King Heroin

"King Heroin" is an anti-drug song by James Brown, David Matthews, Manny Rosen and Charles Bobbit. Brown recorded this poem set to music at a studio in New York with session musicians in January 1972 and released it as a single in March. It was his fifth single for Polydor Records and reached number six on the U.S. Hot Soul Singles chart and number forty on the Billboard Hot 100 in the spring.^[1]^[2] The song was included on Brown's 1972 album There It Is.

The poem was originally written by Rosen, who worked at the Stage Delicatessen on Seventh Avenue in midtown Manhattan, after he lost his daughter to a drug overdose.^[3] It was written from the point of view of the drug, and explained in graphic detail by first-person narrative the effects heroin addiction has on people who use it, from fashion models neglecting their looks, to "the most virile of men losing their sex," to committing murder, to cold turkey withdrawal. Rosen's poem was then set to music by Brown, his arranger David Matthews, and Brown's manager Charles Bobbit. Brown added an intro to start off the piece, referring to heroin as "one of our most deadly killers in the country today"; and towards the end, he noted, "This is a revolution of the mind" – referring to the title of his 1971 live concert album recorded at the Apollo Theater in New York.

"King Heroin" was another of Brown's stabs of socially conscious music, along the lines of such previous efforts as "Don't Be a Drop-Out" and "Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud." His narrative style on this song is also considered to be a forerunner of rap music.

Personnel

James Brown - lead vocal

with studio band:

Danny Stiles - trumpet
Marvin Stamm - trumpet
Jimmy Buffington - French horn
Joe Farrell - flute, tenor saxophone, English horn
Seldon Powell - flute, tenor saxophone
Richard Tee - organ
Sam Brown - guitar
Joe Beck - guitar
Michael Moore - bass
Billy Cobham - drums^[4]^[5]

Chart positions

Chart (1972)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	40
U.S. Billboard R&B	6

Other versions and uses

The song was included in the 1991 box set Star Time and the 1996 compilation CD Make It Funky - The Big Payback: 1971–1975.

The song was covered by James Chance and The Contortions in 1981, Van Hunt in 2006, and The Scallions (featuring The Impossebulls) in 2007.^[6]

Among the songs that sampled "King Heroin" were Truth Hurts' 2010 recording "Smoke,"^[7] J Dilla's 2010 release "Heroin Joint," Quetzal's 2009 record "I Need the Street (Pernety Blues)," D'Nell's 2005 record "Different Day," and Deichkind's 2000 release "Slangdaddy."^[8]

This Song was also covered in the last song of Home Brew Crew's First CD In their 2CD LP titled "Radio (outro)"

References

↑ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 85.
↑ White, Cliff (1991). "Discography". In Star Time (pp. 54–59) [CD booklet]. New York: PolyGram Records.
↑ The Life of James Brown by Geoff Brown. Omnibus Press, 2008. pp. 155–156.
↑ Leeds, Alan, and Harry Weinger (1991). "Star Time: Song by Song". In Star Time (pp. 46–53) [CD booklet]. New York: PolyGram Records.
↑ Leeds, Alan M. (1996). Discography. In Make It Funky: The Big Payback 1971–1975 (pp. 16-19) [CD liner notes]. London: Polydor Records.
↑ YouTube video of Scallions cover
↑ Truth Hurts's Smoke sample of James Brown's King Heroin (with a list of other songs that sampled it)
↑ Truth Hurts's Smoke sample of James Brown's King Heroin (with a list of other songs that sampled it)

http://homebrew.bandcamp.com/track/radio-outro

External links

Song review at Allmusic
Full lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics

James Brown singles

Billboard charting singles (R&B and Pop)

1950s

1956	"Please, Please, Please"

1958	"Try Me"

1959	"I Want You So Bad"

1960s

1960	"I'll Go Crazy" "Think" "You've Got the Power" "This Old Heart" "The Bells"

1961	"Bewildered" "I Don't Mind" "Baby, You're Right" "Just You and Me, Darling" "Lost Someone"

1962	"Night Train" "Shout and Shimmy" "Mashed Potatoes U.S.A." "Three Hearts in a Tangle" "I've Got Money"

1963	"Like a Baby" "Every Beat of My Heart" "Prisoner of Love" "These Foolish Things" "Signed, Sealed, and Delivered"

1964	"Oh Baby Don't You Weep" "Please, Please, Please" "Caldonia" "The Things That I Used to Do" "Out of Sight" "Have Mercy Baby"

1965	"Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" "Try Me" "I Got You (I Feel Good)"

1966	"Lost Someone" "I'll Go Crazy" "Ain't That a Groove" "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" "Money Won't Change You" "Don't Be a Drop-Out" "Sweet Little Baby Boy"

1967	"Bring It Up" "Kansas City" "Think" "Let Yourself Go" "Cold Sweat" "Get It Together" "I Can't Stand Myself (When You Touch Me)" "There Was a Time"

1968	"You've Got to Change Your Mind" "I Got the Feelin'" "Licking Stick – Licking Stick" "America Is My Home" "I Guess I'll Have to Cry, Cry, Cry" "Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud" "Goodbye My Love" "Tit for Tat (Ain't No Taking Back)"

1969	"Give It Up or Turnit a Loose" "Soul Pride" "I Don't Want Nobody To Give Me Nothing (Open Up The Door, I'll Get It Myself)" "The Popcorn" "Mother Popcorn (You Got to Have a Mother for Me)" "Lowdown Popcorn" "World" "Let a Man Come In and Do the Popcorn" "Ain't It Funky Now"

1970s

1970	"It's a New Day" "Funky Drummer" "Brother Rapp" "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine" "Super Bad" "Santa Claus Is Definitely Here to Stay" "Get Up, Get into It, Get Involved"

1971	"Spinning Wheel" "Soul Power" "I Cried" "Escape-ism" "Hot Pants" "Make It Funky" "I'm a Greedy Man"

1972	"Talkin' Loud and Sayin' Nothing" "King Heroin" "There It Is" "Honky Tonk" "Get on the Good Foot" "I Got a Bag of My Own" "What My Baby Needs Now Is a Little More Lovin'"

1973	"I Got Ants In My Pants (And I Want to Dance)" "Down and Out in New York City" "Think" "Sexy, Sexy, Sexy" "Stoned to the Bone"

1974	"The Payback" "My Thang" "Papa Don't Take No Mess" "Funky President (People It's Bad)" "Coldblooded"

1975	"Reality" "Sex Machine" "Hustle!!! (Dead on It)" "Superbad, Superslick" "Hot (I Need To Be Loved, Loved, Loved, Loved)"

1976	"(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons" "Get Up Offa That Thing" "I Refuse to Lose" "Bodyheat"

1977	"Kiss in 77" "Give Me Some Skin" "If You Don't Give a Doggone About It"

1978	"Eyesight" "The Spank" "For Goodness Sakes, Look at Those Cakes"

1979	"It's Too Funky in Here" "Star Generation"

1980s

1980	"Regrets" "Rapp Payback (Where Iz Moses)"

1981	"Stay With Me"

1983	"The Night Time Is the Right Time (To Be With the One That You Love)"

1984	"Unity"

1985	"Living in America"

1986	"Gravity"

1987	"How Do You Stop"

1988	"I'm Real" "Static"

1989	"Gimme Your Love"

1990s

1991	"(So Tired of Standing Still We Got to) Move On"

1993	"Can't Get Any Harder"

UK-only
charting
singles

"Hey America" (1970)
"Bring It On...Bring It On" (1983)
"Froggy Mix" (1985)
"She's the One" (1988)
"The Payback Mix" (1988)
"I Got You (I Feel Good) [James Brown v. Dakeyne]" (1992)
"Funk on Ah Roll" (1999)

Notable
productions

"The Grunt" (1970)
"Gimme Some More" (1971)
"I Know You Got Soul" (1971)
"Pass the Peas" (1972)
"Think (About It)" (1972)
"Doing It to Death" (1973)
"Soul Power 74" (1973)

Other
songs

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