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Ultimate James Brown beat : The Funky Drummer
“Funky Drummer” was recorded on November 20, 1969 in Cincinnati, Ohio and originally released by King Records as a two-part 45 rpm single (K6290) in March 1970. Despite rising to #20 on the R&B charts and #51 on the pop chart, it did not recieve an album release until the 1986 compilation In the Jungle Groove. More than one mix of the track was made around the time it was recorded, including one with tambourine and another with vocal percussion by Brown and trombonist Fred Wesley. Versions of the track released on CD range in length from 5:34 to 9:13. The piece takes the form of an extended vamp, with individual instruments (mostly the tenor saxophones and organ) improvising brief licks on top. Brown’s ad-libbed vocals on “Funky Drummer” are sporadic and declamatory, and are mostly concerned with encouraging the other band members, which is why it is generally considered an instrumental rather than a song. As in the album version of “Cold Sweat” he announces the upcoming drum break, which comes late in the recording, with a request to “give the drummer some.” He tells Stubblefield “You don’t have to do no soloing, brother, just keep what you got,” and indeed Stubblefield’s eight-bar unaccompanied “solo” is simply a continuation of the same riff he plays through most of the piece. After his solo the band returns to the original vamp. Brown repeats the name of the piece over and over, and the recording ends with a reprise of Stubblefield’s solo and a fade-out.

Rappers who sample James Brown’s recordings have included references to him, Stubblefield, and the song’s title in their lyrics, two examples being LL Cool J in “Boomin’ System” (”The girlies, they smile, they see me comin, I’m steady hummin, I got the Funky Drummer drummin”) and Public Enemy in “Fight the Power” (”1989 the number, another summer, sound of the funky drummer”). An entire song by MC Frontalot features the Funky Drummer break and Clyde Stubblefield in the track “Good Old Clyde”. Rapper and producer Edan’s mixtape “Sound of the Funky Drummer” features only tracks which use the “Funky Drummer” beat. A variation of the rythm pattern was used for Madonna’s “Justify My Love” (as mixed by Shep Pettibone).
Sinead O’Connor’s song “I Am Stretched On Your Grave” appears to use a sample of the recording.
George Michael’s song “Waiting For That Day (You Can’t Always Get What You Want)” likewise appears to use the sample. Pop Will Eat Itself took the concept slightly further in the song “Not Now, James, We’re Busy”. Here, the samples were of Brown’s vocal asides before the famous break (”I wanna do a song now”) and converted into a dialogue by the addition of the title phrase. This song is generally considered to be a commentary on sampling itself, as well as a number of legal controversies Brown was involved in at the time.
The stage act of They Might Be Giants frequently includes an extensive drum solo in which a number of famous drummers and rhythms, including this one, are imitated by the drummer (”For Clyde Stubblefield of the James Brown band, press 4!”). “The Funky Drummer” is also sometimes used as a nickname for Clyde Stubblefield, who capitalized on the name with his 1997 album Revenge of the Funky Drummer. As a session drummer, Stubblefield received no further compensation for all the many samples that were taken from the recording. He currently resides in Madison, Wisconsin, USA. “Funky Drummer” is sampled in Sublime’s Grateful Dead cover of Scarlet Begonias.