View source for Funky Drummer

{{Short description|1970 single by James Brown}}
{{Infobox song
| name       = Funky Drummer (Part 1)
| cover      = FunkyDrummer2.jpg
| alt        =
| type       = single
| artist     = [[James Brown]]
| album      = [[In the Jungle Groove]]
| B-side     = Funky Drummer (Part 2)
| released   = {{Start date|1970|03}}
| recorded   = November 20, 1969
| studio     = King Studios, [[Cincinnati]], Ohio
| genre      = [[Funk]]
| length     = {{plainlist}}
* {{Duration|m=2|s=36}} (Part 1)
* {{Duration|m=2|s=55}} (Part 2)
* {{Duration|m=9|s=15}} (album version)
{{endplainlist}}
| label      = [[King Records (United States)|King]]
| writer     = James Brown
| producer   = James Brown
| chronology = [[James Brown]] charting
| prev_title = [[It's a New Day (James Brown song)|It's a New Day (Part 1) & (Part 2)]]
| prev_year  = 1970
| next_title = [[Brother Rapp|Brother Rapp (Part 1) & (Part 2)]]
| next_year  = 1970
| misc       = {{Audio sample
 | type = single
 | file = Funky Drummer sample.ogg
}}
{{External music video|{{YouTube|QXw6YZltKJk|"Funky Drummer (Pt. 1 & 2)"}}|header=Audio video}}
}}
{{external media
| video1 = [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sctjOaab3D4 Drummerworld] – Stubblefield breakdown of "Cold Sweat" and "Funky Drummer".
}}
"'''Funky Drummer'''" is a song by [[James Brown]] recorded in 1969 and released as a single in 1970. Its [[drum break]], [[Musical improvisation|improvised]] by [[Clyde Stubblefield]], is one of the most frequently [[sampling (music)|sampled]] music recordings used in over two-thousand other records.<ref name=":1" />

== Recording and composition ==
"Funky Drummer" was recorded on November 20, 1969, in [[Cincinnati, Ohio]]. It is an extended [[Vamp (music)|vamp]], with individual instruments (mostly the [[guitar]], [[tenor saxophone]]s and [[Organ (music)|organ]]) improvising brief [[lick (music)|licks]] on top. Brown's ad-libbed vocals are sporadic and declamatory, mostly concerned with encouraging the other band members. The song is played in the key of D minor, though the first verse is in C major.

As in the full-length version of "[[Cold Sweat]]", Brown announces the upcoming drum break, which comes late in the recording, requesting to "give the drummer some." He tells [[Clyde Stubblefield|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." Stubblefield's eight-[[Bar (music)|bar]] unaccompanied "[[Solo (music)|solo]]", a version of the [[riff]] he plays through most of the piece, is the result of Brown's directions; this [[Break (music)#Breakbeat (element of music)|break beat]] is one of the most [[Sampling (music)|sampled]] recordings in music.

After the drum break, the band returns to the original [[Vamp (music)|vamp.]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://iomusic.com/|title=Funky Drummer|last=Collins|first=Sam|work=Iomusic News|access-date=2008-11-30|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080116212634/http://iomusic.com/|archive-date=2008-01-16}}</ref> Brown, apparently impressed with what Stubblefield has produced, seems to name the song on the spot as it continues, and repeats it: "The name of this tune is 'The Funky Drummer', 'The Funky Drummer', 'The Funky Drummer'." The recording ends with a [[reprise]] of Stubblefield's solo and a [[Fade (audio engineering)|fade-out]].

==Release==
"Funky Drummer" was originally released by [[King Records (USA)|King Records]] as a two-part [[Revolutions per minute|45 rpm]] [[Single (music)|single]] in March 1970. The difference between the album version and the single version is that the single version contains Brown's vocal percussion ('kooncha'). Despite rising to No. 20 on the [[Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs|R&B chart]] and No. 51 on the [[Billboard Hot 100|pop chart]],<ref>White, Cliff (1991). "Discography". In ''Star Time'' (pp.&nbsp;54–59) [CD booklet]. New York: PolyGram Records.</ref> it did not receive an album release until the 1986 [[Compilation album|compilation]] ''[[In the Jungle Groove]]''.

More than one [[Audio mixing (recorded music)|mix]] of "Funky Drummer" was made around the time it was recorded, including one with [[tambourine]] and another with [[vocal percussion]] by Brown and [[trombonist]] [[Fred Wesley]]. The most commonly heard version of the track lacks these elements, which were apparently [[overdubbed]]. In addition to the original version of "Funky Drummer", the album ''In the Jungle Groove'' includes a "bonus beat reprise" of the piece. This track, edited by Danny Krivit, consists of a 3-minute [[music loop|loop]] of the drum break, punctuated only by Brown's sampled vocal interjections and an occasional guitar chord and tambourine hit.

==Sampling==
[[File:Clyde-Stubblefield-june-24-2005.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Stubblefield pictured in 2005]]
"Funky Drummer" is one of the most widely [[Sampling (music)|sampled]] pieces of music.<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Gordon|first=Jason|date=2006-12-26|title=James Brown: Most Sampled Man in the Biz|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/james-brown-most-sampled-man-in-the-biz-115798/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200205085226/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/james-brown-most-sampled-man-in-the-biz-115798/|archive-date=5 February 2020|access-date=2020-02-05|magazine=Rolling Stone|language=en-US}}</ref> In 1986, the tracks "[[South Bronx (song)|South Bronx]]", "[[Eric B. Is President|Eric B. is President]]" and "[[It's a Demo]]" sampled Stubblefield's drum break, helping popularize sampling.<ref name=":8">{{Cite news|date=2016-06-25|title=Untangling the knotty world of hip-hop copyright|language=en-US|work=FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.|url=http://www.factmag.com/2016/06/25/sampling-hip-hop-copyright/|url-status=live|access-date=2018-10-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181014165059/http://www.factmag.com/2016/06/25/sampling-hip-hop-copyright/|archive-date=14 October 2018}}</ref> The drum break was sampled by [[Hip hop music|hip hop]] acts including [[Public Enemy (band)|Public Enemy]], [[N.W.A]], [[LL Cool J]], [[Run-DMC]], the [[Beastie Boys]], and the theme music to ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]'' on [[Cartoon Network]], as well as later pop musicians such as [[Ed Sheeran]] and [[George Michael]], notably done in [[Freedom! '90]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite magazine|last=Kreps|first=Daniel|date=2017-02-18|title=Clyde Stubblefield, James Brown's 'Funky Drummer,' Dead at 73|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/clyde-stubblefield-james-browns-funky-drummer-dead-at-73-124337/|access-date=2020-08-01|magazine=Rolling Stone|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Songs that Sampled Funky Drummer by James Brown on WhoSampled |url=https://www.whosampled.com/James-Brown/Funky-Drummer/sampled/ |access-date=2025-09-16 |website=WhoSampled |language=en}}</ref>

As Stubblefield did not receive a songwriter credit for "Funky Drummer", he received no [[royalties]] for the sampling.<ref name=":0" /> He told ''[[The New York Times]]'' in 2011: "It didn't bug me or disturb me, but I think it's disrespectful not to pay people for what they use."<ref>{{Cite news|last=Sisario|first=Ben|date=2011-03-29|title=Living Legend Tries to Make a Living|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/30/arts/music/clyde-stubblefield-a-drummer-aims-for-royalties.html|access-date=2020-08-01|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Stubblefield capitalized on the name with his 1997 album ''Revenge of the Funky Drummer''.<ref>[http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=5231 James Brown, Clyde Stubblefield and the Madison Area Music Awards] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140517114130/http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=5231 |date=2014-05-17 }}. (2007, January 4). ''Isthmus''. Retrieved February 13, 2007.</ref>

==Personnel==
*[[James Brown]] – vocals, [[Hammond organ]]

'''with the James Brown Orchestra'''
*Richard "Kush" Griffith – trumpet
*Joe Davis – trumpet
*[[Fred Wesley]] – trombone
*[[Maceo Parker]] – tenor saxophone
*Eldee Williams – tenor saxophone
*[[St. Clair Pinckney]] – baritone saxophone
*[[Jimmy Nolen]] – guitar
*Alphonso "Country" Kellum – guitar
*[[Sweet Charles Sherrell|Charles Sherrell]] – bass guitar
*[[Clyde Stubblefield]] – drums<ref>Leeds, Alan, and Harry Weinger (1991). "Star Time: Song by Song". In ''Star Time'' (pp.&nbsp;46–53) [CD booklet]. New York: PolyGram Records.</ref>

==Charts==
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|+Chart performance for "Funky Drummer"
!scope="col"|Chart (1970)
!scope="col"|Peak<br />position
|-
{{single chart |Canadatopsingles|41|chartid=3796|rowheader=true}}
|-
!scope="row"|US [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]]<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/1970-04-11/|title=Billboard Hot 100: Week of April 11, 1970|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|access-date=July 27, 2023}}</ref>
|align="center"|51
|-
!scope="row"|US [[Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs|''Billboard'' R&B]]<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/r-b-hip-hop-songs/1970-04-11/|title=Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs: Week of April 11, 1970|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|access-date=July 27, 2023}}</ref>
|align="center"|20
|-
!scope="row"|US [[Cashbox (magazine)|''Cash Box'']] Top 100<ref>{{cite web|title=''Cash Box'' Top 100 for the Week Ending April 18, 1970|url=http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/70s_files/19700418.html|publisher=[[Cashbox (magazine)|Cash Box]]|website=tropicalglen.com|access-date=18 August 2018}}</ref>
|align="center"|37
|}

==See also==
* [[Amen break]]
* [[Think break]], a similar widely-sampled drum break from "[[Think (About It)]]"
* "[[Funky President (People It's Bad)]]"

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [{{AllMusic|class=song|id=t913444|pure_url=yes}} AllMusic review]
* [http://www.the-breaks.com/search.php?term=Funky+Drummer&type=4 List of songs that sample "Funky Drummer" (the-breaks.com)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131013132314/http://www.the-breaks.com/search.php?term=funky+drummer&type=4 |date=2013-10-13 }}
* [https://www.whosampled.com/James-Brown/Funky-Drummer/sampled/ Samples of "Funky Drummer" by James Brown] ([[WhoSampled]])

{{James Brown singles}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:1969 songs]]
[[Category:1970 singles]]
[[Category:Sampled drum breaks]]
[[Category:1970s instrumentals]]
[[Category:James Brown songs]]
[[Category:Songs written by James Brown]]
[[Category:King Records (United States) singles]]
[[Category:Songs about musicians]]
[[Category:Songs about drums]]
[[Category:Sampling (music)| ]]