Bad Company (song)

"Bad Company"
Single by Bad Company
from the album Bad Company
Released	1974
Recorded	November 1973
Genre	Hard rock
Length	4:50
Label	Swan Song Records (US) Island Records (UK)
Writer(s)	Simon Kirke Paul Rodgers
Producer	Bad Company
Bad Company singles chronology
"Movin' On" (1974) "Bad Company" (1974) "Good Lovin' Gone Bad " (1974)

"Bad Company" is a song from the hard rock band Bad Company. It was released as the third single from their debut album Bad Company in 1974. Co-written by the group's lead singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke, the song's meaning comes from the movie of the same name featuring Jeff Bridges and Barry Brown. The introductory three chords of the song are also in the movie. The Joni Mitchell song "Woodstock" from 1970 uses the same chords and piano figure.

It is also a rare instance of the artist, album and song names being the same. Other examples include "Black Sabbath","Iron Maiden", "Children of Bodom", and "Damn Yankees".

Timothy McVeigh, the terrorist responsible for the April 19, 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, was quoted as saying as he fled the site of the bombing that he thought of a specific "Bad Company" lyric, "...dirty for dirty," heard towards the end of the song. Many websites describe this, but confuse that short phrase within a song as the title for another song.^{[citation needed]}

In popular culture

This song is also heard in the 2006 episode of The CW series Supernatural, titled "Scarecrow". It can also be heard on episode 20 of the sixteenth season of The Simpsons where Ned Flanders moves to a new town and becomes a "rebel" by keeping an untrimmed mustache.

Tori Amos performed the song at a number of concerts in 1994 and 1996.

Bill Champlin did a cover of the song that was featured in Season 2, episode 9 of The Young Riders (1990). The title of the episode is "Bad Company".

In the beginning of the final book of his Dark Tower series, The Dark Tower, Stephen King quotes the lines "I was born 6-gun in my hand, Behind a gun I'll make my final stand".

Personnel

• Paul Rodgers – vocals, guitar, piano, accordion
• Mick Ralphs– guitar, keyboards
• Simon Kirke – drums
• Boz Burrell – bass

"Bad Company"
Single by Five Finger Death Punch
from the album War Is the Answer
Released	May 17, 2010
Recorded	2009
Genre	Heavy metal
Length	4:22
Label	Prospect Park
Writer(s)	Simon Kirke Paul Rodgers
Producer	Kevin Churko
Five Finger Death Punch singles chronology
"No One Gets Left Behind" (2010) "Bad Company" (2010) "Far from Home" (2010)

Five Finger Death Punch cover

Five Finger Death Punch frequently performs a cover of this song live, and professionally recorded the song for their second album War Is the Answer. They released the song as the fifth single from War Is the Answer, and their eighth single overall on May 17, 2010. A music video for the song was recorded while the band was performing for the United States troops in Iraq. The video premiered on June 11, 2010. The song has reached #7 on the Billboard Rock Songs chart, #26 on the Alternative Songs chart and #2 on the Mainstream Rock Songs chart, making it their first top-5 hit and their highest charting single to date. The song has a significantly heavier tone to it, along with several lyrical edits ("I was born a shotgun in my hands", "the death punch sound is our claim to fame"). The song is used by Washington Nationals closer Drew Storen.

Track listing

UK Digital Download
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Bad Company"	4:22
2.	"The Devil's Own" (Live)	4:54

Chart performance

Chart (2010)	Peak position
US Mainstream Rock Songs (Billboard)	2
US Rock Songs (Billboard)	7
US Alternative Songs (Billboard)	26
US Heatseekers Songs (Billboard)	11

Personnel

• Zoltan Bathory — guitars
• Jason Hook — guitars
• Ivan Moody — vocals
• Matt Snell — bass
• Jeremy Spencer — drums