Music of the Day, 20 May 2024

there's a whole lotta rhythm goin' 'round

Waking up tired is never a good start to the day. Shuffling out to the kitchen to start the caffeination process and discovering a mess doesn’t improve it. I sat down and fired up my laptop, dreading what might be awaiting me both in the morning news and work-wise.

Then something within me snapped. I don’t like being negative; and I realized that I’ve let myself slide into it lately. I told myself (while not fully believing it) that I was going to pull myself out of my funk today—and in that phrase, my path became clear.

And it worked, almost instantaneously! A search in my music library for “funk” turned up many candidates to listen to. I chose one of the titles I recognized and hoped for the best. From Ray Davis’ opening bass vocal, I knew I’d made the right choice.

That’s a five-minute master class in earworms and catchy hooks, friends. Sure, both the lyrics and music are fairly repetitive; it’s the evolving variation that keeps it fresh and irresistible to me.

I have just one album by Parliament: Parliament’s Greatest Hits, released in 1984; and just Free Your Mind and Your Ass Will Follow by Funkadelic. I don’t think I’ve listened to either all the way through… so I guess I know what I’ll be doing this week! Prepare yourselves accordingly.