| "Bewildered" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by James Brown and the Famous Flames | ||||
| from the album Think! | ||||
| B-side | "If You Want Me" | |||
| Released | February 1961 | |||
| Recorded | January 30, 1959, Beltone Studios, New York, NY | |||
| Genre | R&B, doo-wop | |||
| Length | 2:21 | |||
| Label | King | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Teddy Powell Leonard Whitcup | |||
| Producer(s) | Andy Gibson | |||
| James Brown chartingsingles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Bewildered" is a popular song written in 1936 by Teddy Powell and Leonard Whitcup. It was a 1938 hit for Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra.
The song was revived in the late 1940s when two different versions, by the Red Miller Trio and Amos Milburn, reached number one on the R&B chart in 1948 (neither of them made the pop chart). [1] Both these versions departed significantly from the original published melody and influenced later recordings.
James Brown and the Famous Flames recorded "Bewildered" in 1959. Their doo-wop–tinged rendition was somewhat similar to the Amos Milburn version, with a strong triplet feeling and a heavily melismatic vocal line. It was first released as a track on Brown's 1960 album Think! . The following year it was issued as a single, which reached the R&B Top Ten and became Brown's second single (after "Think") to enter the pop Top 40 (US charts: number 8 R&B; number 40 pop). [2]
"Bewildered" became a staple of Brown's concerts for much of his career. It was featured in a medley on his breakthrough 1963 album Live at the Apollo and appeared on several of his later live albums, including Revolution of the Mind: Recorded Live at the Apollo, Vol. III (1971) and Love, Power, Peace (1992). He also recorded new studio versions for the albums Prisoner of Love (1963) and Sex Machine (1970).
And The Famous Flames:
with the James Brown Band:
"Bewildered" was subsequently recorded by several others, including R&B performers:
"I Got You (I Feel Good)" is a song by American singer James Brown. First recorded for the album Out of Sight and then released in an alternate take as a single in 1965, it was his highest-charting song and is arguably his best-known recording. In 2013, the 1965 recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
"Please, Please, Please" is a rhythm and blues song performed by James Brown and the Famous Flames. Written by Brown and Johnny Terry and released as a single on Federal Records in 1956, it reached No. 6 on the R&B charts. The group's debut recording and first chart hit, it has come to be recognized as their signature song.
"Soul Power" is a song by James Brown. Brown recorded it with the original J.B.'s and it was released as a three-part single in 1971. Like "Get Up Sex Machine" and other hits from this period it features backing vocals by Bobby Byrd. It charted #3 R&B and #29 Pop.
"Cold Sweat" is a song performed by James Brown and written with his bandleader Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis. Brown recorded it in May 1967. An edited version of "Cold Sweat" released as a two-part single on King Records was a No. 1 R&B hit, and reached number seven on the Pop Singles chart. The complete recording, more than seven minutes long, was included on an album of the same name.
"Try Me", titled "Try Me (I Need You)" in its original release, is a song recorded by James Brown and the Famous Flames in 1958. It was a #1 R&B hit and charted #48 Pop—the group's first appearance on the Billboard Hot 100. It was Brown and the Flames' second charting single, ending a two-year dry spell after the success of "Please, Please, Please".
"Think" is a rhythm and blues song written by Lowman Pauling and originally recorded by his group The "5" Royales. Released as a single on King Records in 1957, it was a national hit and reached number nine on the U.S. R&B chart.
"Get on the Good Foot" is a funk song performed by James Brown. It was released in 1972 as a two-part single that charted #1 R&B and #18 Pop. It also appeared on an album of the same name released that year. Partly due to the unwillingness of Brown's record labels to certify sales of his previous hits, "Get on the Good Foot" was his first gold record. Billboard ranked it as the No. 99 song for 1972.
"Give It Up or Turnit a Loose" is a funk song recorded by James Brown. Released as a single in 1969, the song was a #1 R&B hit and also made the top 20 pop singles chart. "Give It Up or Turnit a Loose" appeared as an instrumental on the Ain't It Funky (1970) album, removing Brown's vocals and adding guitar overdubs, while the vocal version was released on It's a New Day – Let a Man Come In (1970).
"Make It Funky" is a jam session recorded by James Brown with The J.B.'s. It was released as a two-part single in 1971, which reached No. 1 on the U.S. R&B chart and No. 22 on the U.S. Pop chart.
"I Got the Feelin'" is a funk song by James Brown. Released as a single in 1968, it reached No. 1 on the R&B chart and #6 on the pop chart. It also appeared on a 1968 album of the same name.
"Lost Someone" is a song recorded by James Brown in 1961. It was written by Brown and Famous Flames members Bobby Byrd and Baby Lloyd Stallworth. Like "Please, Please, Please" before it, the song's lyrics combine a lament for lost love with a plea for forgiveness. The single was a #2 R&B hit and reached #48 on the pop chart. According to Brown, "Lost Someone" is based on the chord changes of the Conway Twitty song "It's Only Make Believe". Although Brown's vocal group, The Famous Flames did not actually sing on this tune, two of them, Bobby Byrd, and "Baby Lloyd " Stallworth, co-wrote it with Brown, and Byrd plays organ on the record, making it, in effect, a James Brown/Famous Flames recording.
"Out of Sight" is a funk song recorded by James Brown in 1964. A twelve-bar blues written by Brown under the pseudonym "Ted Wright", the stuttering, staccato dance rhythms and blasting horn section riffs of its instrumental arrangement were an important evolutionary step in the development of funk music.
"I'll Go Crazy" is a rhythm and blues song recorded by James Brown and The Famous Flames. Released as a single in 1960, it was Brown's fourth R&B hit, charting at #15. Brown and the Flames also performed it as the first song on their 1963 album Live at the Apollo.
"I Love You Yes I Do" is an October 1947 single by Bull Moose Jackson and his Buffalo Bearcats. The song was written by Henry Glover and Sally Nix. The single was Jackson's first number one on the US Billboard R&B chart, spending three weeks at the top spot and peaking at number 24 on the pop chart.
"Maybe the Last Time" is a song written by James Brown and recorded by Brown and the Famous Flames in 1964. It was released as the B-side of "Out of Sight" and was also included on the Out of Sight album. Brown described it as "a heavy gospel-based number, all about appreciating friends and everything while you can because each time you see somebody may be the last time, you don't know." It was the last studio recording Brown made with the Famous Flames, although the singing group continued to perform live with him for several more years.
"Let Yourself Go" is a 1967 song by James Brown.
"You've Got the Power" is a song written by James Brown and Famous Flames member Johnny Terry and recorded by Brown with Bea Ford as a duet in 1960. Released as the B-side of Brown and the Famous Flames' hit recording of "Think", it also charted, reaching #14 R&B and #86 Pop. It was Brown's first recorded duet and his first hit B-side. Brown briefly performs the song in a medley on his 1963 album Live at the Apollo.
"Get It Together" is a song performed by James Brown. Released in October 1967 as a two-part single, it charted #11 R&B and #40 Pop. Both parts also appeared on the album I Can't Stand Myself When You Touch Me. Donald A. Guarisco of Allmusic described the song as "a taut, minimalist tune that combines soulful but frantically paced verse melodies with a bubbling, two-note staccato chorus."
"Like a Baby" is a song written by Jesse Stone. It was recorded by Vikki Nelson for a Vik Records single in 1957. Priscilla Bowman recorded it for Abner Records in 1959. It was also recorded by Elvis Presley for his 1960 album Elvis Is Back!. James Brown and the Famous Flames recorded the song and released it as a single in 1963, which charted No. 24 R&B. The single's B-side, an instrumental version of "Every Beat of My Heart", also charted, reaching No. 99 on the Billboard Hot 100. Brown and the Flames performed "Like a Baby" on their 1964 live album Pure Dynamite! Live at the Royal.
"Ain't That a Groove" is a song written by James Brown and Nat Jones. Brown recorded it in 1965 with the female vocal group The Jewels and a studio band arranged and conducted by Sammy Lowe. Released in edited form as a two-part single in 1966, it charted #6 R&B and #42 Pop. The unedited studio recording of the song was included in the 1991 box set Star Time.
