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Friday Funk #52 – ‘Funkin’ For Fun’ by Parliament
Friday Funk #52 – ‘Funkin’ For Fun’ by Parliament
Friday Funk #52 – ‘Funkin’ For Fun’ by Parliament
In 2025, Further Explorations of Funk will return with intermittent new parts. Before then, in our final Friday Funk, we enjoy one of Parliament’s greatest, most impeccably composed, arranged, and performed songs. The track closed one of their classic albums, and here it closes 2024.
Parliament’s The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein (1976) continued the P-Funk tradition of sharing lead vocals through the album. Glen Goins, famed for calling down the Mothership, sings lead on ‘Funkin’ For Fun’. Before listening to the song many, many times, it’s tricky to gauge when each of Goins’s lines will start. He sings with the freedom of a singer recording ad-libs and additional parts, but his voice has an authority that takes centre stage, even among all the brilliant rhythms and melodies. At 2:31, when he sings, “When you see my mother”, it feels like he’s telling you about the end of the world, or the end of his life. He was a rare talent. Goins co-wrote the song with George Clinton and Garry Shider.
The song as a whole mixes predictability—the bass and the kick drum always take care of the One, the snare is on the two and four most bars, and the backing singers’ “Guy, guy, guy, guy” is repeated—with unpredictability. It’s 2:10 minutes before the first chorus. Instruments drop out for a bare bones bridge (2:51). The horns are wonderfully varied, with short bursts, longer lines, and chord changes.
The horn arrangements on Dr. Funkenstein were split between Bernie Worrell and Fred Wesley. Though each song’s horn arrangement was credited to one or the other, Clinton wrote in his autobiography, “They would do the same song: one would do half, and the other the other half. Bernie hated to do stock arrangements. I would tell him to do it artsy-fartsy, jazzy.” ‘Funkin’’ was credited to Bernie, and it does sound like his work. Bernie said in a 2013 interview, “I guess, I didn’t know it at the time, but maybe it was unconventional, or... I don’t know. But I had the pleasure of having Maceo Parker, Fred Wesley from James Brown, and the Brecker Brothers, Michael and Randy, and Rick [Gardner] – he was the trumpeter from the group Chase – all on one session.” (In the case of ‘Funkin’’, Richard Griffith also plays trumpet.)
The guitar is the main instrument at times, and at other times is silent. This helps the vocals and horns shine. The guitar-then-horns philosophy is most evident from 2:32, when the guitar chords foreshadow what the horns will play. Then there’s the bridge, which is a repeat of the intro, with guitar and hi-hat. At other times, the guitar is mixed very low. Listen from 3:45 when it plays that same “When you see my mother” chord progression. Clinton has a great feel as a producer for when instruments can be removed, or minimised, to maximise another part.
Following the bridge, the song speeds up, and the final two minutes include two cathartic climaxes and joyous releases.
Those releases are created in multiple ways. Listen from 4:08, when the tension really ramps up. The saxophone in the left speaker and Glen’s voice have unresolved melodies and dramatic shifts in pitch. The drum pattern switches at 4:13 after a quick roll, and now plays the hi-hat on every eighth note, on the offbeat, making it feel like the track’s going backwards. It’s the same pattern as at 0:20-0:40, but paired with the left speaker’s saxophone and insistent singing, it feels far more tense. The sax squeals and whines, playing free phrases that would sound like soloing if it wasn’t for the continued vocals. The first release comes after another drum roll at 4:30. The sax on the right brilliantly sets up the One with an energetic three-note phrase.
Through these last two minutes (and much of the song), Cordell Mosson’s bass mostly follows the same groove but touches of difference contribute to the most special moments. There are a few quick, higher-pitched notes from 4:30 during the drum roll.
The next moment of release comes with a chord change and change of vocal melody, as Goins sings, “Having a good time” at 4:54. The horns keep stabbing away, with some of their phrases sounding sure of themselves and some entirely unsure. There’s soon a brief sax solo on the left, which repeats a phrase, and everything feels predictable for a moment, before the singers come in on the fourth beat: “Giving up the P-Funk”.
There are other moments of joy, such as when Goins joins in on the One for the first of his “good”s in “I’m having a good, good, good, good time” from 5:02, and earlier in the song (1:10), with the backing singers’ emphatic “Don’t” on the One in the chorus. “Don’t worry about me / I’m just funkin’ around for fun”.
In 2025, Further Explorations of Funk will return with intermittent new parts. Before then, in our final Friday Funk, we enjoy one of Parliament’s greatest, most impeccably composed, arranged, and performed songs. The track closed one of their classic albums, and here it closes 2024.
Parliament’s The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein (1976) continued the P-Funk tradition of sharing lead vocals through the album. Glen Goins, famed for calling down the Mothership, sings lead on ‘Funkin’ For Fun’. Before listening to the song many, many times, it’s tricky to gauge when each of Goins’s lines will start. He sings with the freedom of a singer recording ad-libs and additional parts, but his voice has an authority that takes centre stage, even among all the brilliant rhythms and melodies. At 2:31, when he sings, “When you see my mother”, it feels like he’s telling you about the end of the world, or the end of his life. He was a rare talent. Goins co-wrote the song with George Clinton and Garry Shider.
The song as a whole mixes predictability—the bass and the kick drum always take care of the One, the snare is on the two and four most bars, and the backing singers’ “Guy, guy, guy, guy” is repeated—with unpredictability. It’s 2:10 minutes before the first chorus. Instruments drop out for a bare bones bridge (2:51). The horns are wonderfully varied, with short bursts, longer lines, and chord changes.
The horn arrangements on Dr. Funkenstein were split between Bernie Worrell and Fred Wesley. Though each song’s horn arrangement was credited to one or the other, Clinton wrote in his autobiography, “They would do the same song: one would do half, and the other the other half. Bernie hated to do stock arrangements. I would tell him to do it artsy-fartsy, jazzy.” ‘Funkin’’ was credited to Bernie, and it does sound like his work. Bernie said in a 2013 interview, “I guess, I didn’t know it at the time, but maybe it was unconventional, or... I don’t know. But I had the pleasure of having Maceo Parker, Fred Wesley from James Brown, and the Brecker Brothers, Michael and Randy, and Rick [Gardner] – he was the trumpeter from the group Chase – all on one session.” (In the case of ‘Funkin’’, Richard Griffith also plays trumpet.)
The guitar is the main instrument at times, and at other times is silent. This helps the vocals and horns shine. The guitar-then-horns philosophy is most evident from 2:32, when the guitar chords foreshadow what the horns will play. Then there’s the bridge, which is a repeat of the intro, with guitar and hi-hat. At other times, the guitar is mixed very low. Listen from 3:45 when it plays that same “When you see my mother” chord progression. Clinton has a great feel as a producer for when instruments can be removed, or minimised, to maximise another part.
Following the bridge, the song speeds up, and the final two minutes include two cathartic climaxes and joyous releases.
Those releases are created in multiple ways. Listen from 4:08, when the tension really ramps up. The saxophone in the left speaker and Glen’s voice have unresolved melodies and dramatic shifts in pitch. The drum pattern switches at 4:13 after a quick roll, and now plays the hi-hat on every eighth note, on the offbeat, making it feel like the track’s going backwards. It’s the same pattern as at 0:20-0:40, but paired with the left speaker’s saxophone and insistent singing, it feels far more tense. The sax squeals and whines, playing free phrases that would sound like soloing if it wasn’t for the continued vocals. The first release comes after another drum roll at 4:30. The sax on the right brilliantly sets up the One with an energetic three-note phrase.
Through these last two minutes (and much of the song), Cordell Mosson’s bass mostly follows the same groove but touches of difference contribute to the most special moments. There are a few quick, higher-pitched notes from 4:30 during the drum roll.
The next moment of release comes with a chord change and change of vocal melody, as Goins sings, “Having a good time” at 4:54. The horns keep stabbing away, with some of their phrases sounding sure of themselves and some entirely unsure. There’s soon a brief sax solo on the left, which repeats a phrase, and everything feels predictable for a moment, before the singers come in on the fourth beat: “Giving up the P-Funk”.
There are other moments of joy, such as when Goins joins in on the One for the first of his “good”s in “I’m having a good, good, good, good time” from 5:02, and earlier in the song (1:10), with the backing singers’ emphatic “Don’t” on the One in the chorus. “Don’t worry about me / I’m just funkin’ around for fun”.
In 2025, Further Explorations of Funk will return with intermittent new parts. Before then, in our final Friday Funk, we enjoy one of Parliament’s greatest, most impeccably composed, arranged, and performed songs. The track closed one of their classic albums, and here it closes 2024.
Parliament’s The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein (1976) continued the P-Funk tradition of sharing lead vocals through the album. Glen Goins, famed for calling down the Mothership, sings lead on ‘Funkin’ For Fun’. Before listening to the song many, many times, it’s tricky to gauge when each of Goins’s lines will start. He sings with the freedom of a singer recording ad-libs and additional parts, but his voice has an authority that takes centre stage, even among all the brilliant rhythms and melodies. At 2:31, when he sings, “When you see my mother”, it feels like he’s telling you about the end of the world, or the end of his life. He was a rare talent. Goins co-wrote the song with George Clinton and Garry Shider.
The song as a whole mixes predictability—the bass and the kick drum always take care of the One, the snare is on the two and four most bars, and the backing singers’ “Guy, guy, guy, guy” is repeated—with unpredictability. It’s 2:10 minutes before the first chorus. Instruments drop out for a bare bones bridge (2:51). The horns are wonderfully varied, with short bursts, longer lines, and chord changes.
The horn arrangements on Dr. Funkenstein were split between Bernie Worrell and Fred Wesley. Though each song’s horn arrangement was credited to one or the other, Clinton wrote in his autobiography, “They would do the same song: one would do half, and the other the other half. Bernie hated to do stock arrangements. I would tell him to do it artsy-fartsy, jazzy.” ‘Funkin’’ was credited to Bernie, and it does sound like his work. Bernie said in a 2013 interview, “I guess, I didn’t know it at the time, but maybe it was unconventional, or... I don’t know. But I had the pleasure of having Maceo Parker, Fred Wesley from James Brown, and the Brecker Brothers, Michael and Randy, and Rick [Gardner] – he was the trumpeter from the group Chase – all on one session.” (In the case of ‘Funkin’’, Richard Griffith also plays trumpet.)
The guitar is the main instrument at times, and at other times is silent. This helps the vocals and horns shine. The guitar-then-horns philosophy is most evident from 2:32, when the guitar chords foreshadow what the horns will play. Then there’s the bridge, which is a repeat of the intro, with guitar and hi-hat. At other times, the guitar is mixed very low. Listen from 3:45 when it plays that same “When you see my mother” chord progression. Clinton has a great feel as a producer for when instruments can be removed, or minimised, to maximise another part.
Following the bridge, the song speeds up, and the final two minutes include two cathartic climaxes and joyous releases.
Those releases are created in multiple ways. Listen from 4:08, when the tension really ramps up. The saxophone in the left speaker and Glen’s voice have unresolved melodies and dramatic shifts in pitch. The drum pattern switches at 4:13 after a quick roll, and now plays the hi-hat on every eighth note, on the offbeat, making it feel like the track’s going backwards. It’s the same pattern as at 0:20-0:40, but paired with the left speaker’s saxophone and insistent singing, it feels far more tense. The sax squeals and whines, playing free phrases that would sound like soloing if it wasn’t for the continued vocals. The first release comes after another drum roll at 4:30. The sax on the right brilliantly sets up the One with an energetic three-note phrase.
Through these last two minutes (and much of the song), Cordell Mosson’s bass mostly follows the same groove but touches of difference contribute to the most special moments. There are a few quick, higher-pitched notes from 4:30 during the drum roll.
The next moment of release comes with a chord change and change of vocal melody, as Goins sings, “Having a good time” at 4:54. The horns keep stabbing away, with some of their phrases sounding sure of themselves and some entirely unsure. There’s soon a brief sax solo on the left, which repeats a phrase, and everything feels predictable for a moment, before the singers come in on the fourth beat: “Giving up the P-Funk”.
There are other moments of joy, such as when Goins joins in on the One for the first of his “good”s in “I’m having a good, good, good, good time” from 5:02, and earlier in the song (1:10), with the backing singers’ emphatic “Don’t” on the One in the chorus. “Don’t worry about me / I’m just funkin’ around for fun”.