[1][2] As performed on In Color, the song starts with Nielsen playing a frenzied, fuzzy guitar part for two and a half bars, then Bun E. Carlos' strong drum beat appears, and finally Tom Petersson's bass and Robin Zander's vocal join in.
Annie Zaleski of Ultimate Classic Rock described it as having "razor-edge riffs, a frenzied drum solo and ragged exhortations of 'Would you like to do a number with me?
[9] Nielsen has stated that he wrote the song because in its early days the band did not always get a soundcheck before it played live.
Nielsen said he got the idea for such an intro song from an earlier band, Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera.
[2][10] Critic John Serba rates "Goodnight Now" as being one of his favorite Cheap Trick songs for being such a "blatantly obvious set closer" that makes you want to stay for more even as it closes the show.
At the actual concert from which the album was recorded, "Ain't That a Shame" was played as part of the encore, after "Goodnight Now" and before "Clock Strikes Ten", but the original album release of Live at Budokan moved "Ain't That a Shame" out of sequence to open side 2.