Fact #77257

THE STORY OF ONE NATION UNDER A GROOVE by Johnny Black

It was the summer of 1978, and the sun was rising over the broad sweep of the UN building. As dawn’s early light banished the long shadows of night, George Clinton of Funkadelic was standing out front in United Nations Plaza, watching the daily ceremony of the raising of the flags of all nations. Inspired by this awesome symbol of planetary unity, George turned to one of his girlfriends and asked how she felt about it. “One nation under a groove,” she replied, and one of the most influential funk hits of all time was sparked into life.

Or at least, that’s the way it happened according to the normally reliable Billboard Book of Number One Rhythm And Blues Hits, who got their information from Tom Vickers, former ‘minister of information’ for funkmeister Clinton.

Ask the legendarily acid-fried George today (July 2003), and he’ll spin an entirely different yarn. “Back in 1976, we had been booked onto two shows at one time,” he explains in his lazy North Carolina-meets-Detroit drawl, “We were playing at the Sheraton Hotel in Washington, and we were not informed that we’d been booked onto another gig in Maryland, somewhere between Baltimore and DC. All the local crews, the Soul Searchers and the rest, were down at this other show in Maryland at the beach, and they had been announcing that we were going to be there. Later, we saw these friends of ours who had been there and they said, ‘You know they waited for you all day long.” We asked them how the gig had been and they said it was like one nation under a groove.”

Ask him tomorrow, and there may well be yet another variation, but today’s version does seem marginally more believeable than Tom Vickers’ tall tale.

Funkadelic guitarist and co-composer Garry Shider certainly seems to confirm Clinton’s recollection to some extent when he says that the phrase, One Nation Under A Groove, was around the Funkadelic camp for about two years before they actually recorded a track under that name. “We’d just come off the road in 1978,” recalls Shider, “so we were in Detroit, Michigan, at United Sounds studio which is were we did a lot of our records at the time. I had a guitar line which was like a banjo-picking thing. I just went in and recorded it, then Junie came in with the keyboard part. We didn’t even use any drums on it when we first cut it. George was up in the control room with a little microphone, hollering his lyrics in our ears.”

“We kinda just ad libbed the lead vocal parts,” says George. “I didn’t have nothing but “One nation under a groove” - that was the only part I had of the song. The rest of it I was just singing off the top of my head.”

And what came off the top of his remarkable head was an invitation to form a nation united by music, spiced up with potent lyrical and melodic reminders of the rich heritage of black music from the gospel protest of We Shall Not be Moved through James Brown’s proto-funk and The Jacksons’ Motown soul hits.

From the moment Shider started playing his distinctive guitar lick to hitting the stop button on the completed tape that formed the basis of the final release was no more than one hour, and the finishing touches were added the following day. “Because my guitar part sounded like a banjo,” says Shider, “we put a banjo with that to enhance the sound, but then we took the banjo out again. We called in Michael Hampton to play the lead guitar solo, then the girls came in to sing.”

For most bands, even then, it was normal to cut a rough demo version before attempting a finished track but Funkadelic simply didn’t work that way. “There was no demo for the song,” explains Clinton. “The cassette we cut after the background had been added - that was actually what was released. We tried to mix it and stuff but none of them was ever as good as the tape we made that day! By mixing it, all we were doing was losing the spontaneity of it.”

The completed track, unfortunately, ran to more than seven minutes, which would have been commercial suicide to release as a single. Somebody would have to hack it back to a length radio programmers could understand, but it wouldn’t be George Clinton. “Basically I make music for myself and if it happens to sell, then fine. I make my own ego versions and take them home with me, but as far as the single, I trusted the engineer. I didn’t miss what he edited out, other than the solo part. I don’t really worry about commercial stuff.”

On November 4, One Nation Under A Groove entered the Billboard Top 40, peaking rather disappointingly at No28, but more significant to George was the six weeks it spent at No1 on the rAndb chart, starting from September 30. While there, it permeated deep into the consciousness of just about every funktified kid in America to such an extent that, a decade and a half later, hits as diverse as rapper Ice Cube’s Bop Gun (1994) and Kirk Franklin’s gospel-powered Stomp (1997) heavily sampled One Nation to achieve their success. And when Californian hopefuls the Red Hot Chili Peppers were looking for a way to fuse funk with their punky rock, they chose George Clinton as their producer. And we all know where that led.

(This feature first appeared in Blender magazine)

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GEORGE CLINTON, interviewed by Johnny Black

HOW DID THE SONG ACTUALLY START? DID IT COME OUT OF JAMMING?
Well, actually, this was one of the ones that didn’t come of that. It was a conception before it was ever written. There was a show in Maryland, between Baltimore and D.C. and we were not informed that we had a gig and they had us booked on two shows at one time.

We played in the Sheraton Hotel in Washington and didn’t know that this show was going on and all the local crews were down at this show in Maryland at the beach and they had been announcing that we were going to be there and all the other groups the Soul Searchers etc and we didn’t know anything about this show and then we saw these friends of ours who had been there looking for us and they said, you know they waited for you all day long they said this was like one nation under a groove everybody was singing P – Funk.

So we had the title and the chant before anything else. And then like two years later we actually recorded that song. But we did the sessions and it was one of the best ever sessions because we had just bought a lot of brand new equipment and Junie Morrison and Bernie Worrel and a kid named Duffy it was one of the last sessions we ever did all in that one time. After that it was like a drum machine and stuff and we added the drums afterwards.

But that track we played them at the same time. Well the song itself was kinda spontaneous. We kinda just ad libbed the lead parts and singing off the top of my head I didn’t have nothing but “One nation under a groove” that was the only part I had of the song. The rest of it I was just singing off the top of my head.

There was no demo for the song. In actual fact the cassette that we cut after the background had been added and Junie Morrison had added some stuff - that cassette was actually what was released. We tried to mix it and stuff but none of them was ever as good as the reference tape we made that day! I think that by mixing we lost the spontaneity of it.

WAS IT A HARD PROCESS TO EDIT THE 7 MINUTE ALBUM VERSION DOWN TO A SINGLE?
No, because I just told the engineer to go ahead and do it. I got the ones that I liked and the ones that I put on the album and I said just go ahead and do it and when I heard it I liked it so much I used it on the record because I didn’t miss what he had edited other than the solo part. There was a version which never came out for sale. We just gave it to D.Js to play on the air. A longer version than the 12 inch. And the guitar solo plays all the way through.

I trust the engineer because I was gonna use the long version on the album and I didn’t care about what they put on the radio. I don’t really worry about commercial stuff especially by today’s things I really just cut ‘em then let two or three people that are into remixes do the editing. I mean you can always do a C.D five and just put your own version on there. You know and put your own ego version on there well I make my own ego versions and take them home with me. So basically I make music for myself and if it happens to sell then fine.

CAN YOU EXPLAIN SOME MORE ABOUT THE LYRIC ON THE SONG?
Well, it’s a state of mind a place and idea that people tomorrow will still be talking about. They will have to be caught up in it for the most part. You have to make decisions sometime but if you are not caught up in it you will be so much more relaxed about it. Just do the best you can and say “funk it”. The lyric idea was worked on over the years. We left Motown which was rewritten over and over even if you had a hit single. So everything there was like ultra tight and you know we was headed towards a pop sophistication. And right at the peak of that the English rock groups came over here with the old concept of the blues, you know, “What key is this shit in?” So then they start jamming so rock and roll came from over there back to the States but with a slickness too eventually like jazz and when you got back to you know Emerson, Lake and Palmer you was back to the jazz realm again but in the mean time the Rolling Stones, um, The Kinks for instance and then all into the fusion bands like Miles Davis and all this. To me it always starts over and over again. To me funk is the D.N.A for hip hop, to me James Brown is the D.N.A for what we were doing. And Motown had all the doo wop stuff and that was the D.N.A for Motown. And we were so late with that Motown stuff we just caught on to the rock ‘n’ roll thing.

DID YOU REALISE STRAIGHT AWAY THAT ONE NATION WAS SPECIAL OR DID THAT COME AFTERWARDS?
Well I kinda knew right away then when I saw the first review of it they said they had finally got their first classic pop record even thought tear the roof off had been a pop record to me it was I knew that was going to be a bubblegum hit. One Nation for them to say something was well recorded by us had to be really deep because you know weren’t respected for recording really well because we always did so much crazy shit. Then I knew that was a good recording.

WHY DO YOU THINK IT NEVER GOT HIGHER THAN 28 IN THE BILLBOARD NATIONAL CHART?
Warner’s were afraid that we would leave and go to CBS. So I think they didn’t work hard enough on plugging the record too much or working on it too much. And they only pressed 90,000 copies because they were worried because we might move from their company. However Casablanca promoted us amazingly well.

I KNOW YOU GOT RIPPED OFF ON YOUR PUBLISHING. WAS ONE NATION ONE OF THOSE SONGS THAT WAS INVOLVED IN THAT?
Yes and it still is involved in all that. We still haven’t sorted it out but we are close to sorting it all out now. We think we are gonna take a whipping and lose a lot of money but we are doing better now on the road than we ever done before. And we are now being paid on artist royalties and stuff. Well, at the moment, Bridgeforth Music own the publishing and that is who we are in court with. I mean there is a lot of records out there with those samples on you know Tupac and Snoop and we are close to those people.

HOW DID THE CHILLI’S THING AT GRAMMYS COME ABOUT?
The thing with them was you know when we finished the record I told them you know look back and help somebody funky! They have always respected us and we have respected them so they did look back and we hooked up at the Grammys an we did give it away and then One Nation Under A Groove and that was their idea! That was a beautiful night I did one in Fiji in Japan it was phenomenal I mean it was so good to see them do what I knew what they would do from the beginning.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SONG WHICH SAMPLES ONE NATION ?
I like the Ice Cube which uses Bop Gun. And One Nation together and also the gospel thing by Kirk Franklin, you know, Stomp? And that was a platinum record for both of them.

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GARRY SHIDER, guitarist for Funkadelic, interviewed by Johnny Black

CAN YOU REMEMBER HOW ONE NATION UNDER A GROOVE GOT WRITTEN? WAS IT JAMMING OR DID YOU SIT DOWN TO WRITE IT?
Well I had a guitar line I just went in and recorded and Junie happened to be there and put the keyboards on we were in Detroit Michigan at united sounds studio which is were we did a lot of our records at, at the time. Actually I think that we came of the road taking a break for about a week or so and whenever we’d get off the road we would go to the studio so I had this guitar line which was like a banjo picking thing*hums tune* and Junie came in with the *hums keyboard part* actually we didn’t even use any drums on it when we first cut it and George had the lyrics for one nation under a groove. It was spontaneous actually. And we made it into a record! George was there when we laid the track down it all happened in about an hour or so.

It only took longer than an hour because Jim Viddey he had to like set up everything he was always trying to tweak the sound and make sure all the guitars sounded right. And in fact I think George was in the control with a little microphone hollering his lyrics in our ears.

WAS THIS A DEMO VERSION ?
It was actually getting the record started. No, we never did a demo for it. We don’t normally sit down and map out what we are going to do. We just go in there and somebody might have a groove and we hit it. We just get in there and play and see what comes out.

WHEN WAS THIS FIRST DONE?
I think we did that in 78. I can’t remember what month. It was hot so probably in the summer time. I came out very quickly after we had recorded it. We had never played it live before it came out.

SO THAT MUST HAVE BEEN INTERESTING HAVING TO TURN WHAT YOU HAD DONE IN THE STUDIO INTO SOMETHING LIVE ?
Yes, we try to do any song we play in the studio live. We can definitely do it live. Because we are based on playing anyway. It is in our blood.

SO HAVING GOT THAT BASIC TRACK DOWN ON THE FIRST DAY WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
Well we bought our friend Bootsie in and he did the drums. Then we got Bernie in and he played the Moog bass. I also called in a banjo player too. I was feeling banjoie.

The guitar part sounded like a banjo so we put a banjo with that to enhance the sound. So it was my guitar part doubled by a banjo. I think we took the banjo out afterwards actually. Then we called in Michael Hampton to play the lead guitar he did all the solo and stuff. Then after that we called in the girls to sing. Including: Myself, Vinda (My wife), Don silver? ,Lin Maybe? When you call somebody in you give them a guidance of what it is you are looking for. George sorted that out because he had a song in his head already. After the first day George kind of takes over as producer.

WITH YOU GUYS DO YOU ALL STICK TO YOUR OWN AREAS OR DO YOU PITCH IN IDEAS ALL OVER THE BOARD?
Well everybody has an area, it may not be everybody at one time in the studio if you see what I’m saying so it’s whoever has got the groove man! We come up with a very live sound even thought it is recorded over a few days with lots of different people. That is because you never know who got the groove you know. After you got a track you just play it around until somebody feel something. The track just worked when we put it together there was nothing we got really stuck on.

THE ALBUM VERSION IS SEVEN MINUTES LONG OR SOMETHING PRESUMABLY IT HAD THEN TO BE EDITED DOWN TO BE A SINGLE WAS THAT A DIFFICULT TASK?
Well that becomes the task of George and the engineer. You should speak to George about that. George also did all the lyrics and stuff.

ONCE YOU YOU HAD THE TRACK FINISHED DID YOU REALISE YOU HAD SOMETHING SPECIAL OR NOT?
We could kind of feel that after we cut the track we knew we were on to something.

IN THE U.K ONE NATION UNDER A GROOVE IS THE TRACK YOU ARE MOST WELL KNOWN FOR BUT, IN THE STATES, IT NEVER GOT ABOVE 28 IN THE CHARTS DID IT?
It was number 1 in the R’n’B charts. I think it should have been a bigger hit but maybe it was because of politics. It was one of Funkadelic’s biggest hits you know. Ice Cube used it afterwards and used it well. Then Kurt Franklin used it to the max with Stomp. It’s flattering when someone uses our work. A lot of people have done good justice with the song. It was like a dream come true doing the song with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The Chili Peppers actually asked us. George worked on their first album. So we actually knew them anyway. We were all in the studio together.