| "Mother Popcorn (You Got to Have a Mother for Me) Part 1" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single by James Brown | ||||
| from the album It's a Mother | ||||
| B-side | "Mother Popcorn (You Got to Have a Mother for Me) Part 2" | |||
| Released | June 1969 | |||
| Recorded | May 13, 1969, King Studios, Cincinnati, OH | |||
| Genre | Funk | |||
| Length |
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| Label | King 6245 | |||
| Songwriter(s) |
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| Producer(s) | James Brown | |||
| James Brown charting singles chronology | ||||
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| Audio video | ||||
| "Mother Popcorn (Pt. 1)" on YouTube | ||||
"Mother Popcorn (You Got to Have a Mother for Me)" is a song recorded by James Brown and released as a two-part single in 1969. A #1 R&B and #11 Pop hit,[1][2] it was the highest-charting of a series of recordings inspired by the popular dance the Popcorn which Brown made that year, including "The Popcorn", "Lowdown Popcorn", and "Let a Man Come In and Do the Popcorn". The "mother" of the song's title was, in the words of biographer RJ Smith, "[Brown's] honorific for a big butt".[3]
"Mother Popcorn" has a beat and structure similar to Brown's 1967 hit "Cold Sweat", but a faster tempo and a greater amount of rhythmic activity (including much agitated 16th note movement from the horn section) give it a more frenetic quality than the earlier song. Critic Robert Christgau singled out "Mother Popcorn" as the turning point in Brown's funk music in which he "began to concern himself more and more exclusively with rhythmic distinctions."[4] The song features a saxophone solo by Maceo Parker, which starts at the end of Part 1 in the single version of the song.
Vicki Anderson recorded the answer song "Answer to Mother Popcorn (I Got a Mother for You)", also in 1969.
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 84.
- ^ White, Cliff (1991). "Discography". In Star Time (pp. 54–59) [CD booklet]. New York: PolyGram Records.
- ^ Smith, R.J. (2012). The One: The Life and Music of James Brown, 220. New York: Gotham Books.
- ^ Christgau, Robert. "A Consumer Guide to James Brown". Retrieved on March 7, 2008.