"I Want To Take You Higher" just may be the Big Bang of Funk-Rock.
It drove half-a-million people to their feet in dancing ecstasy at Woodstock, and helped turn Funk music into the soundtrack of the '70s. From HipHop to Mixology, from Manchester to Iran to Japan, it continues to lift the world.
"I Want To Take You Higher/ Stand" 45rpm
Sly actually did it before and after he did it.
The central chant has been a work in progress across records and time. The trial run was an album track called "Higher" in 1968, and again on another epic track called "Dance To The Medley". (The Psychedelic Soul of the latter is virtually the template for Funkadelic.)
SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE -"Higher" (1968)
SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE -"Dance To The Medley" (1968) ("Higher" comes in at 7:45)
Those joyful Gospel choral chants of "Higher" finally reached fruition when the ultimate song "I Want To Take You Higher" ascended in 1969 on the essential album, STAND.
SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE -"I Want To Take You Higher" (studio version, 1969)
The roaring live performance of the song galvanized the Woodstock nation, and Sly And The Family Stone are still considered one of the crucial highlights of the Festival and the Documentary film.
SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE -"I Want To Take You Higher" (live at Woodstock, 1969)
Later he did the wry rewrite "I Get High On You" in 1975, and a playful bounce of it as "High, Y'all" in 1983.
SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE -"I Get High On You" (1975)
As the Music Player above reveals, the song became an instant classic and was either covered by everyone or referenced lyrically for years to come. The core of it is the "Higher!" chant. It summed up the utopian hopes of the progressive counterculture generation, while also winking about getting high.
If it wasn't being covered by Brian Auger, Tina Turner, or Googoosh (Iran), then the "Higher" chant was popping up in originals from The Temptations, The Chambers Brothers, War, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, and beyond.
It gets a shout-out in the rapidfire pop history novelty "Life Is A Rock", gets quoted on the trail-out of "Play That Funky Music", and may be referenced sideways in Paul McCartney's banned single "Hi Hi Hi".
Into the '80s and '90s, it rises up in Grandmaster Flash's "White Lines", an unreleased song with the same name by Roger Taylor (Queen), a Curtis Mayfield homage by Lenny Kravitz, a Madchester trip-out by raving Moonflowers, a namecheck by Public Enemy, a pot anthem by Cypress Hill, and an electro resurge from Future Funk.
"I Want to Take You Higher: The Psychedelic Era 1965-1969",
The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Museum (1997)
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As also heard on the Music Player, another key ingredient of the song that keeps coming back up is the lyric "Boom shacka lacka lacka, boom shacka lacka lacka, boom shacka lacka lacka boom". Everybody uses it, even if by now they don't know where it came from.
This chant has become a classic Reggae song, a Reggae band, and a Reggae magazine.
It jumps up in HipHop songs like "Whoomp! There It is!" and Pop hits like Was (Not Was)' "Walk The Dinosaur" and Brianna's "Boom Shaka Laka".
It's become slang in Basketball and in HipHop.
It's even been the name of a Bollywood film and an Indian fantasy TV series for kids!
Today is SLY STONE's birthday. I love him like the sun in the sky.
If I said what I really feel about this guy, we'd be here all year. So let's keep it simple. SLY & THE FAMILY STONE invented Funk as you know it, and rewrote Rock, Jazz, Dance, and Rap forever afterward.
But today, let's follow how one single tune -"Sing A Simple Song"- relays that sonic baton beyond all boundaries to this very day.
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"Sing A Simple Song", and the album STAND after it, defined the new super heavy Funk that superceded Soul. The trademark descending "yeah yeah yeahs..." are sung by sister Rose Stone.
SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE -"Sing A Simple Song" (1968)
Here's New Orlean's finest to extend the funky vamp.
THE METERS -"Sing A Simple Song" (1969)
Here's they are again to extend the same song again into a new song with a winking title.
THE METERS -"Same Old Thing" (1969)
Now welcome the Dutch Indo sisters Bianca, Stella and Patricia Maessen, putting some sitar sting in it.
THE HEARTS OF SOUL -"Sing A Simple Song" (1969)
After having a hit covering Sly's "I Want To Take You Higher", Ike And Tina give the funky women some with this wholecloth rewrite.
IKE AND TINA TURNER -"Bold Soul Sister" (1970)
The guitar rhythm of "Sing A Simple Song" gets abstracted by JIMI HENDRIX here, and then played explicitly at the 0:30 minute mark.
BAND OF GYPSIES -"We Got To Live Together" (1970)
Here's Joe Walsh getting some more power strut out of that guitar riff (0:27).
THE JAMES GANG -"Funk #49" (1970)
Here's an ultra-Funky Reggae gloss on it.
THE MEGATONS -"Funk The Beat" (1970)
Sly's longtime running partner Billy Preston takes the title of the song and cheekily crosses it with the sentiment of Melanie's "What Have They Done To My Song, Ma".
BILLY PRESTON -"I Wrote A Simple Song" (1971)
It is the framework of this production by Sly-acolyte Norman Whitfield, a cover of Motown label-mate Edwin Starr.
THE TEMPTATIONS -"Funky Music Sho Nuff Turns Me On" (1972)
HERBIE HANCOCK takes the guitar vamp and flies into the future of Jazz Fusion with it.
HERBIE HANCOCK + HEADHUNTERS -"Sly" (1973)
Kerrie kicks it out like the whole Family all by herself on this rockin' cover.
KERRIE BIDDELL -""Sing A Simple Song"" (1973)
George Clinton and the P-Funk mob borrow the descending "yeah yeah yeahs" for the chorus of this interstellar groover.
PARLIAMENT -"Unfunky UFO" (1975)
That Space Funk approach permeates this first HipHop cover of the original, including some uncanny impersonations of bassist Larry Graham.
WEST STREET MOB -"Sing A Simple Song" (1982)
P-Funk's Punk/Funk proteges borrow the "yeah yeah yeahs" for their chorus, too.
RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS -"Behind the Sun" (1986)
Another P-Funk disciple, PUBLIC ENEMY collages parts of it all the way through this protest jam. ("Sing A Simple Song" is also central to their "Party For Your Right To Fight", and is used again in several other songs.)
PUBLIC ENEMY -"Brothers Gonna Work It Out" (1990)
"Sing A Simple Song" has been sampled by over 400 artists, including Grandmaster Flash, Big Lady K, Stetsasonic, Digital Underground, De La Soul, Jungle Brothers, Mellow Man Ace, Kool Moe Dee, LL Cool J, Stereo MC's, TLC, Prince, A Tribe Called Quest, Ice-T, EPMD, Arrested Development, The Pharcyde, Common, Cypress Hill, Me Phi Me, Paris, Run-DMC, Del the Funky Homosapien, Erick Sermon, KRS-One, 2Pac, MC Solaar, Soul II Soul, Björk, Michael Jackson, Lenny Kravitz, Alanis Morissette, Barry Adamson, Masaki Sakamoto, DJ Shadow, The Beatnuts, Musiq Soulchild, and Snoop Dogg.
Bringing the familial full circle, here's D'Angelo, Chuck D, and Isaac Hayers covering the song with the original remixed in.
D'ANGELO, with Chuck D and Isaac Hayes -"Sing A Simple Song" (2005)
Here's Staten Island's THE BUDOS BAND with a killer remake of the song channeling Fela along the way!
THE BUDOS BAND -"Sing A Simple Song" (2005)
"I'm livin' livin' livin' life with all its ups and downs
I'm givin' givin' givin' love and smilin' at the frowns
You're in trouble when you find it's hard for you to smile
A simple song might make it better for a little while!"
"Liberation for all. Everything must be rethought." ______________
Two great things hybrid a third great thing. ROCK SEX is a metaphor for the creative connections that link our shared culture together. This Pop Culture hub explores the roots and branches of Music, Film, Art, Comics, and more. _______________
Rock'n'Soul music is a baton relayed by everyone. Learn the holistic history with the most advanced Music Playlists online!:
BLUES, MAMBO, JAZZ, ROCKABILLY, SURF, BEAT, SOUL, GARAGE, PSYCHEDELIA, FUNK, GLAM, PUNK, NEW WAVE, HIPHOP, POSTPUNK, GRUNGE, RIOT GRRRL, ELECTRO, next! _______________
This is our party and everyone is invited!
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