Doing It to Death Lyrics
Hit it
How you feeling, brother?
(Feeling good)
You feeling good?
Play so much 'bone, brother!
How you feeling, man?
(I feel all right)
I won't call your name
I don't want no people to know you're in here
How you feeling, brother?
Hey, Jab! Sure getting down
Looka here, ha!
[Chorus: James Brown & The J.B.'s]
We're gonna have a funky good time
We're gonna have a funky good time
We're gonna have a funky good time
We're gonna have a funky good time
[Bridge: James Brown, Fred Wesley, The J.B.'s]
Let's take 'em up, Fred
We gotta take you higher
Uh, ho, alright, gonna do it again
You wanna do it again
(Yeah, let's do it one more time)
We gotta take you higher
Ha, uh
Brother?
(Yeah?)
Now I want everybody
To let Fred blow about two choruses
Then I'm gonna wave you in
And let's go into what we did just now
Alright?
(Alright! Alright!)
I wanna get that fella with the little horn over there...
Fred, can you take us higher?
(Yeah)
Take us higher
(Alright)
Fred, Fred, Fred
[Bridge: James Brown]
Fred!
Give a big round of applause for Fred, yeah Lord
You know what?
When I hear a groove like this groove
Oh, it say I got to take you higher
Yeah, baby, yeah, yeah
Like way up yonder, man
And things
Looka here
Someone got a groove like this
You know, you know, know
I need the grit, got the grit
Wanna eat, got the grit
Get the job, got the job
Need the grit, got the grit
Now, Fred, you know
I believe, hey, Fred Thomas, brother
I'm getting ready to wave y'all in
Y'know what?
I feel so down, I need to get down
In order for me to get down, I gotta get in D
(Go and get down, yeah)
In order for me to get down, I gotta get in D
Need to get in D
Dog the D, down D
Funky D, stankin' D
Down D!
Get on down
Morgan Lamp, you like D!
That make him think about Macon, The Big M
Look here, look at that
This you over there?
(Who is that cat?)
You better sing one verse for us
What we gotta do
[Chorus: James Brown & The J.B.'s]
We gotta have a funky good time, oh yeah
We gotta have a funky good time, oh yeah
We gotta have a funky good time
[Outro: James Brown, Fred Wesley]
I didn't know you were singing, Fred
(I'm moanin')
Don't moan so much, brother
Don't moan so much!
We gotta have a funky good time
Take 'em up then
We gotta take you higher
Wait a minute
Now who you say that was over there?
(I dunno, mangy looking cat
I know that I seen him somewhere
Is that Maceo?)
Who?
He's doing everything over there
(Maceo?)
Is it who?
(Maceo, you know, like Maceo, won't you blow?)
Oh! yeah! Maceo!!!
Yeah brother, ah ha ha
About
James Brown enters the jamming session, a warm up in anticipation of recording Bobby Byrd’s solo single, “You Know You Got Soul.” This scene is all about jam where Mr.Brown’s enjoying that beat of his own & his fellas and starts funking down the stage. He asks how everybody’s doing as an intro–mentioning that he doesn’t say one person’s name because he doesn’t want folks to know he’s present–the godfather of soul then starts singing. Then–why not?–he decides that the key of the song should be dropped from F to D. Brown sings out his intention to the band to give them ample warning of the change and then–“Down D!”–the whole band shifts seamlessly into the key of “Funky D.” Eventually Brown pretends to notice one player in particular who’s “doing everything” and asks what his name is. The answer: “Maceo.” Maceo? “Yeah, you know, like ‘Maceo, won’t you blow?’” This, of course, is Maceo Parker, who had rejoined Brown’s band after leaving three years earlier.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
- 3.Try Me
- 5.Bewildered
- 10.Think
- 12.Lost Someone
- 13.Night Train
- 14.I’ve Got Money
- 16.Prisoner of Love
- 17.Devil’s Den
- 19.Out Of Sight
- 20.Grits
- 23.I Got You
- 32.Let Yourself Go
- 33.Cold Sweat
- 34.Get It Together
- 42.Mother Popcorn
- 43.Funky Drummer
- 45.Super Bad
- 48.Soul Power
- 50.Hot Pants, Pt. 1
- 55.King Heroin
- 60.Doing It to Death
- 61.The Payback
- 64.My Thang