Songs Kind of Like Funkadelic's "Can You Get To That"

shuggie otis
terry callier
jose feliciano
burt bacharach
the isley brothers
bill withers
bobby bland
bonnie dobson
sergio mendes
rotary connection
ramsey lewis
etc

The breakdown in:

Be What You Want to Be -- Link Wray

This has the same pace as CYGTT and to me it sounds hazy, sleazy and maybe slightly knowingly defective, all rare qualities i admire in CYGTT. Also its instrumental, so we are spared the typical Zappa lyrics.

-- i am not a nugget
Maggot Brain -- Dom rec Sly Stone is OTM.

Bar-Kays "Holy Ghost"
L.T.D. "(Every Time I Turn Around) Back in Love Again"
Rufus "You Got the Love"
Clarence Carter "Strokin'"
Johnny Taylor "Whose Making Love"
Commodores "Brick House"
Hues Corporation "Don't Rock the Boat"
Sam & Dave "You Don't Know Like I Know"
Bobby Womack "Lookin for a Love" or "It's All Over Now" (yes, he wrote 'em & performed them soul-stirrer stylee, but they were covered by J. Geils & the Stones respectively)
Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band "Express Yourself"
Isley Brothers "It's Your Thing"

Some of these came before, some after. All share, not fake, the funk.

-- Mark (r-...) (webmail), June 26th, 2006 12:00 PM. (MarkR) (later) (link)

nonono, the led zep track monty mentioned...

And this, I feel, is the point. So I don't think any of the Sly tunes mentioned fit the bill, esp not the Riot ones.

Magic Mountain by War?

Combines the innocence and self-conscious kid friendliness of early Sly and the Jackson Five with massive James Brown style loosed-jointed funkines.

It's my favorite single Funkadelic track, and I can't think of anything else exactly like it.

Suggestions:

"Can't Stand the Strain" - Funkadelic (last track offa "Cosmic Slop")
"Tell Me Something Good" - Rufus & Chaka Khan
"Dance to the Music", "Fun", "Life" and "Sing a Simple Song"
- Sly & the Family Stone
"It's Your Thing" - The Isely Brothers
"The Love You Save" - The Jackson 5

(lyrics)
Can You Get To That
{G Clinton, Ernie Harris}

I once had a life, or rather
Life had me
I was one among many
Or at least I seemed to be
Well, I read an old quotation in a book just yesterday
Said "Gonna reap just what you sow,
The debts you make you have to pay."
Can you get to that?

Can you get (I wanna know)
I want to know if you can get to that (hey!) (get to that!)
Can you get (can you get to that)(I wanna know)
I want to know if you can get to that

I recollect with a-mixed emotions
All the good times we used to have
But you were making preparations
For the coming separation
And you blew everything we had

When you base your love on credit
And your loving days are done
Checks you signed with a-love and kisses
Later come back signed "insufficient funds"
Yeah, get to that!

Can you get (I wanna know)
I want to know if you can get to that (hey!) (get to that!)
Can you get (can you get to that)(I wanna know)
I want to know if you can get to that
(x3)

When you base your life on credit
And your loving days are done
Checks you signed with love and kisses
Later come back signed "insufficient funds"
Y'all get to that

Can you get (I wanna know)
I want to know if you can get to that (hey!) (get to that!)
Can you get (can you get to that)(I wanna know)
I want to know if you can get to that
(x2)

Compared to anything else on the first few Funkadelic albums, it's supremely sunny and generous. "Can't Stand the Strain" is the only thing that comes close (and it too, by the way, couples surprisingly upbeat, catchy music with a downbeat lyric.)

I stand by the assessment. As close to the sound of the early Sly & the Family Stone as Funkadelic ever got. A combination of funk, soul, gospel and doo-wop. Upbeat & sunny. (Lyrics notwithstanding...)

Staple Singers: "Back Road Into Town", "I'll Take You There"
Anastacia: "Not that Kind"
Macy Grey: "Come Together"
Lewis Taylor: "Stoned"
Phat Phuntion: "Chunky But Funky"

Cee-Lo's two solo joints ("Cee-Lo Green and His Perfect Imperfections" and "Cee-Lo Green... Is the Soul Machine") are at least as good, and a good deal weirder besides.

Course, he's now doing time on the pop charts with DangerMouse in Gnarls Barkley...

Anyway:

Johhny Otis: "Country Girl"
Parliament: "Come in out of the Rain", "Breakdown" (in fact, anything off "Rhenium")
The Sunday's Child album
Elvis: "Wearing that Loved on Look"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lq_NpKFfFgU

There's something so cool about the simplicity of the strummed acoustic guitar in this song

I WANNA KNOW

can
you
get

Surprised that the Parliaments’ “What You Been Growing” doesnt seem to have gotten a mention on this thread, early version of “Can You Get to That” with more of a lush traditional motown sound

Despite careful editing of the lyrics, that ad still contains a reference to "mixed emotions" that cast a shadow over the good times they're trying to sell.

I have to laugh at posters throwing recommendations into the deep end: "You like Funkadelic? How about Bonnie Dobson?" I guess both use an acoustic guitar...

idk i can hear it

OK, but then how long do you have to search the Burt Bacharach catalogue for something that sounds like "Can You Get To That"? It just amuses me to see someone fire off more than 10 names with no explanation in response to such a specific request.

i feel you, but it was a different time, and the list on the whole is pretty good. i've certainly been guilty of getting carried away while rattling off "similar" artists / records / whatever.

i like it as a charming artifact of another era, which is maybe what you're saying too

have to admit I enjoyed when Sleigh Bells sampled this