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What is "Stand!"?
"Stand!" is Sly Stone's attempt, the first real attempt and perhaps the most accomplished. It is the dream, the attempt to spur a people. It is the call to lift your head, not to be discouraged by the daily woes, because all ordinary people must carry crosses at some point. Sly Stone's music is always aimed at the final explosion, a primal crescendo that must end in a resounding burst, shaking the listener. As in the title track, with that stunning funk section and the scream "staaand!!" that blasts loudly, or in the famous "I Want To Take You Higher", where even the brief final instrumental solos stand out. But what matters most is the constant social commitment that echoes in all the songs, disguised as funky soul with largely psychedelic parts, showing us how Sly and company have finally found their way. No more experiments, no more the "completely new thing" of the beginnings, which perhaps was too new even for themselves. It took a few years for the group to focus on its enormous potential, amidst moments of revelry and phases of full creative storm: already in "Life" one could see glimpses of the flashes to come.
But here we are faced with a company of splendid musicians, who have assumed the role, the cross of flag-bearers of black pride (how many times has this definition been overused), against the many injustices that raged in those troubled late '60s. Perhaps after extending an acid ("Don't Call Me Nigger", "Whitey"), or with seemingly innocuous lullabies proclaiming equality - "Every Day People".
What else can be said? That it's impossible not to move your butt when they strike up "I Want To Take You Higher", "You Can Make It If You Try", and "Sing A Simple Song". That Sly sings divinely, like a possessed man on the brink of the end of the world... and Larry Graham, always the same and always perfect, is no less. It's impossible to describe here the drive, the energy, and the conviction, the inspiration that oozes from this album. Rarely has there been such a blend of militant spirituality supported by such a devastating "drive" at certain points. Perhaps only the best Stevie Wonder succeeded, or in some works by Funkadelic; but Sly & the Family Stone stand exactly in the middle between these two giants, and together they represent the triad of funk titans. Anticommercial and musically extreme Funkadelic, excellent in its "commerciality" and its sunny optimism towards the masses Stephenie: thus, we can see Sly Stone as their ideal meeting point.
"Stand!" was released in May 1969, anticipating by four months the furious, fiery performance at Woodstock by the group: a very tight "I Want To Take You Higher", now an almost unrecognizable cousin of the distant "Higher" from "Dance to the Music". It was perhaps the peak of the group, even though the successor "There's a Riot..." may have more punch and immediacy. "Stand!" necessarily requires more listens, but that's because it hides a diffused spirituality, radiates a social commitment that few other works have demonstrated.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
02 Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey (05:58)
Don’t call me nigger, whitey
Don’t call whitey, nigger
Well, I went down across the country
Ana I heard the voices ring
People talkin’ softly to each other
And not a word could change a thing
03 I Want to Take You Higher (05:22)
Freddie: Feeling's gettin stronger
Larry: Music's gettin longer too
Rose: Music is flashin me
Sly: I want to take you higher
Baby baby baby light my fire
All: Boom shaka-laka-laka Boom shaka-laka-laka
Freddie: Feeling's nitty-gritty
Larry: Sound is in the city too
Rose: Music's still flashin' me
Sly: Don't ya want to get higher
Baby baby baby light my fire.
All: Boom shaka-laka-laka Boom shaka-laka-laka
Sly: Harmonica solo
All Repeated: Higher!
Sly: C'mon light my fire
Want to take you higher
All: Boom shaka-laka-laka Boom shaka-laka-laka
Freddie: Feeling that should make you move
Larry: Sounds that should help you groove
Rose: Music still flashin' me
Sly: Take your places
I want to take you higher
Baby baby baby light my fire.
Freddie: Guitar solo
All: Boom shaka-laka-laka Boom shaka-laka-laka
All Repeated: Higher!
Sly: Let's take you, do you wanna go, etc.
Cynthia: Trumpet solo
All Repeated: Boom shaka-laka-laka Boom shaka-laka-laka, Higher!
Larry: Bass solo
All Repeated: Boom shaka-laka-laka Boom shaka-laka-laka, Higher!
Jerry: Sax solo
All Repeated: Boom shaka-laka-laka Boom shaka-laka-laka
04 Somebody's Watching You (03:20)
Somebody's Watching You
by Sly and the Family Stone
pretty pretty pretty as a picture
witty witty witty as you can be
blind cause your eyes see only glitter
closed to the things that make you free
ever stop to think about a downfall
happens at the end of every line
just when you think you've pulled a fast one
happens to the foolish all the time
somebody's watching you (4�xs)
games are to played with toys etcetera
love is to be made when you're for real
ups and downs are caused by life in general
some are yours no matter how you feel
shady as a lady in a mustache
feelings camouflaged by groans and grins
secrets have a special way about them
moving to and fro among your friends
somebody's watching you (4�xs)
live it up today if you want to
live it down tomorrow afternoon
sunday school don't make you cool forever
neither does the silver of your spoon
the nicer the nice the higher the price
this is what you pay for what you need
the higher the price the nicer the nice
jealous people like to see you bleed
somebody's watching you (4x�s and fades out)
06 Everyday People (02:21)
Sometimes I'm right and I can be wrong
My own beliefs are in my song
The butcher, the banker, the drummer and then
Makes no difference what group I'm in
I am everyday people, yeah, yeah
There is a blue one
Who can't accept the green one
For living with a fat one
Trying to be a skinny one
Different strokes
For different folks
And so on and so on
And scooby dooby dooby
Oh sha sha
We got to live together
I am no better, and neither are you
We are the same, whatever we do
You love me, you hate me, you know me and then
You can't figure out the bag I'm in
I am everyday people, yeah yeah
There is a long hair
That doesn't like the short hair
For being such a rich one
That will not help the poor one
Different strokes
For different folks
And so on and so on
And scooby dooby dooby
Oh sha sha
We got to live together
There is a yellow one
That won't accept the black one
That won't accept the red one
That won't accept the white one
Different strokes
For different folks
And so on and so on
And scooby dooby dooby
Oh sha sha
I am everyday people
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