The Payback (song)

"The Payback – Part I"
Single by James Brown
from the album The Payback
B-side"The Payback – Part II"
ReleasedFebruary 1974 (1974-02)
Recorded
  • August 4, 1973 (basic tracks)
  • September 1973 (brass and female vocal overdubs)
Studio
GenreFunk
Length
  • 3:30 (Part I)
  • 4:07 (Part II)
LabelPolydor (14223)
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)James Brown
James Brown charting singles chronology
"Stoned to the Bone – Part 1"
(1973) 		"The Payback – Part I"
(1974) 		"My Thang"
(1974)
Audio video
"The Payback" on YouTube

"The Payback" is a funk song by James Brown, the title track from his 1973 album of the same name. The song's lyrics, originally written by trombonist and bandleader Fred Wesley but heavily revised by Brown himself soon before it was recorded, concern the revenge he plans to take against a man who betrayed him. The song is notable for its sparse, open arrangement and its use of wah-wah guitar – a relative rarity in Brown's previous funk recordings. Released as a two-part single (featuring a radio announcer at the beginning of part one, DJ copies edited the announcer out) in February 1974, it was the first in an unbroken succession of three singles by Brown to reach #1 on the R&B charts that year – the last chart-toppers of his career. It also peaked at number 26 on the Billboard Hot 100.[1][2] It was his second, and final, single to be certified gold by the RIAA.[3]

  1. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 85.
  2. ^ White, Cliff (1991). "Discography". In Star Time (pp. 54–59) [CD booklet]. New York: PolyGram Records.
  3. ^ Bloom, Steve. "Anything Left in Papa's Bag?" Down Beat September 1, 1980. Rpt. in The James Brown Reader: Fifty Years of Writing About the Godfather of Soul. Ed. Nelson George and Alan Leeds. New York: Plume, 2008. 160-170.