Well, alright. Hey I was diggin’ on y’all’s funk for awhile
Sounds like it got a three on it though, to me
Parliament, in the song P.Funk, helpfully warns us about the unfortunate and sorrowful condition with which our funk is afflicted… inasmuch as it seems to be have a three upon it.
Meaning… what?
3rd-prize ribbon?
The only thing that immediately comes to mind is that funk is “on the one” (where the first beat of the measure is heavily emphasized), so perhaps “got a three” implies being off or not quite funkin’ by accenting the third beat? That’s all I got.
Exactly what I thought.
I find funk confusing. Am I supposed to get on up, or get on down. Or, do I get up with the get down.
Just free your mind. Your ass will follow.
The “Get Up” vs. “Get Down” battle may never be resolved.
I’m afraid the story of the funk is a little more complicated than that,
In all seriousness, a coupla funky observations:
There is a Funk Singularity when Larry Graham of Sly and the Family Stone innovated popping and slapping. I was watching some interview of a producer who used Bootsy on an album, he asked him not to pop on a song, but instead play the type of bass in did right when he started with James Brown. “Oh, you want the Tippy-Toe Funk!” is what Bootsy said, and delivered. I love that - his fingers tippy-toeing on the strings is a perfect visual.
I think of two major funk groupings: sinewy vs stewy. With James Brown, you hear every part separately, individual lines that work together. The Bach multi-line approach. Then there’s Parliament, a big fuckin gumbo of funk - I couldn’t pick out individual parts, except maybe a Bernie Worrell synth bass hook or two ;). You get my point, it all is fused together in a way that’s so different from James Brown’s funk. I love that.