THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

612-Parliament-Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)

1976-It has never charted in the UK.

Best Bit-At 3.57. If you ever attend a George Clinton concert, you will always hear the phrase, ‘Give up the Funk’ chanted, sometimes hundreds of times, starting with the audience imploring the band to take to the stage.

George Edward Clinton (see also best songs 340-143 and 26) was born on July 22nd, 1941, in Kannapolis, North Carolina, United States, alongside James Brown, (1933-2006) (see also best songs 880-612-340-143 and 88) and Sly Stone, (see also best songs 589) he is cited as one of the foremost innovators of ‘Funk’ music. George Clinton’s first professional foray into music was when forming a ‘Doo-Wop’ group in Plainfield, New Jersey, United States, in 1955 called ‘The Parliaments,’ who were initially inspired by Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers (see also best songs 250.) By the 1960’s ‘The Parliaments’ had developed a unique sound, based on the emerging styles of ‘Soul’ and ‘Funk’ music, and on occasions they would use quirky lyrics to enhance their songs. ‘The Parliaments’ were active between 1955-1969, releasing four Albums. They had one hit single called (‘I Wanna) Testify,’ which was co-written by George Clinton, and Deron Taylor, which reached Number 20 on the American Billboard Hot 100, and Number 23 in Canada in 1967. In total there were 13 different members come and go, with several staying in Clinton’s employment for many more years to come. In order to capitalise on the success of (‘I Wanna) Testify,’ George Clinton put together a group of touring musicians, but due to a contractual dispute he lost the rights to the name ‘The Parliaments,’ so he reformed, using the name ‘Funkadelic,’ in 1968 (see also best songs 340 and 26.) As the amount of newly recruited musicians grew, Clinton decided to form a second group to run concurrently alongside ‘Funkadelic,’ and this became the formation of ‘Parliament,’ (see also best songs 143) also in 1968.

Whereas ‘Funkadelic’ were more of a ‘Funk/Rock’ orientated group, ‘Parliament’ leaned more towards ‘R&B’ and ‘Psychedelic Soul,’ with both groups who were led by George Clinton, releasing several Albums and singles on a regular basis for more than a decade. The discography of Parliament includes 10 studio Album, with nine of them issued between 1970-1980, and a further one in 2018, they also released 20 singles between 1971-2018, and there are 11 official compilation Albums, and two live Albums available. In America on the Billboard Hot 100, two of their singles have reached the top 40, with ‘Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker’) peaking the highest at Number 15, but it was on the Billboard ‘Hot R&B,’ chart, which in the 1970’s was called the ‘Best Selling Soul Singles’ chart, where Parliament had their greatest success, with 14 of their singles reaching the top 40, with ‘Flashlight,’ (1978) and ‘Aqua Boogie (A Psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadoloop’) (1978) both making the Number 1 spot. In the UK, Parliament never had a top 40 hit single.

‘Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker’) was the second of three singles released from Parliament’s fourth studio Album ‘Mothership Connection,’ from December 1975, the song was co-written by George Clinton, Jerome Brailey, and Bootsy Collins, (see also best songs 850-340-143 and 88) with the production being by Clinton. Jerome Brailey is a drummer, who was born on August 20th, 1950, in Richmond, Virginia, United States, he has played in both Parliament, and Funkadelic, and was one of the 15 other members of ‘Parliament-Funkadelic,’ who were inducted in to the ‘Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’ in 1997.

‘Mothership Connection’ is one of the most critically acclaimed Albums of all time, especially in the genre of ‘Funk,’ and has gone on to sell in excess of one million copies in America. As well as featuring many members of Parliament on the Album, there were guest musicians as well, which included the horn players Maceo Parker (see also best songs 850-270-143 and 88) and Fred Wesley, (see also best songs 850-143 and 88) who had previously backed James Brown in the J.B.’s. ‘Mothership Connection’ is a concept Album on which George Clinton lets his imagination run wild. The Album is held together by a loose, escapist outer-space theme, of which George Clinton has said, ‘We had put black people in situations nobody ever thought they would be in, like the White House. I figured another place you wouldn’t think black people would be was in outer space. I was a big fan of Star Trek, so we did a thing with a pimp sitting in a spaceship shaped like a Cadillac, and we did all these James Brown-type grooves, but with street talk and ghetto slang. On it’s release ‘Rolling Stone’ magazine called the Album ‘A parody of modern Funk,’ and stated that ‘Unlike the Ohio Players (see also best songs 506)) or Commodores, the group refuses to play it straight. Instead, Clinton spews his jive, conceived from some cosmic Funk vision.’

‘You’ve got a real type of thing going down, gettin’ down, there’s a whole lot of rhythm going round. You’ve got a real type of thing going down, gettin’ down, there’s a whole lot of rhythm going round. Ow, we want the funk, give up the funk, ow, we need the funk, we gotta have that funk.’