Maggot Brain

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Maggot Brain
Maggot Brain cover
Studio album by Funkadelic
Released July 1971
Recorded  ?
Genre Psychedelic soul
Psychedelic
Funk
Hard rock
Length 36:56
Label Westbound Records
Producer(s) George Clinton
Professional reviews
Funkadelic chronology
Free Your Mind... And Your Ass Will Follow
(1970)		 Maggot Brain
(1971)		 America Eats Its Young
(1972)


Maggot Brain is a 1971 (see 1971 in music) album by the American funk band Funkadelic. It was released on Westbound Records. The music swings through psychedelia, hard rock, gospel and soul music, with tremendous variation between each track.

In 2003, the album was ranked number 486 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Contents

[edit] Track listing

  1. "Maggot Brain" (George Clinton, Eddie Hazel) – 10:20
  2. "Can You Get To That" (Clinton, Ernie Harris) – 2:50
  3. "Hit It And Quit It" (Clinton, Billy Bass Nelson, Garry Shider) – 3:50
  4. "You And Your Folks, Me And My Folks" (Clinton, Judie Jones, Bernie Worrell) – 3:36
  5. "Super Stupid" (Clinton, Hazel, Nelson, Tawl Ross) – 3:57
  6. "Back In Our Minds" (Fuzzy Haskins) – 2:38
  7. "Wars Of Armageddon" (Clinton, Tiki Fulwood, Ross, Worrell) – 9:42

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Track listing

[edit] "Maggot Brain"

According to legend, George Clinton, out of his mind on LSD, told Eddie Hazel to play the first half of the song like his mother had just died, and still other version say that he told Hazel to play the second half as if he had found out she was alive. The result was the 10-minute guitar solo for which Hazel is most fondly remembered by many music critics and fans. Though several other musicians began the track playing, Clinton soon realized the power of Hazel's solo and faded them out so that the focus would be on Hazel's guitar. The entire track was recorded in one take. The solo is played in a pentatonic minor scale in the key of E over another guitar track of four simple arpeggios. Hazel's solo was played through a fuzzbox and a wah pedal, some sections of the song utilize a delay effect.

Seven years later, Michael Hampton (Eddie Hazel's replacement as lead guitarist) performed his own interpretation of the song in 1978. That cut was included in a bonus EP-vinyl that was distributed with Funkadelic album, One Nation Under a Groove. The cut is also included in most CD editions of the album.

This song has very few lyrics, spoken only at the beginning of the song before Hazel's solo takes off. The concept of "Maggot Brain" is, however, very important in understanding P Funk mythology. The original source of the song is commonly thought to have been inspired by the grief and confusion of George Clinton, after having discovered his older brother's body (after a lethal drug overdose) when decomposition had already set in. On another level, "maggot brain" could refer to Eddie Hazel's drug-riddled brain. In the grand scheme of things, Maggot Brain is a mode of being, thinking and existing, in which one transcends the troubles of Earthly existence by revelling in the freedom of funk. The brief spoken word introduction to the song tells us that "Mother Earth is pregnant for the third time, for y'all have knocked her up. I have tasted the maggots in the mind of the universe - I was not offended, for I knew I had to rise above it all, or drown in my own shit."

In March 2005, Father Nature Magazine placed "Maggot Brain" at number 1 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Solos.

[edit] "Can You Get to That"

This song features Bernie Worrell's organ. It begins as an acoustic number, then grows gradually heavier. It is a rewrite of a song by The Parliaments titled, "What You've Been Growin'" and is heavily influenced by gospel music stylistically.

Where the Parliaments version was a break-up song, the singer of the Funkadelic version begins with the line 'I once had a life, or rather, life had me': rather than a bitter reminiscence about a woman, it becomes an account of the singer's revelation that living on principles of co-operation, sincerity and the principles of karma ('When you base your life on credit and your loving days are done / Cheques you sign with love and kisses later come back signed 'Insufficient Funds' ' - interestingly, this line seems to echo part of Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'I Have a Dream' speech) marked him out from the un-elightened crowd and exalted his life.

[edit] "Hit It and Quit It"

The song feature Bernie Worrell's vocals and organ-playing, as well as an extended Eddie Hazel solo at the end.

[edit] "You and Your Folks, Me and My Folks"

Some claim that this song is, lyrically and musically, a sequel to "Hit It And Quit It" (the previous song on the same album). It is a very class-conscious song, with the singer pleading for unity among the poor because without doing so, equality could not be achieved.

[edit] "Super Stupid"

The title of this song refers to a drug addict who buys the wrong drug accidentally. He is also referred to as having a "maggot brain". The verse of the song uses similar combination of rap singing over drum rhythm plus occasional guitar chords as is heard on "Crosstown Traffic" by Jimi Hendrix.


(the supergroup Audioslave has done several live covers of this song, as well as an unreleased studio recording.)

[edit] "Back in Our Minds"

This song seems to be about the singer and someone else (possibly different races, former lovers or friends) having reconciled and are now "brothers."

  • Lead Vocals: George Clinton, Tawl Ross
  • Trombone: McKinley Jackson
  • Bongos: Eddie Bongo
  • Jew's Harp: James W. Jackson

[edit] "Wars of Armageddon"

The music is a bizarre mix of music and special effects-type sounds, and intelligent, though unusual and abstract, lyrics.

This song is socially conscious, as the singer demands immediate freedom from oppression, as well as "power to the people" (and many more demands, many nonsensical, see above).

[edit] External Reviews

[edit] Chart positions

Billboard Music Charts (North America) - album

1971   Pop Albums               No. 108
1971   Black Albums             No. 14
1990   Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums   No. 92

[edit] External links

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