Songfacts®:

• Not to be confused with the Louis Jordan standard of the same name, "Let the Good Times Roll" is a rock & roll duet written by Shirley Goodman and Leonard Lee, school friends from New Orleans who tried their luck as a duo in the '50s. This was their third and most popular single, charting at #20 on the pop chart and #1 on the R&B chart. The song has them looking forward to a fun night, with Lee coaxing "let me thrill your soul" and Shirley cooing "feels so good when you're home. Come on baby, rock me all night long."
• Shirley Goodman later became the lead singer of Shirley & Company, who had a disco hit in 1974 with "Shame Shame Shame."
• Earl Palmer, a seasoned session drummer who played on some of rock & roll's greatest hits ("Tutti Frutti," "La Bamba"), manned the sticks on this.
• This has been covered by The Animals, Harry Nilsson, Roy Orbison, Joe Strummer, Barbra Streisand, Conway Twitty, Delbert McClinton, The Righteous Brothers, and Sonny & Cher. The most popular version in the UK is by Slade, who released it in 1972.
• George Clinton recorded a version in 2008 with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Kim Manning.
• This was featured in the movies Apocalypse Now (1979), Stand By Me (1986), Heart of Dixie (1989), Book of Love (1990), American Me (1992), The Mighty (1998), October Sky (1999), Beyond the Mat (1999), and The Express (2008).
• This was used in the TV series Matlock in 1990 (episode: "The Secret: Part 2") and Northern Exposure in 1993 (episodes: "The Big Feast," "Kaddish, for Uncle Manny" and "Jaws of Life").