The Payback (song)

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“The Payback”

Single by James Brown from the album The Payback
A-side	"The Payback - Pt. 1"
B-side	"The Payback - Pt. 2"
Released	February 1974
Format	7" vinyl
Recorded	August 4, 1973 at International Studios, Augusta, GA; unknown brass and female vocals overdubbed September 1973 at Advantage Studios, New York, NY
Genre	Funk
Length	7:28 (full album version) 3:33 (single edit)
Label	Polydor PD14223
Writer(s)	James Brown Fred Wesley John Starks
Producer	James Brown

"The Payback" (sometimes known as just "Payback") is a funk song by James Brown, the title track from his 1974 album of the same name. The song's lyrics, originally written by trombonist and bandleader Fred Wesley but heavily revised by Brown himself soon before it was recorded, concern the revenge he plans to take against the man who betrayed him and stole his money and his woman. The song is notable for its spare, open instrumental arrangement and its use of wah-wah guitar - a relative rarity in Brown's previous funk recordings. Released as a two-part single (featuring a radio announcer at the beginning of part one) in February of 1974, it was the first in an unbroken succession of three singles by Brown to reach #1 on the R&B charts that year - the last chart-toppers of his career.

"The Payback" has been sampled by numerous hip hop and R&B producers. The group En Vogue recorded two different R&B hits, "Hold On" and "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)", that were both based on loops from the song's rhythm track. Total sampled "The Payback" in their 1995 hit "Can't You See". Big Black released a loose cover of the song on their 1984 Racer-X EP.

Brown released "Rapp Payback (Where Iz Moses)", a reworking of "The Payback", in 1980.

It was also remade in 1988, remixed and released as "The Payback Mix (Part One)" for the United Kingdom. This versions was one of Brown's biggest hits in the UK, peaking at #12 on the UK singles chart.

[edit] Appearances in other media

In the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas soundtrack on the Master Sounds 98.3 station.
In the Guy Ritchie film Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels
In the 2001 Jesse Dylan movie How High
In a season two episode of Everybody Hates Chris
In the Hughes Brothers movie Dead Presidents
In the first season finale of the FX television show Damages

[edit] References

Leeds, Alan M., and Harry Weinger (1991). Star Time: Song by Song. In Star Time (pp. 46-53) [CD liner notes]. London: Polydor Records.
White, Cliff (1991). Discography. In Star Time (pp. 54-59) [CD liner notes]. London: Polydor Records.

[edit] External links

Preceded by "TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)" by MFSB with The Three Degrees	Billboard Hot Soul Singles number one single April 27, 1974 - May 4, 1974	Succeeded by "Dancing Machine" by The Jackson 5