart Countdown and on BBC1's live broadcast of Top Of The Pops on Thursday the 4th of August.
In recent years, The Official Charts Company have revised historical charts due to more precise data and record sales being available. Good Tradition now shows as entering at #39. The rest of its chart run has been unaffected.

Music video

The video for "Good Tradition" features Tikaram playing in front of judges at an audition, following on from an unsuccessful auditionee. At first shy, Tikaram strikes a couple of notes and the song begins and, as it develops, the judges and the crew from the theatre start dancing to the tune. At the end Tikaram is shown smiling.

Charts

Chart Peak
position
Australian Singles Chart142
Belgian Singles Chart 39
Dutch Singles Chart46
Irish Singles Chart9
Swedish Singles Chart4
UK Singles Chart10

Cover versions

With lyrics in Swedish by Keith Almgren, the song was covered by Kikki Danielsson & Roosarna on the 1990 album På lugnare vatten as I god tradition.