Cover art for King Heroin by James Brown

King Heroin

James Brown
Track 55 on Star Time 

Producer

James Brown
James Browns version of Manny Rosen’s poem about his daughter’s addiction. From James Brown’s album There it Is.
Mar. 19721 viewer10.5K views

King Heroin Lyrics

[Verse]
Ladies and Gentlemen
Fellow Americans
Lady Americans
This is James Brown
I wanna talk to you about one of our
Most deadly
Killers in the country today
I had a dream the other night, and I
Was sitting in my living room
Dozed off to sleep
So I start to dreaming
I dreamed I walked in a place and
I saw a real strange, weird object
Standing up talking to the people
And I found out it was heroin
That deadly drug that go in your veins
He said:

I came to this country without a passport
Ever since then I've been hunted and sought
My little white grains are nothing but waste
Soft and deadly and bitter to taste
I'm a world of power and all know it's true
Use me once and you'll know it, too
I can make a mere schoolboy forget his books
I can make a world-famous beauty neglect her looks
I can make a good man forsake his wife
Send a greedy man to prison for the rest of his life
I can make a man forsake his country and flag
Make a girl sell her body for a five-dollar bag
Some think my adventure's a joy and a thriller
But I'll put a gun in your hand and make you killer
In cellophane bags I've found my way
To heads of state and children at play
I'm financed in China, ran in Japan
I'm respected in Turkey and I'm legal in Siam
I take my addicts and make 'em steal, borrow, beg
Then they search for a vein in their arm or their leg
So, be you Italian, Jewish, Black or Mex
I can make the most virile of men forget their sex

So now, so now my man, you must do your best
To keep up your habit until your arrest
Now the police have taken you from under my wing
Do you think they dare defy me, I who am king?
Now, you must lie in that county jail
Where I can't get to you by visit or mail
So squirm - with discomfort - wiggle and cough
Six days of madness, hah, and you might throw me off
Curse me in name, defy me in speech
But you'd pick me up right now if I were in your reach
All through your sentence you've become resolved to your fate
Hear now, young man and woman, I'll be waiting at the gate
Don't be afraid, don't run, I'm not chased
Sure my name is Heroin, you'll be back for a taste
Behold, you're hooked
Your foot is in the stirrup
And make -- haste
Mount the steed and ride him well
For the white horse of heroin will ride you to Hell
To Hell
Will ride you to Hell
Until you are dead
Dead, brother, Dead
This is a revolution of the mind
Get your mind together
And get away from drugs
That's the man
Back, back

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James Browns version of Manny Rosen’s poem about his daughter’s addiction. From James Brown’s album There it Is.

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Star Time (1991)
  1. 1.
    Please, Please, Please
  2. 2.
    Why Do You Do Me
  3. 3.
    Try Me
  4. 4.
    Tell Me What I Did Wrong
  5. 5.
    Bewildered
  6. 6.
    Good Good Lovin’
  7. 7.
    I’ll Go Crazy
  8. 8.
    I Know It’s True
  9. 9.
    (Do the) Mashed Potatoes (Part I)
  10. 10.
    Think
  11. 11.
    Baby, You’re Right
  12. 12.
    Lost Someone
  13. 13.
    Night Train
  14. 14.
    I’ve Got Money
  15. 15.
    I Don’t Mind (Live 1962)
  16. 16.
    Prisoner of Love
  17. 17.
    Devil’s Den
  18. 18.
    Out Of The Blue (Alternate Take)
  19. 19.
    Out Of Sight
  20. 20.
    Grits
  21. 21.
    Maybe the Last Time
  22. 23.
    I Got You
  23. 24.
    Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag - Pts. 1, 2 & 3
  24. 25.
    Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag (Part 1)
  25. 26.
    I Got You (I Feel Good)
  26. 27.
    Ain’t That a Groove
  27. 28.
    It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World
  28. 29.
    Money Won’t Change You
  29. 30.
    Don’t Be a Dropout
  30. 31.
    Bring It Up (Hipsters Avenue)
  31. 32.
    Let Yourself Go
  32. 33.
    Cold Sweat
  33. 34.
    Get It Together
  34. 35.
    I Can’t Stand Myself (When You Touch Me)
  35. 36.
    I Got the Feelin’
  36. 37.
    Licking Stick-Licking Stick
  37. 38.
    Say It Loud: I’m Black and I’m Proud
  38. 39.
    There Was a Time (Live at Memorial Auditorium, Dallas, 1968)
  39. 40.
    Give It Up or Turnit a Loose
  40. 41.
    I Don’t Want Nobody to Give Me Nothing (Open Up the Door, I’ll Get It Myself)
  41. 42.
    Mother Popcorn
  42. 43.
    Funky Drummer
  43. 44.
    Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine (Pts. 1 & 2)
  44. 45.
    Super Bad
  45. 46.
    Talkin’ Loud and Sayin’ Nothing
  46. 47.
    Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved (Pt. 1 & 2)
  47. 48.
    Soul Power
  48. 49.
    Brother Rapp/Ain’t It Funky Now (Live, Olympia Paris, 1971)
  49. 50.
    Hot Pants, Pt. 1
  50. 51.
    I’m a Greedy Man (Part 1)
  51. 52.
    Make It Funky (Part 1)
  52. 53.
    Intro/It’s A New Day (So Let A Man Come In And Do The Popcorn) (Live At The Apollo Theater/1971)
  53. 54.
    I Got Ants In My Pants
  54. 55.
    King Heroin
  55. 56.
    There It Is (Pt. 1)
  56. 57.
    Public Enemy No. 1, Pt. 1
  57. 58.
    Get On the Good Foot
  58. 59.
    I Got a Bag of My Own
  59. 60.
    Doing It to Death
  60. 61.
    The Payback
  61. 62.
    Papa Don’t Take No Mess (Part 1)
  62. 63.
    Stoned to the Bone (Part 1)
  63. 64.
    My Thang
  64. 65.
    Funky President (People It’s Bad)
  65. 66.
    Hot (I Need To Be Loved, Loved, Loved, Loved)
  66. 67.
    Get Up Offa That Thing (Release The Pressure) [Edit]
  67. 68.
    Bodyheat (Part 1)
  68. 69.
    It’s Too Funky In Here
  69. 70.
    Rapp Payback (Where Iz Moses?) (Part 1)
  70. 71.
    Unity (Pt. 1 - The Third Coming)
Credits
Producer
Writers
Released in
March 1972
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Tags
R&BSoulAlternativeAlternative R&BProtest SongsFunkLiterature
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