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1972. Still the Vietnam War. Nixon will win the elections. U.s.a - U.s.s.r. epic basketball finale at the Munich Olympics. James Brown, for a couple of years, has been touring with a new group: J.B.'s. He has a new contract with Polydor. Successes follow one after the other. In 1970, it's that "Sex Machine" that will make funk history. At the beginning of 1972, he's back at the top of the charts with "Talking Loud and Saying Nothing". He was never particularly committed to politics, not like Sly, although he left his messages, from: "Don't Be a Drop-Out" to "Say It Loud - I'm Black and Proud!". February. A new single: "King Heroin". A message to the nation:
"Ladies and Gentlemen,
Fellow Americans,
Lady Americans,
This is James Brown,
I wanna talk to You about one of our most deadly killers in the country today..."
And what does the Godfather of Soul talk to us about? Heroin.
But not with ambiguous tones, of fascination or decadence, as many singers did before him in the fabulous sixties (even my beloved Stones). No, it's an act of denunciation, sad and disenchanted. He realized that this drug will kill mostly the poor, the marginalized, the stateless. "I came to this country without passport... so be you Italian, Jewish, Black, or Mex...". It will force them to sell their bodies, make them forget school books, it will disintegrate families.
The base is a damn slow rhythm'n'blues, supported by two guitars, one in a hypnotic scale, one in flat pick, splashes of organ, the horns divided into two sections, one of call and one of response, the drums seem played by Ringo Starr. Further delight: James Brown delivers his sermon in rhyme.
I love this track so much that I can get up from the couch and play the 45 again even ten times in a row. If you don't have a record player, you can find it in a full-length album called "There It Is" or in a collection of four CDs named "Star Time," absolutely wonderful. It was finally, a digression if I may, a flagship of the fiery live shows of James Chance's Contortions, about thirty years ago.
For M.: it will be the first thing I will ask you to dance, when I come over, as long as they have a decent juke-box...
Tracklist and Lyrics
01 King Heroin (03:56)
King Heroin
by James Brown
Ladies and Gentlemen
Fellow Americans
Lady Americans
This is James Brown
I wanna talk to you about one of our
Most deadly
Killers in the country today
I had a dream the other night, and I
Was sittin' in my living room
Dozed off to sleep
So I start to dreamin'
I dreamed I walked in a place and
I saw a real strange, weird object
Standin' up talkin' to the people
And I found out it was Heroin
That deadly drug that go in your veins
He says:
I came to this country without a passport
Ever since then I've been hunted and sought
My little white grains are nothin' but waste
Soft and deadly and bitter to taste
I'm a world of power and all know it's true
Use me once and you'll know it, too
I can make a mere schoolboy forget his books
I can make a world-famous beauty neglect her looks
I can make a good man forsake his wife
Send a greedy man to prison for the rest of his life
I can make a man forsake his country and flag
Make a girl sell her body for a five-dollar bag
Some think my adventure's a joy and a thrill
But I'll put a gun in your hand and make you kill
In cellophane bags I've found my way
To heads of state and children at play
I'm financed in China, ran in Japan
I'm respected in Turkey and I'm legal in Siam
I take my addicts and make 'em steal, borrow, beg
Then they search for a vein in their arm or their leg
So, be you Italian, Jewish, Black or Mex
I can make the most virile of men forget their sex
So now, no, my man, you must (you know) do your best
To keep up your habit until your arrest
Now the police have taken you from under my wing
Do you think they dare defy me, I who am king?
Now, you must lie in that county jail
Where I can't get to you by visit or mail
So squirm -- with discomfort -- wiggle and cough (hack!)
Six days of madness, hah! You might throw me off
Curse me in name! Defy me in speech!
But you'd pick me up right no if I were in your reach
All through your sentence you've become resolved to your fate
Hear now! younng man and woman, I'll be waitin' at the gate
Don't be afraid, don't run! I'm not chased
Sure my name is Heroin! You'll be back for a taste
Behold, you're hooked!
Your foot is in the stirrup
And make -- haste!
Mount the steed!
And ride him well
For the white horse of heroin
Will ride you to Hell!
To Hell!
Will ride you to Hell!
Until you are dead!
Dead, brother! Dead!
This is a revolution of the mind
Get your mind together
And get away from drugs!
That's the man!
Back! Back
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