Fact #131212

At the precise moment when Motown was becoming slick and sophisticated, and Bob Dylan was introducing pop music fans to the most complex and cerebral lyrics ever written, James Brown re-invented square one. The razor-sharp guitar rhythms and shattering horn riffs of Papa's Got A Brand New Bag were simultaneously primitive and brand spanking new. He had recorded it on February 1, 1965, and claimed, "when I saw the speakers jumping, vibrating in a certain way, I knew that was it - deliverance.  What I started on Out Of Sight, I took all the way on Papa's Got A Brand New Bag."

Its lyric, insofar as it could be discerned, was largely gibberish, but for sheer, unbridled energy nothing else came close in the mid-60s. Brown had been scoring hits since the late 50s, but Brand New Bag wrote his name large on the map. Now recognised as the template for funk, it reached No1 in the US R'n'B chart, No8 on the pop chart and collected a Grammy as the year's Best Rhythm And Blues recording.

Disappointingly, the follow-up, I Got You, would prove to be a barely-disguised re-write of a previous Brown composition, I Found You, which had flopped when recorded by his girlfriend Yvonne Fair in 1962. Speaking to Melody Maker in 1966, Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones reckoned that it was "a good record" but rightly qualified his praise by observing that it didn't compare with Brand New Bag. Nevertheless, using Brand New Bag's success as a springboard, I Got You went on to become Soul Brother No1's biggest-ever hit, peaking at No3 in the US pop chart.
Author : Johnny Black