Synopsis

The Shamen's video presents Ebeneezer Goode as a flamboyant, caped figure who races through city streets while rave scenes, club dancers, and rapidly edited flashes fill the screen. Jerry Sadowitz plays the eccentric character, giving the promo a deliberately comic, theatrical tone that mirrors the song's Dickensian wordplay. The contrast between old-fashioned costume and early-1990s dance culture reinforces the track's double meaning, with the apparently harmless character functioning as a coded figure for ecstasy and the era's club scene.

Factoids & Trivia

• Jerry Sadowitz, better known for his confrontational stand-up persona, plays Ebeneezer Goode in the video.

• The production was reportedly made for only around GBP 500. The filmmaker later recalled shooting it with a small Bolex camera using two three-minute rolls of film.

• The video's flashing imagery was strong enough that some television music channels added epilepsy warnings. VH1 reportedly reduced the frame rate of the brightest flashes for its broadcast version.

• The promo became part of the controversy surrounding the song's suspected references to ecstasy. The chorus sounds like "E's are good," while several other lines use similar wordplay.

• "Ebeneezer Goode" spent four weeks at No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart in September 1992, making its deliberately coded drug references unusually visible in mainstream pop.

• The single was deleted while it was still at No. 1. The Shamen later said this was done to prevent its long chart run from disrupting their release schedule.

• The video's mix of Victorian imagery, rave footage, slapstick performance, and aggressive editing helped make it one of the more recognizable and controversial British dance promos of the early 1990s.