THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

561-Bobby Byrd-Hot Pants (I’m Coming.)

1971-Has never charted in the UK.

Best Bit-At 0.30. If you are too young to know what hot pants are, then my advice is download some images.

Bobby Howard Byrd was born on August 15th, 1934, in Toccoa, Georgia, United States, he died from cancer on September 12th, 2007, aged 73.Bobby Byrd first met James Brown (see also best songs 880-349-270 and 88) in 1952, Brown was a pitcher on the baseball team in the Georgia youth prison where he was an inmate after being convicted of car burglary. Byrd was playing for a local team, who had come to the prison for a game. The two of them hit it off, and after Brown’s release, Byrd invited him to join his musical group ‘The Avons,’ who would later become ‘The Flames,’ and then ‘The Famous Flames.’ Byrd and Brown had an on and off working relationship until 1973, with their sound evolving from ‘Do Wop,’ to ‘R&B,’ to ‘Soul,’ and then becoming leading exponents in the new musical genre that was to become known as ‘Funk.’

‘Hot Pants (I’m Coming’) should not be confused with the James Brown song of the same name ‘Hot Pants (She Got to Use What She Got to Get What She Wants,’) which Bobby Byrd played the organ on. When Brown and Byrd, and the ‘J.B.’s’ were touring Europe, they had seen girls wearing the garment known as ‘Hot Pants,’ and that was where the inspiration for the song came from.

It has been hotly disputed how much input Bobby Byrd had on many of James Brown’s recordings, but the chances are his influence is far greater than the songwriting credits would have you believe. Many of Byrd’s songs have been sampled over the years, including this songs famous drumbeat, which was played by John ‘Jabo’ Starks (1938-2018.)The most famous sampling of the drumbeat was by The Stone Roses on their 1989 song ‘Fools Gold’ (see also best songs 253.)The most successful collaboration between Byrd and Brown is their 1970 recording ‘Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine,’ which is a call and response song, where Brown sings ‘Get up, and Byrd responds,’Get on up.'(see also best songs 88.)

‘I can’t knock it,’cause I need to rock it. This day or night, yesterday was the wrong day, I missed you the wrong way.’