So when his cue comes, Stubblefield continues to play the main rhythm pattern, with more emphasis but not a lot of variation. On the recording, James Brown tells him not to cut loose and solo because it might break up the groove and let all the air out of the balloon. Though he was only eighteen years old at the time of the “Funky Drummer” session, Clyde Stubblefield was already a master drummer. It’s a motherįour and a half minutes into the recording, James Brown tells the band: “Fellas, one more time I want to give the drummer some of this funky soul we got going here.” He tells drummer Clyde Stubblefield, “You don’t have to do no soloing, brother, just keep what you got… Don’t turn it loose, ’cause it’s a mother.” That last word will turn out to be prophetic.

It’s not as catchy as James Brown’s big hits like “Sex Machine” or “Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag.” It is hardly even a “song” at all, and it doesn’t have verses or choruses instead, it’s just an open-ended groove, with extended solos traded back and forth between James Brown on organ and Maceo Parker on tenor sax.

Saving Earth Britannica Presents Earth’s To-Do List for the 21st Century.“ The Funky Drummer Parts One And Two” by James Brown and the JBs is one of the most-sampled recordings in history.īut even though the track is a cornerstone of hip-hop and other sample-based electronic music, for the first decade after its release, it was an obscurity.

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The funky drummer