Best Inexplicable/Incomprehensible James Brown Rant Track

http://www.metrolyrics.com/escapeism-intro-lyrics-james-brown.html

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEA5l9S6Dek&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_IsJsptEYQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv3pYED1nyo&feature=related

Escapism is the one where he commisions an on-the-spot bio for each of the JBs right?

I think that's Make It Funky - he asks where everyone is from ("L.A.? oh LOWER ALABAMA")

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Jeeeez, me and Shakey are the only ones who voted?! For shame!

poll fail

was hoping this would spark some discussion re: how these windows into the miasma of Brown's bewildering mind inform his work but no dice I guess

missed this, would've voted escape-ism

I love Shakey's description of Brown as a compelling idiot savant. I got that impression when I read Jonathan Lethem's Rolling Stone interview.

which i love, even though james's spiel is clearly just after-hours studio banterage, it fits the music's vampy lick

Would have joined in this discussion if poll deadline had been longer. I've been writing about JB's politics and they make no sense by normal standards. Among other things, you look at the cover of Hell knowing that he was a big cheerleader for Nixon and it doesn't compute.

Best Inexplicable/Incomprehensible James Brown Rant Track poll ever

Sorry, Best Best Inexplicable/Incomprehensible James Brown Rant Track, I mean

Oh fuck

yeah dude was a HUGE bundle of contradictions, a lot of which seem to have gone unexamined at the time simply by virtue of the sheer force of his personality. he was so striking and so commanding, such an overpowering figure, that untangling the knottier aspects of what he was actually saying/presenting seems often to have fallen by the wayside - even within his own circle and with people who were working with him. Fred Wesley's descriptions of him in "Hit Me, Fred!" are really informative in this respect - on a personal level he finds Brown irritating and almost laughable, but on a professional level, he notes that as soon as Brown stepped in front of the band and took control, *everybody* felt it and played sharper/harder/better than they ever would have otherwise. And then there's the whole disconnect between Brown constantly talking about black empowerment and people having to take care of themselves while simultaneously belittling and dominating and abusing everyone around him...

xp

in a lot of ways you could say Brown's socio-political exhortations are directed entirely at himself, with their applicability to other people being only an afterthought

Irt JB's political activism, Pee Wee Ellis told me "James Brown believed in one thing: James Brown." If he sometimes did some good for other people it was only a by-product of glorifying himself. My theory is that even Say It Loud was about proving his blackness to his critics - HE was black and proud, and the rest of black America was an afterthought.

yeah, and insofar as hip hop is/was all about black male ego empowerment, Brown's "rap music: it's all me!" claim isn't really that far off the mark. the narcissism, the muddled black capitalism, the sexism - it's all there

and the cocaine too lol

Funky President (People It's POLL) (closes 11/6/2012)

JB needs to be:
-the President
-the Mayor
-the Governor

I don't know karate, but I know KA-RAY-ZUH

JB needs to be:
-the President
-the Mayor
-the Governor

-Alive

Wow! I was 50% of the voting population! Guess which... ;-)

I am sad that I didn't see this. I would have voted for Escape-ism

No James Brown rant will ever be better than my continued rants about James Brown. :)

Brown makes more sense than you do

"lower alabama"

You know
We’re dealing with
A very critical and crucial times
Most, crucial and critical time that I've ever witnessed
Being as young as I am
You know
We all don't want to say nothing else, so we say “as young as we are”
Now I want to talk about
The pronunciation
And the realization
Now the educators
They call it
E.S.P.
Positive thinking, right?
Some of the people across the other side of the pond call it
Vibes
Vibrations
Astrology and all those different things you understand
But I call it, what it is and what it is
What it is and what it is
Lookie here
Now you see
A brother
You take in the ghetto you find a whole lot of crime
I can understand
Hey
I know what it means
Being nine years old before I got my first pair of underwear out of a store
You know
Putting on a half
A half pressed suit
From the pawn shop
With tennis shoes
Trying to be hip
See I know where it's coming from
Like the fellow say, “having catfish head stew”
And then like the catfish went in there with his head and come out very quick and didn't leave nothing else!
Now, there's one thing that the educators and the politicians and the establishment
Gotta remember
Now, brothers need jobs
If you don't work
You can't eat
If you don't work
You can't eat
Get hip to yourself, good God, my brother, and get it from the street
If you don't work
You can't eat
Sis
If you don't work, Lord
You can't eat
So you’ve got to have mind power to deal with starvation
And that's what we’re dealing with
You see we can't
Go back to the biblical stories
“2 loaves of bread”
Or “2 little fishes, 5 loaves of bread”
“2 little fishes” yeah
“5 loaves of bread"
Now lookie here
There's too many brothers that go by that
Now I want you brothers to dig where we coming from
Set your mind
Right here
Dig the JBE experience
I dug this from a young man out of New York
He said the GBE
The GBE
Now we want to take it to the JBE
The JB experience
Now friend
Brother, brother
Lay it on me
Lay it
Mind Power
Mind Power
Mind
Mind Power
What it is, what it is
What it is, what it is
It is what it is
It is what it is
It is what it is
That's what it is
It is
What it is
That's what it is
You know
Dealing with Harlem
South Side of Chicago
The Bay area
Watts
Five Point, Buttermilk Bottom in Atlanta
Diane Street in Augusta
West Broad in Savannah
U Street in Washington
Going over to Baltimore
South Street in Philly
Boston
I know
Somebody needs to help us
Give us
Just give us a chance
Somebody
Brothers across the nation
You got to get yourself together
Unified
We need information
Brothers across the nation
Pass on that right-on
Information
Brothers across the nation
That love power
Funky robot
That mind power
JB experience
JBE
Now back to
And meanwhile back to the ranch
Let's talk about the things what
That we deal with each and every day
Now horns
Now horns
Lets tell everybody
What it is, is what it is
What it is, is what it is
What it is, is what it is
What it is, is what it is
What it is
You can't change it
What it is, is what it is
Don't try to change it
What it is, is what it is
Deal with it
What it is, is what it is
Don't fool yourself
What it is, is what it is
Look in the mirror
What it is, is what it is
You'll find
What it is, is what it is
You can't fool yourself
What it is, is what it is
Gotta deal with it
What it is, is what it is
What it is
What it is, is what it is
What it is
What it is, is what it is
Tell 'em man
What it is, is what it is
Deal with it
What it is, is what it is
What it
What it is, is what it is
Wait a minute
A lookie here
I believe we should go back to the top
I wanna go back to the beginning
'Cause I like to hear ol' Morgan play them funky sticks over there
Now we'll build it up a bit and we'll tell 'em
What it is, is what it is
What it is, is what it is
What it is, is what it is
What it is, is what it is
Give me some horns
What it is, is what it is
What it is, is what it is
What it is
Give me a taste Jimmy
Give me taste
Hit me
I wanna go way back there
To the top
Way back there
Right now