Mothership Connection (Star Child)

"Star Child"
Single by Parliament
from the album Mothership Connection
A-side"Star Child"
B-side"Supergroovalisticprosifunkstication"
ReleasedAugust 1976
Recorded1975
GenreP-Funk
Length6:11 (album version)
3:08 (7" edit)
LabelCasablanca 864
Songwriter(s)George Clinton/Bootsy Collins/Bernie Worrell
Producer(s)George Clinton

"Mothership Connection (Star Child)" is a funk song by Parliament. It was the third and last single released from the group's 1975 album Mothership Connection. The song introduces George Clinton's messianic alien alter ego Star Child for the first time (see P-Funk mythology).

The lyrics "Swing down, sweet chariot, stop and let me ride" quote the traditional spiritual "Swing Down, Sweet Chariot",[1] first popularized in the 1940s by The Golden Gate Quartet and later recorded by Elvis Presley among others (and not the better-known spiritual "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot").

The track "Let Me Ride" on the Dr. Dre album The Chronic is heavily based on samples from this song.

In 1998, Scott Grooves produced a remix version of this song under the title Mothership Reconnection, followed by yet another remix by Scott Grooves, Slam and Daft Punk.

The song was the inspiration for Dave Parker's "Boys Boppin'" shirt.[2]

  1. ^ Vincent, Rickey (1996). Funk: The Music, The People, and The Rhythm of The One. New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 254. ISBN 1466884525. Retrieved 2018-02-02.
  2. ^ Clair, Michale (2021). "Origin of Dave Parker's 'Boys Boppin' shirt". MLB.com.