Comments on: Top 25 - James Brown

By: Michael Dembinski

Michael Dembinski — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 07:38:49 +0000

“14.Cold Sweat. Baby baby baby. Baby baby baby. Baby baby baby…”

Surely “I Got The Feelin’ “?

By: big grip

big grip — Wed, 26 Oct 2005 11:53:54 +0000

Your point is well taken, but if you look at imitation as the sincerest form of flattery, then the nod has to go to JB. JB and Ray were contemporaries with the blending of Gospel and R&B (along with Sam Cooke).

That being said, you could actually designate JB as one of the early architects of hip hop. How many of hits were sampled from his music.

His syncopated delivery is one of the innovations that lead to the thing that we now call hip hop or rap.

Isn’t Prince a lighter skinned falsetto JB?

By: holdtheline

holdtheline — Wed, 26 Oct 2005 02:58:27 +0000

Great list of the best of JB, but I gotta disagree with “James Brown is black music’s most important figure from the 20th century.” I think he’s, at best, fourth behind Ray Charles, Louis Armstrong, and Jimi Hendrix. And you can make the case for Chuck Berry, Prince, Smokey, Otis Redding, Aretha, Miles Davis, Jelly Roll Morton, Robert Johnson, John Coltrane, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, and Stevie Wonder for being right up there. All of those folks were great artists that also influenced music (white and black) immensely.

I especially would go to bat for brother Ray: he was better singer, and better musician, though maybe not as important a lyricist as JB. As you put it, JB “was significant in the transition from R&B to soul, and he followed that up by leading the transition from soul to funk.” But Ray basically invented soul by mixing R&B with Gospel and Jazz, and then showed the world that a black man could do country music (and do it soulfully), and then he tackled pop standards and made those his own. The list of Ray’s important musical decendants are probably greater than any other artist in music history since the beginning of rock in the 50s — even more than Elvis, the Beatles, Hendrix, Led Zepplin, or JB.

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 17:58:05 +0000

I would like to see a Jimi Hendrix top 25 just so I can recommend some songs to my friends about from the ones on his greatest hits.

By: jay319

jay319 — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 00:18:29 +0000

I vote for U2 as your next list.

Baba, in honor of this list, we should all look at that JB interview you linked to a few months ago. Man was he fucked up!

By: Sooner Kip

Sooner Kip — Mon, 24 Oct 2005 21:33:00 +0000

I vote for Jimi. Don’ forget about his posthumous album “First Rays of the New Rising Sun,” with Ezy Rider and Freedom.

Man, I can’t wait to see that list. And U2 should be great too!

By: Amanda P.

Amanda P. — Mon, 24 Oct 2005 18:13:34 +0000

Fantastic job on the James Brown countdown! I have only a few addenda. 1) You’re missing “Hot Pants.” Although it’s a rather tame song, try running around with this thought in your head: “You got ta use/what ya got/to git git whatcha want-ahh” and the bridge on that song is just sky high on my list.

2) you’re damn right - NOBODY can rock a bridge like the JBs. They’re responsible for making James continually geek out like he did. They certainly make me want to geek out.

3) Am I the only one who thought the crowning “Payback” line was “Now I don’t know Karate/ but I know Ka-Ray-zee” (crazy)?

By: Jason

Jason — Mon, 24 Oct 2005 13:59:56 +0000

I’m loving the lists at the moment. Who’s next? Curtis Mayfield? Michael Jackson?

At first, I was thinking of doing U2 next. Not sure now. Might actually do Jimi.

By: big grip

big grip — Sat, 22 Oct 2005 08:38:06 +0000

This is a great subject. James is the greatest R&B singer of all time. I know this is an affront to all of the Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, Michael Jackson and Prince fans, but he is the ORIGINATOR.

Someone could do a college course on the real meaning of James’ lyrics. Was he high? Or was he just that proficient at providing a voice for the southern Black people.

You guys have done a great job on the lyrics so far. Payback is a classic. I wanted to mention a more obscure song, but you guys may have heard it. I’m unsure of the title, but I think it is ” You Gotta Have a Mother for Me” .

Anyway, this song has this line in it:

When I get burnt, I use a salve
When I need a woman, a mother she’s got to have.

Also is it just me or does he just start naming soul food dishes on the “smothered snake” song?

I’ll mention one more song before I go. Again I’m unsure of the title, but the main chorus of the song went as follows:

I don’t want no body to give me nothin’
Open up the do’, I’ll git it myself

You know JB was a Black Republican before Coondegeegro Rice.

Should you get the chance, check James’ autobiography. He explains some of his interesting decisions, like riding with the Republican Party. “Mother Popcorn” is the first song you talk about (you got to have a mutha for me). The second one is called “I Don’t Want Nobody to Give Me Nothing (Open The Door And I’ll Get It Myself).”

By: Sooner Kip

Sooner Kip — Sat, 22 Oct 2005 02:01:47 +0000

OH, and for Lady B…

Go to iTunes. Search for James Brown and sample all the groove you can!

It’s FREE!