ROCK Sex: "Sing A Simple Song" - Sly Stone > Jimi Hendrix > James Gang > P-Funk > Chili Peppers > Public Enemy

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.

> -SLICE TONES: Sly Stone & His Infinite Influence!,
with 5 Music Players

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"Sing A Simple Song", and the album STAND after it, defined the new super heavy Funk that superceded Soul.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!"



© Tym Stevens

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See Also:

• FUNK, The True History: The 1960s, with 3 Music Players!

• SLICE TONES: Sly Stone & His Infinite Influence!, with 5 Music Players

• Sly Stone's "I Want To Take You Higher" And Its Unending Influence!, with Music Player!

• "If You Want Me To Stay" - Sly Stone > Bootsy Collins > Red Hot Chili Peppers > Prince > Nikka Costa


• The Real History of Rock and Soul!: A Music Player Checklist

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ROCK Sex: Herbie Hancock > Mongo Santamaria > Herbie Hancock

ROCK Sex is all about scratching each other's back; 'you do me, I'll do you'.

Previously I gave examples of how one song can take on new life under different artists, and also how an artist inspires another artist who re-inspires the first artist. Well, today is an example of both.

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Herbie Hanckock was a jolt of new life on the Jazz scene in the early '60s, and he scored an immediate hit from his 1962 debut album penning this hip-swaying classic:

HERBIE HANCOCK -"Watermelon Man" (1962)



Afro-Cuban percussionist MONGO SANTAMARIA was quick to pick up on the Latin Jazz tinge and expand it fully on his classic cover hit. It soon became a standard with great versions by Quincy Jones, Manfred Mann, Maynard Ferguson, and The J.B.'s to follow.

MONGO SANTAMARIA -"Watermelon Man" (1962)



Big Mama Thornton, famed for the original "Hound Dog", made this Blues stride out of it, complete with funny monologue:

BIG MAMA THORNTON -"Watermelon Man" (1970)



Herbie re-invented himself in the early '70s as an afro-futurist, blending tribal instruments with space-age electronics. In similar phoenix fashion he reforged his own classic:

HERBIE HANCOCK & THE HEADHUNTERS -"Watermelon Man" (1973)



You got my back, I got yours.


© Tym Stevens

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See Also:

• Cool Funk Roots: PEREZ PRADO's Mambo

• "Oye Como Va!" - Tito Puente > Santana > Kinky


• "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" - Horace Silver > Earth Wind & Fire > Steely Dan > Stevie Wonder > Madlib

• "PHYSICAL GRAFFITI" - Led Zeppelin > Branford Marsalis > Rolling Stones

• "How High The Moon" - Les Paul and Mary Ford > Sarah Vaughan > Charlie Parker > Miles Davis > John Coltrane


• The Real History of Rock and Soul!: The Music Player Checklist

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