Friday, November 07, 2008

One Nation Under A Grove on the Finally Friday Freakout

My word, what a week! People are already trying to find that long lost cousin that lives, works or passes through D.C on the way to Virginia. Really. Half of you will not make it past Delaware. I-95 will become the world largest parking lot.

This is one time that you might want to just stay home and dress up in front of the TV. This week’s selection on the Freakout is not really surprising. No matter your party one nation came out to vote. The thought alone is humbling.

I present the radio version with video enhancements of that seminal track beamed down September 1978 and embedded in psycho-functional consciousness, One Nation Under A Grove:

I can see it now. I will be 80 years old trying to escape again from the old folks home. One of the health care workers sensing another insurrection flips this on the auditory amplification communication link. All of a sudden half of the home is dancing with their canes, walkers and popping wheelies to this song. Sure they loose a few but it frees up a couple of beds and reduces the need for medication.

One Nation Under A Grove was one of the last dance records that included everybody. It was the beat, the lyrics and it certainly established a sense of community. The full length version was long. You had to have endurance to boogie to sides one and two. It was not a dance song for floor wimps. That was cool cuz if you couldn’t dance you could sing it.

The song re-surfaces itself every few years. The lower level rappers sampled it to shreds. There have been quality remixes but the original is the gold standard. I also have to mention that there were fabulous musicians like Maceo Parker, who also worked with James Brown, Junie Morrison from the Ohio Players and a bunch more folks that participated.

And then there was and is George Clinton. Not gonna speak too much about him because I'd need two and half blog posts to do him justice. He is one complicated man and I can’t in good faith write about him in brief.

So take it easy from detoxing from the election of a lifetime. But you could check out Change.gov to see what is in the works concerning the future that we all are gonna have to pitch in to save.

2 comments:

  1. So much fun! And so many memories of dancing to the L-O-N-G version! I'm glad I found your blog. Very nice.

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  2. Welcome, always room for one more on the stoop. That record was worn into the tar people played it so much.

    Great tune.

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