Hot Pants (James Brown song)

Last updated
"Hot Pants"
HotPants1People.jpg
Single by James Brown
from the album Hot Pants
A-side "Hot Pants Pt. 1 (She Got to Use What She Got to Get What She Wants)"
B-side "Hot Pants Pt. 2 & 3 (She Got to Use What She Got to Get What She Wants)"
ReleasedJuly 1971 (1971-07)
RecordedMay 13, 1971, Starday-King Studios, Nashville, TN
Genre Funk
Length
  • 3:08(Pt. 1)
  • 3:53(Pt. 2 & 3)
  • 8:42(album version)
Label People
2501
Songwriter(s)
  • James Brown
  • Fred Wesley
Producer(s) James Brown
James Brown chartingsingles chronology
"Escape-ism (Part 1)"
(1971)
"Hot Pants"
(1971)
"Make It Funky (Part 1)"
(1971)
Audio video
"Hot Pants (She Got To Use What She Got To Get What She Wants)" on YouTube

"Hot Pants (She Got to Use What She Got to Get What She Wants)" is a 1971 song by American singer James Brown, released as a single on his People Records label (then distributed by King Records) in July of that year with "Pt. 1" on the A-side and "Pt. 2 and 3" on the B-side. It was a number-one hit on the Billboard R&B chart, and reached number fifteen on the Hot 100 [1] and number ten on the Cashbox [2] magazine charts. [3] [4] "Hot Pants" was Brown's final release under King's purview before he and the People label moved to Polydor Records.

Contents

The song is an ode to the captivating power of hotpants, which he and his band first saw on their 1970 European tour. Like much of Brown's funk repertoire, "Hot Pants" has been extensively sampled by various hip hop artists. [5]

Personnel

with the J.B.'s:

Soon after moving to Polydor, Brown re-recorded "Hot Pants" for inclusion on the Hot Pants album. The 8:42 long album version, which was never released as a single, was recorded on July 12, 1971, at Rodel Studios in Washington, D.C., with the same personnel as the previous recording. This version of the song was later included on the 1986 compilation album In the Jungle Groove .

Several of Brown's associates also recorded songs about the topic. In 1971, Brown's keyboardist Bobby Byrd recorded "Hot Pants – I'm Coming, I'm Coming, I'm Coming", released as a single on Brown's Brownstone Records; [7] Byrd's "Hot Pants" has also been extensively sampled on songs including "Fight the Power" by Public Enemy, "Fools Gold" by the Stone Roses, "Papua New Guinea" by The Future Sound of London, "Step Back in Time" by Kylie Minogue, and "Good Vibrations" by Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. The song was featured in the 2004 video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on the fictional funk radio station Master Sounds 98.3. [8]

Byrd's wife Vicki Anderson also recorded an answer song, "I'm Too Tough For Mr. Big Stuff (Hot Pants)", for Brownstone. The J.B.'s recorded the instrumental "Hot Pants Road" as the B-side of their 1972 single "Pass the Peas".

Brown's 1998 single "Funk on Ah Roll" reuses the guitar and horn parts of "Hot Pants". [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud</span> 1968 single by James Brown

"Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud" is a funk song performed by James Brown, and written with his bandleader Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis in 1968. It was released as a two-part single, which held the number-one spot on the R&B singles chart for six weeks, and peaked at number ten on the Billboard Hot 100. Both parts of the single were later included on James Brown's 1968 album A Soulful Christmas and on his 1969 album sharing the title of the song. The song became an unofficial anthem of the Black Power movement.

"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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine</span> 1970 single by James Brown

"Get Up Sex Machine" is a funk song recorded by James Brown with Bobby Byrd on backing vocals. Released as a two-part single in 1970, it was a no. 2 R&B hit and reached no. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Super Bad (song)</span> 1970 single by James Brown

"Super Bad", originally titled Call Me Super Bad, is a 1970 song by James Brown. Originally released as a three-part single, it went to #1 on the R&B chart and number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song's lyrics include the refrain "I've got soul and I'm super bad." The positive use of the word "bad" is an example of linguistic reappropriation, which Brown had done before in "Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Try Me (James Brown song)</span> Single by James Brown and The Famous Flames

"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".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Grunt</span> 1970 single by The J.B.s

"The Grunt" is a funk instrumental recorded in 1970 by James Brown's band The J.B.'s. It was released as a two-part single on King. It was one of only two instrumental singles recorded by the original J.B.'s lineup with Bootsy and Catfish Collins. Large parts of "The Grunt"'s melody and arrangement are borrowed, uncredited, from The Isley Brothers' song "Keep on Doin'", which was released earlier in the same year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Get Up Offa That Thing</span> 1976 single by James Brown

"Get Up Offa That Thing" is a song written and performed by James Brown. It was released in 1976 as a two-part single. It reached #4 on the R&B chart, briefly returning Brown to the Top Ten after a year's absence, and #45 on the Billboard Hot 100. Thanks to its chart success, the song became Brown's biggest hit of the late 1970s. The song's lyrics urge listeners to "Get up offa that thing / and dance 'til you feel better." Due to his troubles with the IRS for failure to pay back taxes, Brown credited authorship of the song to his wife Deidre and their daughters, Deanna and Yamma Brown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Think (The "5" Royales song)</span> 1957 single by The "5" Royales

"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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Get on the Good Foot</span> 1972 single by James Brown

"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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Give It Up or Turnit a Loose</span> 1969 single by James Brown

"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).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Make It Funky</span> 1971 single by James Brown

"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.

"Papa Don't Take No Mess" is a funk song performed by James Brown. An edited version of the song released as a two-part single in 1974 was Brown's 17th and final number one R&B hit and peaked at number thirty-one on the Hot 100. The full-length version, nearly 14 minutes long, appeared on the double album Hell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">I Got the Feelin'</span> 1968 single by James Brown

"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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doing It to Death</span> 1973 single by Fred Wesley & The J.B.s

"Doing It to Death", also known as "Gonna Have a Funky Good Time", is a funk song recorded by The J.B.'s featuring James Brown. A 10-minute, two-part version of "Doing It to Death" was included on a J.B.'s album of the same name. The complete, unedited and nearly 13-minute-long original recording of the song was first issued on the 1995 J.B.'s compilation Funky Good Time: The Anthology. Performances of the song also appear on the albums Live at Chastain Park and Live at the Apollo 1995.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lost Someone</span>

"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.

"My Thang" is a funk song written and recorded by James Brown. Unlike most of his songs, this song was released not as a two-part single, but instead issued with three different B-sides. It spent two weeks at number one on the R&B singles chart - Brown's second #1 in a row, following "The Payback" - and reached No. 29 on the Billboard Hot 100 in July 1974. The song also appeared on Brown's 1974 double album Hell.

"Talkin' Loud and Sayin' Nothing" is a funk song written by James Brown and Bobby Byrd. Recorded in 1970 by Brown and the original J.B.'s with Byrd on backing vocals and updated with a new melody, it was twice released as a two-part single in 1972. It also appeared on the album There It Is.

"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.

"King Heroin" is an anti-drug song by James Brown, David Matthews, Manny Rosen and Charles Bobbit. Brown recorded this poem set to music at a studio in New York with session musicians in January 1972 and released it as a single in March. It was his fifth single for Polydor Records and reached number six on the U.S. Hot Soul Singles chart and number 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the spring. The song was included on Brown's 1972 album There It Is.

<i>Revolution of the Mind: Live at the Apollo, Volume III</i> 1971 live album by James Brown

Revolution of the Mind: Live at the Apollo, Volume III is a live double album by James Brown released in 1971. As its subtitle suggests, it is Brown's third album recorded at the Apollo Theater, following the original Live at the Apollo (1963) and Live at the Apollo, Volume II (1968).

References

  1. Whitburn, Joel (1997). Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles. Menomonee Falls, WI: Record Research Inc. p. 73. ISBN   0-89820-122-5.
  2. Hoffmann, Frank (1983). The Cash Box Singles Charts, 1950-1981. Metuchen, NJ & London: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. p. 65.
  3. White, Cliff (1991). "Discography". In Star Time (pp. 54–59) [CD booklet]. New York: PolyGram Records.
  4. Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 54.
  5. Hot Pants - James Brown | WhoSampled
  6. Leeds, Alan, and Harry Weinger (1991). "Star Time: Song by Song". In Star Time (pp. 46–53) [CD booklet]. New York: PolyGram Records.
  7. "Bobby Byrd – Hot Pants - I'm Coming, Coming, I'm Coming". Discogs .
  8. Hot Pants (Bonus Beats) - Bobby Byrd | WhoSampled
  9. "James Brown".