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R.I.P. James Brown


aeon

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Funky President (People It's Bad)

by James Brown

 

Funkytown, nasty

(Hey, listen to the man)

Yeah, I'm the Godfather (baby)

 

People, people

We got to get over

Before we go under

People, people

We got to get over

Before we go under

 

Hey, country

Didn't say what you meant

Just changed

Brand new funky President

 

Stock market going up

Jobs going down

And ain't no funking

Jobs to be found

 

Taxes keep going up

I changed from a glass

Now I drink out of a paper cup

It's getting bad

 

People, people

We got to get over

Before we go under

 

Listen to me

Let's get together and raise

Let's get together

And get some land

 

Raise our food like the man

Save our money like the Mob

Put up a fight down on the job

 

Tell em, Godfather

 

Turn up your funk motor

Get down and praise the Lord

Get sexy, sexy

Get funky and dance

 

Love me, baby, love me nice

Don't make it once

Can you make it twice

I like it

 

People, people

We got to get over

Before we go under

People, people

Well, well, well

Before we go under

 

Turn on your funk motor

I know it's tough

Turn on your funk motor

Until you get enough

 

Hey, give yourself a

Chance to come through

Tell yourself, I can

Do what you can do

 

Hey, listen to the man

I'm the Godfather

Payback, cold-blooded

 

People, people

People, people

Hey, people, people

Don't you see what's going on

 

People, people

We got to get together

Get on the good foot

Change it, yeah

 

Got to get together

And get some land

Raise our food just like the man

Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey

 

I got to say it again

We got to get together

And buy some land

Raise our food just like the man

Save our money, do like the Mob

Put up your fight right on the job

 

We gotta get over

Before we go under

Time's getting short, Lord

 

Country, do you know

Just what I meant

We just changed, we got

A brand new funky President

 

I need to be the Mayor

So I could change

Some things around here

I need to be the Governer

I need to be the Governer

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I didn't know until I read this thread. Geez, there goes another one... :(

 

James Brown was a true original, a great singer and entertainer and an icon. He truly made many millions of us "feel good".

 

Thanks, James. Your "Famous Flame" keeps right on burning. R.I.P.

 

 

Rick

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When I was a guitar player for the Detroit Emeralds we opened for James Brown in Louisville Kentucky at the Civic Center (or whatever the big venue was there). Less than 500 people showed up in a venue that probably held 12 thousand or so.

 

The show went on as planned anyway. We did our set and then James did his show with Macio, and the Capes, and "I'm Back!" and the whole nine.

 

He was gracious afterwards and smiled and shook our hands as he left. Unfortunately we never got paid for the gig due to the poor turnout.

 

I also met him once in 1977 in Augusta GA at his office while with a group called The Floaters. He was quite a character and certainly a legend.

 

Long live the Godfather of Soul; he certainly left his mark.

 

 

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I saw the news on CNN, they cut away to show it, I was on the phone with my brother and just said "oh {censored}".

He is one of a kind, the godfather, the master of soul music, his sound, his energy, he is still felt in all music today and will be felt for all eternity.

 

I'm 35, so I caught the second wave of the JB sound, when Public Enemy, Eric B and Rakim and BDP started sampling his music and started the golden age of hip hop riding the ripples of his powerful vibey waves.

 

Peace and Blessings to the man, the legend, the funk master, the hardest working man in showbusiness.

 

Peace to James Brown

 

PS - quote from PBS story "American Masters":

 

"In 1965, the immaculate rhythmic tension of "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" ushered in a new style of music -- funk. Throughout the 1960s and into the early 1970s, James Brown increasingly abandoned melody and harmony, focusing on rhythm in songs like "Cold Sweat," "I Got the Feelin'," and "Give It Up or Turnit a Loose." Brown admitted, "I was hearing everything, even the guitars, like they were drums." By the end of the 1960s, he was mercilessly reducing every instrument to a percussive role.

 

James Brown's involvement with the civil rights movement also began in the mid-'60s. He embraced it with the same energy and dynamism he devoted to his performances. In 1966, the song "Don't Be a Drop-Out" urged black children not to neglect their education. In the same year, he flew down to Mississippi to visit the wounded civil rights activist James Meredith, shot during his "March Against Fear." From 1965 onward, Brown often canceled his shows to perform benefit concerts for black political organizations like the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). In 1968, he initiated "Operation Black Pride," and, dressing as Santa Claus, presented 3,000 certificates for free Christmas dinners in the poor black neighborhoods of New York City. He also started buying radio stations.

 

By 1968, James Brown was very much more than an important musician; he was a major African-American icon. He often spoke publicly about the pointlessness of rioting and in February 1968, informed the black activist H. Rap Brown, "I'm not going to tell anybody to pick up a gun." On April 5, 1968, African Americans rioted in 110 cities following civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination the day before. James Brown was due to perform in Boston, Massachusetts. Mayor Kevin White and Brown decided to proceed with the show and televise it. They realized people could not resist watching a James Brown concert, and the riots gripping other cities were averted in Boston."

 

here's the full link:

 

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/brown_j.html

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Inside music and outside of Miles, no-one had more impact on my playing and indeed on the way I live my life than Mr Brown. (By the way, I'm British. He absolutely affected the whole world.) He was to me what Hendrix was to the rock guys. And although he weathered some problems, he did some great things with his time on Earth. How many people utterly change the basis of music? Or do so much for some truly worthwhile causes? Ladies and gents, please charge your glasses for a toast to the Soul Brother Number 1, Mr Please Please, the King of Soul himself..........l

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I made a real point to see him this year, because I was concerned he wouldn't be with us much longer.

 

I saw him last spring in Wisconsin and although his voice was not as good as it was in his better years..his show was clearly entertaining and he did work it hard.

 

He was actually amazing and then when you consider he was 72....wow!

 

rip

 

Chuck

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Years ago, I saw a tv special or something. In his early days, his dancing... I have never in my life seen anyone who could dance in such a jaw-dropping way as James Brown. Including Michael Jackson. MJ is incredible but early James Brown was unbelievable. I'd like to see those moves again; I wish they would televise or Youtube this footage.

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