In 1989, as the world watched the Berlin Wall crumble and the spirit of change filled the air, Mike Edwards, the frontman of Jesus Jones, found himself deeply moved. Inspired by Simple Minds’ cover of Prince’s “Sign o’ the Times” and the momentous events unfolding globally, Edwards sought to capture this feeling of hope and transformation in a song. This is the story of how “Right Here, Right Now,” a track that became synonymous with early 90s optimism and even played a role in US presidential campaigns, came to be.
From Prince Samples to Originality: Crafting the Music
The initial spark for “Right Here, Right Now right here right now song” was ignited by Prince’s music. Edwards, in the demo phase, ingeniously sampled “Sign o’ the Times,” creating a two-bar loop that served as the rhythmic backbone of the track. Layering guitar chords and a Jimi Hendrix-inspired guitar solo from samples, he envisioned a unique sound. However, this sample-heavy approach was short-lived.
Producer Martyn Phillips, wary of the legal pitfalls of uncleared samples after a previous experience, intervened. He insisted on rebuilding the track from scratch, forcing the band to abandon the Prince and Hendrix samples. This constraint, however, proved to be a creative catalyst. The necessity to reconstruct the music from the ground up led to the distinctive sound of “Right Here, Right Now right here right now song,” moving it away from its sample-based origins and towards its own identity.
Lyrics Born from a World in Flux: “Watching the World Wake Up from History”
The lyrics, simple yet profound, “Right here, right now, there is no other place I want to be / Right here, right now, watching the world wake up from history,” were not initially intended as the song’s core message. According to Edwards, they were “just something to hang the tune on.” However, these words resonated deeply with the zeitgeist of the time.
The immediate experience after writing the song further solidified its meaning. Jesus Jones embarked on a tour to Romania shortly after the fall of the Ceaușescu regime. Witnessing firsthand the bullet-scarred buildings and hearing stories of oppression and liberation, Edwards realized the lyrics perfectly encapsulated the nation’s emergence from a dark period. The sense of a country, and indeed the world, “waking up from history” became palpable and deeply personal.
Chart Success and Transatlantic Journey of “Right Here, Right Now”
“Right Here, Right Now right here right now song” initially reached number 31 in the UK charts. However, its journey was far from over. The US record label recognized the song’s potential and requested a remix for the American market. Edwards himself participated in this process, ironically being paid handsomely to essentially recreate the original track. The result, while sonically almost identical, propelled “Right Here, Right Now” to number 2 on the US Billboard charts, famously kept from the top spot only by Bryan Adams’ ubiquitous “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You.”
This American success triggered a UK re-release, again reaching number 31, but more importantly, solidifying “Right Here, Right Now” as Jesus Jones’s signature hit and a defining song of the era.
From Bedsit to Campaign Trail: The Unexpected Political Life of a Song
Iain Baker, the keyboardist for Jesus Jones, recalls the humble origins of “Right Here, Right Now right here right now song.” He describes Mike Edwards’s “grotty bedsit” filled with musical equipment and cassette tapes, an unlikely birthplace for a song that would resonate on the global stage, even reaching the political arena.
In 1992, the band was surprised to learn that Bill Clinton had adopted “Right Here, Right Now” as his campaign anthem. This unexpected political usage recurred in 2007 when Hillary Clinton also incorporated the song into her presidential campaign. Baker jokingly attributed this to a possibly stuck CD in the Clintons’ car stereo, but the reality was that the song’s message of optimism and seizing the moment resonated powerfully with political campaigns aiming to capture a sense of positive change.
Enduring Resonance and a Touch of Present-Day Irony
While Mike Edwards acknowledges a current sense of unease and diminished optimism compared to the hopeful era that birthed “Right Here, Right Now right here right now song,” the song’s core message of potential for rapid change remains relevant. It serves as a reminder of a time of great hope and transformation, and perhaps, a call to action that positive shifts are still possible, even in uncertain times.
“Right Here, Right Now” stands as more than just a 90s hit; it is a musical time capsule of a specific moment in history, a testament to the power of optimism, and a song that continues to resonate with its message of seizing the present and hoping for a better future.
