"Licking Stick"- James Brown, 1968
OC
rec.music.rock-pop-r+b.1960's. Personally, This is one of my favs from JB
and I think one of his funkiest but slept-on songs released by him. Enjoy!
Mike Gallant <gall...@mailexcite.com> wrote in message
news:37370AF7...@mailexcite.com...
> No, this is not an ad for porno. This is about a real song that James
> Brown sang in 1968 called LICKING STICK-LICKING STICK which reached #14
> on Billboard's HOT 100 chart (probably top 5 on Cashbox sales chart). I
> vaguely recall hearing it but picked up the 45 single recently from an
> old used record shop. Very risque song for it's time. Has anyone ever
> heard this song before (WABC in New York City did not play this very
> often)? Pretty daring of James Brown, wouldn't you say?
>
> Cheers,
> MIKE
>
mr. mike
think there's a corporal punishment
element here that we're overlooking!
Darlene Matthew
(That was another place, and another time!) Can ya dig it?
Peace, T.A.
////////////
User271120
James was recording it.He was showing him "what he got".,
Harry Weinger
>
> "momma come here quick, and bring me that licking stick"....hmmm... I
> think there's a corporal punishment
> element here that we're overlooking!
Yes, the idea came from James Brown's days living with the Byrd family -
"James got the switch from Momma Byrd same as everybody else," says
Bobby Byrd. "He was treated like he was my brother." (Note how Byrd does
the co-lead vocal on the track.) Doesn't mean that's what the resulting
song means, but it might, might not.
HW
Harry Weinger
>
> Bootsy is playin' the bass on that,his first JB tryout even.He didn't even know
> James was recording it.He was showing him "what he got".,
A common myth, but NO he is not -- it is Tim Drummond playing bass on
"Licking Stick," as in:
Q: Mr. Brown, why do you have a white bass in your band?
JB: I don't see no white bass player.
Q: That man, right there.
A: That's Tim Drummond, and he's MY bass player.
Paraphrasing, but a true exchange circa 1968.
HW
User271120
much.Bootsy says,"They were doin' a session,I think it was 'Lickin' Stick',and
the cat said,it's a young man named Bootsy,he'd like to play on you're
record.James said alright.Bootsy said,"I started squirming aroung gettin' a
funky thang happenin'.Then James said start the tape.Matter of fact, cut the
tape,'cause they had already rolled.And the next time I heard it was on the
radio."-BOOTSY from a 1988 BET Video Soul Interview
User271120
Pacesetters takin' over as the live band,after James current band refused to go
on stage,unless they recieved more money.T o which,JB said he'd never give in
to,as it would lead to his losing control over the band.But,at that time which
was about '69?He was asking Bobby Byrd to send him the session band that had
been around Kings records.So,of course they had been cutting with
Bootsy,Catfish,Frank,and the Pacesetters prior to becoming the James Brown
band.
It'd be interesting to know what where the tunes they cut,and which one was
first.Bootsy's earliest memory is 'Lickin' Stick'.
Super J
Quoted from James Brown's Biography ("James Brown: The Godfather of Soul",
by James Brown and Bruce Tucker, p. 197
----------------beginning of quote
"Meantime, my music was getting funkier and funkier. What I'd started on
"Get it Together" and "I Can't Stand Myself", I took even further with
"Licking Stick-Licking Stick". Pee Wee Ellis, Byrd, and I put it together,
and I released it at the same time as "America Is My Home". It was another
one-chord song like "I Can't Stand Myself", but it had even more of a funk
groove. It was a rhythm section tune and exactly what the title said, a
licking stick. If the people who were on me about "America Is My Home"
wanted to know who James Brown was, all they had to do was listen to
"Licking Stick". My music said where I stood.
"There were some changes in the band too. When Tim Drummond came down with
hepatitis from Vietnam, Charles Sherrell replaced him on bass. "Sweet"
Charles we called him. He hasn't gotten the credit as a bass player that
he should have. A lot of the stuff that Bootsy Collins and some other bass
players did later - like thumping the strings - Sweets did first. Fred
Wesley replaced Levi Raspbury on trombone and turned out to be a real
innovator and a real creator as an arranger. Around the same time
trumpeter Richard "Kush" Griffith and a third drummer, Nate Jones, also
joined."
----------------end of quote
It sounds to me like either Tim Drummond or Charles Sherrell was playing
bass on this track. It is pretty ambiguous from the wording. However he
does state that Pee Wee, Byrd, and him put it together and released it.
Later he talks about what Charles Sherrell was doing and how Bootsy did
similar things later on. Is it possible that Bootsy cut another version of
licking stick with James Brown, but it is not the one on the single?
Perhaps that version is not released. From what I have read in the
discussion thread, plus what I have read in this James Brown biography, it
sounds like Bootsy may very well have recorded a version of licking stick,
but not the version on the 45 single.
Opinions?
Regards,
Jesse
Student of Funk.
Curtis Martin!
Super J wrote:
--
.....................................................................
Visit Sunshine Street: the Wonderful World of Curtis at
http://www.flash.net/~curtis3/
"Too much is always better than not enough." --CM
King Pineapple
bass, recorded April 16, 1968 at King Studios in Cincinnati, released in May
of that year in two parts, as King's first stereo single.
Curtis Martin! wrote in message <373BA131...@flash.net>...
Harry Weinger
1969. Bootsy joined the band in March 1970. If you have the CD reissue
the band is listed for each track -
Alan Leeds, who provides the personnel for the CD reissues, based on his
personal research (having either been there or asked those who were when
the memories were still fresh), maintains it was Drummond on the
original studio version of "Licking Stick." I have reached out to him to
re-confirm the info for the purpose of this discussion. He's on the road
right now so it's been difficult to talk directly, but I will forward
further details to this NG when he and I hook up next.
Is being a Knicks fan like being a Red Sox fan?? ARG.
HW
Darlene Matthew
because it does'nt sound like Bernard Odom or Sweet Charles.
Peace, T.A.
/////////
King Pineapple
|Is being a Knicks fan like being a Red Sox fan?? ARG.
|HW
Not even close-after all, us Red Sox fans were one strike away from winning
the 1986 World Series-and lost!
Harry Weinger
>
> Harry Weinger wrote in message <373CDCC3...@home.com>...
>
> |Is being a Knicks fan like being a Red Sox fan?? ARG.
>
> |HW
>
> Not even close-after all, us Red Sox fans were one strike away from winning
> the 1986 World Series-and lost!
Two words: BILL BUCKNER.
