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Friday Funk #33 – ‘Rumpofsteelskin’ by Parliament
Friday Funk #33 – ‘Rumpofsteelskin’ by Parliament
Friday Funk #33 – ‘Rumpofsteelskin’ by Parliament
If you’ve been away while we’ve been underwater in August, check out ‘Deep’ and ‘The Motor-Booty Affair’.
George Clinton wrote in his memoir, Brothas Be Yo, Like George, Ain’t That Funkin’ Kinda Hard on You?, that ‘Rumpofsteelskin’ was “a variation on the buttcentricity (and self-empowerment) of the album title”.
The intro to ‘Rumpofsteelskin’, with bass notes crawling down the neck and the brief shrieks of horns, expertly sets up the main groove, and the first of many brilliantly stupid lines. “The Motor Booty where you shake your rump / The Motor Booty where you funk”.
On an album of silliness, by a band who love silliness, ‘Rumpofsteelskin’ is the silliest. One section is among the most ridiculous P-Funk ever put to tape: “Rumpofsteelskin / He don’t rust and he don’t bend / He’s got dynamic sticks by the megatons in his butt / Rumpofsteelskin / He don’t know that he can’t win / His Motor Booty lady is never gonna blow us up”.
That’s not to say ridiculousness is without its merits. The joyous freedom and constant movement of the song – its buttcentricity – gets you out of your head and free of those pesky worries we all have above land. The sea is apparently free of such concerns: Clinton’s Star Child rapping voice is back as he informs us, “With gills ‘n’ things, you don’t have to pay no bills ‘n’ things.”
Star Child brings us a “bump-by-bump rundown at the wide wide world of Wiggle”. Mr. Wiggles, a clone of Dr Funkenstein, joins the underwater characters, and was inspired by Clinton’s fishing trips in Miami. He wrote in his memoir about seeing “an entire genre of fishing signs, these cheesy, friendly, sometimes almost cartoonish posters and cards hawking bait and explaining etiquette.” Mr. Wiggles was lifted from those signs. He was “the one who threw the party”, “an underwater emissary for the funk.”
Like ‘Deep’ and ‘Motor-Booty’, the ocean here is full of vocalists. Various ad-libs, the joyous chant of “Fire crystal hot!”, the cry of “Put out water!”, and Clinton’s cool-no-matter-what-he-says lines like “Like the blowfish said to the shark / Got anything from the hammerhead?” add up to the barely-room-to-breathe feel. But the song’s so fun even that even if you’re claustrophobic you won’t want to poke your head above water.
‘Rumpofsteelskin’ is a great example of the lesson Clinton learned in his early songwriting days at Motown: write hooks, and lots of them. And hey, if they're good – reuse them. As on ‘Deep’, Parliament take the “Wiiiiiiiiiind me up!” line (2:44) from Bootsy’s hit ‘Bootzilla’, making this one of three 1978 P-Funk tracks featuring that hook.
Rivalling the “megatons in his butt” section as the highlight is the “Rumpofsteeeeeeelskiiiiiiiin” bridge. From the third “Rumpofsteelskin” repetition, the “steel” note changes in pitch. It’s a tiny variation, but the kind that makes the best P-Funk so replayable. The bass hits the One – hard – every other bar with a single deep note. Between those beats, the bass has room to wriggle in more freeform strokes. By ’78, Parliament had long ago absorbed the lesson of the One from Bootsy Collins, which he had learned from James Brown.
(Do we ever need an excuse to watch the greatest one-minute video on YouTube?)
Bootsy has said, “I took that over to George Clinton, who made it a whole concept. Everything was on the one—everybody was emphasizing the one—even the vocals. So George took it to another degree.”
Similar to the bridge, when the “Livin’ and jivin’ and diggin’ the skin he’s in” refrain returns soon after the 4-minute mark, the singers sink down in pitch from the third repetition.
Even if the rest of the song was a crinkled-forehead examination of the benefits and pitfalls of capitalism, these lines, and the bass, horns, and drums, would make for a boatload of fun. As it happens, there’s not any forehead crinkling. Just a lot of finger-wrinkling, underwater buttshaking.
Clinton wrote about the “playful darkness” of Motor Booty, and while the album touched on serious themes – particularly on ‘Deep’ – ‘Rumpofsteelskin’ is playful without the darkness. “Everything about that album was fun,” Clinton said. While masterminding the concept, he got caught up in the fun himself: listen to the “HO!” he throws in near the end of the song, just letting it float there, unattached to any line. Clinton just really liked saying “HO!”.
If you’ve been away while we’ve been underwater in August, check out ‘Deep’ and ‘The Motor-Booty Affair’.
George Clinton wrote in his memoir, Brothas Be Yo, Like George, Ain’t That Funkin’ Kinda Hard on You?, that ‘Rumpofsteelskin’ was “a variation on the buttcentricity (and self-empowerment) of the album title”.
The intro to ‘Rumpofsteelskin’, with bass notes crawling down the neck and the brief shrieks of horns, expertly sets up the main groove, and the first of many brilliantly stupid lines. “The Motor Booty where you shake your rump / The Motor Booty where you funk”.
On an album of silliness, by a band who love silliness, ‘Rumpofsteelskin’ is the silliest. One section is among the most ridiculous P-Funk ever put to tape: “Rumpofsteelskin / He don’t rust and he don’t bend / He’s got dynamic sticks by the megatons in his butt / Rumpofsteelskin / He don’t know that he can’t win / His Motor Booty lady is never gonna blow us up”.
That’s not to say ridiculousness is without its merits. The joyous freedom and constant movement of the song – its buttcentricity – gets you out of your head and free of those pesky worries we all have above land. The sea is apparently free of such concerns: Clinton’s Star Child rapping voice is back as he informs us, “With gills ‘n’ things, you don’t have to pay no bills ‘n’ things.”
Star Child brings us a “bump-by-bump rundown at the wide wide world of Wiggle”. Mr. Wiggles, a clone of Dr Funkenstein, joins the underwater characters, and was inspired by Clinton’s fishing trips in Miami. He wrote in his memoir about seeing “an entire genre of fishing signs, these cheesy, friendly, sometimes almost cartoonish posters and cards hawking bait and explaining etiquette.” Mr. Wiggles was lifted from those signs. He was “the one who threw the party”, “an underwater emissary for the funk.”
Like ‘Deep’ and ‘Motor-Booty’, the ocean here is full of vocalists. Various ad-libs, the joyous chant of “Fire crystal hot!”, the cry of “Put out water!”, and Clinton’s cool-no-matter-what-he-says lines like “Like the blowfish said to the shark / Got anything from the hammerhead?” add up to the barely-room-to-breathe feel. But the song’s so fun even that even if you’re claustrophobic you won’t want to poke your head above water.
‘Rumpofsteelskin’ is a great example of the lesson Clinton learned in his early songwriting days at Motown: write hooks, and lots of them. And hey, if they're good – reuse them. As on ‘Deep’, Parliament take the “Wiiiiiiiiiind me up!” line (2:44) from Bootsy’s hit ‘Bootzilla’, making this one of three 1978 P-Funk tracks featuring that hook.
Rivalling the “megatons in his butt” section as the highlight is the “Rumpofsteeeeeeelskiiiiiiiin” bridge. From the third “Rumpofsteelskin” repetition, the “steel” note changes in pitch. It’s a tiny variation, but the kind that makes the best P-Funk so replayable. The bass hits the One – hard – every other bar with a single deep note. Between those beats, the bass has room to wriggle in more freeform strokes. By ’78, Parliament had long ago absorbed the lesson of the One from Bootsy Collins, which he had learned from James Brown.
(Do we ever need an excuse to watch the greatest one-minute video on YouTube?)
Bootsy has said, “I took that over to George Clinton, who made it a whole concept. Everything was on the one—everybody was emphasizing the one—even the vocals. So George took it to another degree.”
Similar to the bridge, when the “Livin’ and jivin’ and diggin’ the skin he’s in” refrain returns soon after the 4-minute mark, the singers sink down in pitch from the third repetition.
Even if the rest of the song was a crinkled-forehead examination of the benefits and pitfalls of capitalism, these lines, and the bass, horns, and drums, would make for a boatload of fun. As it happens, there’s not any forehead crinkling. Just a lot of finger-wrinkling, underwater buttshaking.
Clinton wrote about the “playful darkness” of Motor Booty, and while the album touched on serious themes – particularly on ‘Deep’ – ‘Rumpofsteelskin’ is playful without the darkness. “Everything about that album was fun,” Clinton said. While masterminding the concept, he got caught up in the fun himself: listen to the “HO!” he throws in near the end of the song, just letting it float there, unattached to any line. Clinton just really liked saying “HO!”.
If you’ve been away while we’ve been underwater in August, check out ‘Deep’ and ‘The Motor-Booty Affair’.
George Clinton wrote in his memoir, Brothas Be Yo, Like George, Ain’t That Funkin’ Kinda Hard on You?, that ‘Rumpofsteelskin’ was “a variation on the buttcentricity (and self-empowerment) of the album title”.
The intro to ‘Rumpofsteelskin’, with bass notes crawling down the neck and the brief shrieks of horns, expertly sets up the main groove, and the first of many brilliantly stupid lines. “The Motor Booty where you shake your rump / The Motor Booty where you funk”.
On an album of silliness, by a band who love silliness, ‘Rumpofsteelskin’ is the silliest. One section is among the most ridiculous P-Funk ever put to tape: “Rumpofsteelskin / He don’t rust and he don’t bend / He’s got dynamic sticks by the megatons in his butt / Rumpofsteelskin / He don’t know that he can’t win / His Motor Booty lady is never gonna blow us up”.
That’s not to say ridiculousness is without its merits. The joyous freedom and constant movement of the song – its buttcentricity – gets you out of your head and free of those pesky worries we all have above land. The sea is apparently free of such concerns: Clinton’s Star Child rapping voice is back as he informs us, “With gills ‘n’ things, you don’t have to pay no bills ‘n’ things.”
Star Child brings us a “bump-by-bump rundown at the wide wide world of Wiggle”. Mr. Wiggles, a clone of Dr Funkenstein, joins the underwater characters, and was inspired by Clinton’s fishing trips in Miami. He wrote in his memoir about seeing “an entire genre of fishing signs, these cheesy, friendly, sometimes almost cartoonish posters and cards hawking bait and explaining etiquette.” Mr. Wiggles was lifted from those signs. He was “the one who threw the party”, “an underwater emissary for the funk.”
Like ‘Deep’ and ‘Motor-Booty’, the ocean here is full of vocalists. Various ad-libs, the joyous chant of “Fire crystal hot!”, the cry of “Put out water!”, and Clinton’s cool-no-matter-what-he-says lines like “Like the blowfish said to the shark / Got anything from the hammerhead?” add up to the barely-room-to-breathe feel. But the song’s so fun even that even if you’re claustrophobic you won’t want to poke your head above water.
‘Rumpofsteelskin’ is a great example of the lesson Clinton learned in his early songwriting days at Motown: write hooks, and lots of them. And hey, if they're good – reuse them. As on ‘Deep’, Parliament take the “Wiiiiiiiiiind me up!” line (2:44) from Bootsy’s hit ‘Bootzilla’, making this one of three 1978 P-Funk tracks featuring that hook.
Rivalling the “megatons in his butt” section as the highlight is the “Rumpofsteeeeeeelskiiiiiiiin” bridge. From the third “Rumpofsteelskin” repetition, the “steel” note changes in pitch. It’s a tiny variation, but the kind that makes the best P-Funk so replayable. The bass hits the One – hard – every other bar with a single deep note. Between those beats, the bass has room to wriggle in more freeform strokes. By ’78, Parliament had long ago absorbed the lesson of the One from Bootsy Collins, which he had learned from James Brown.
(Do we ever need an excuse to watch the greatest one-minute video on YouTube?)
Bootsy has said, “I took that over to George Clinton, who made it a whole concept. Everything was on the one—everybody was emphasizing the one—even the vocals. So George took it to another degree.”
Similar to the bridge, when the “Livin’ and jivin’ and diggin’ the skin he’s in” refrain returns soon after the 4-minute mark, the singers sink down in pitch from the third repetition.
Even if the rest of the song was a crinkled-forehead examination of the benefits and pitfalls of capitalism, these lines, and the bass, horns, and drums, would make for a boatload of fun. As it happens, there’s not any forehead crinkling. Just a lot of finger-wrinkling, underwater buttshaking.
Clinton wrote about the “playful darkness” of Motor Booty, and while the album touched on serious themes – particularly on ‘Deep’ – ‘Rumpofsteelskin’ is playful without the darkness. “Everything about that album was fun,” Clinton said. While masterminding the concept, he got caught up in the fun himself: listen to the “HO!” he throws in near the end of the song, just letting it float there, unattached to any line. Clinton just really liked saying “HO!”.