Anatomy of a Mix CD: ‘Da Funk’

In the world of funk, this is routine…

I’m fortunate to have a good relationship with my girlfriend’s father. He grew up a Lakers fan, loves music as much as I do and our approach to humor is dry and sarcastic. This is important: because I’m dating “Daddy’s little girl,” I’m fully aware that he probably has unconscious thoughts of murdering me for no logical reason other than his daughter calling me her boyfriend. I don’t blame him: reasonable men have little to no faith in other men and I fully expect to harbor homicidal fantasies about the suitors of my future daughters. Bonding is the only thing that prevents a bloody tragedy.

The other week he was at the apartment and handed me a blank CD. We’ve exchanged music in the past, but this time it was for one of the women in his office. He told me about how she’d mentioned being in a “funk” lately and he made some joke about how the only funk she should have is George Clinton. I paraphrased that story, but I can assure you that the way he said it was a whole lot cooler because he is much cooler than I am.

(I’m not sucking up, I swear: you should see his vinyl collection. I have never coveted anything like I have those records.)

I was assigned to make a CD of funk for this woman I know nothing about and given very little to go on. I’m used to making mix CDs for people and I enjoy doing it, but I am normally more familiar with the individual’s tastes — I didn’t even know this person’s age. He told me it didn’t matter what I put on the CD as long as it was funk and included some George Clinton. I do love a challenge.

Saturday night I went to work on making a preliminary list of songs. My goal was to create a healthy mix of newer and older songs and at least one slightly adventurous pick. I cut out a bunch of “funky” songs that barely qualified (like the Cure’s “Hot Hot Hot!!!”), stayed mostly within arbitrary, self-set genre parameters and shamefully forgot to include Morris Day and the Time’s “Jungle Love.” I named the mix “Da Funk,” after a Daft Punk song that has nothing musically to do with funk, but still manages to sound like it. Incidentally, the electronica duo’s relationship to punk is similarly philosophical rather than sonic. These two points perfectly illustrate why Daft Punk are geniuses.

Her dad has received the CD, made a copy for himself and given it a thumbs up. What follows is “Da Funk” in all its stanky glory.

1) Parliament – “Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)”

When he said to include some George Clinton, I assumed he specifically meant this quintessential funk anthem. There was never any question in my mind that “Give Up the Funk” would be the lead-off song because it sets the stage for everything else that follows.

2) The Outlaw Gang – “Funky Fast Bump”

One of 22 gems from the fantastic Florida Funk: 1968-1975 collection. I had to include at least one old-school Sunshine State group and this track is a big ball of energy. I always try to follow the High Fidelity approach that you have to start strong, take it up a notch and then bring it down a little to avoid front-loading the collection. Which brings us to…

3) War – “Get Down”

…a slow groove from the underrated group behind “Low Rider.” This song has long been a personal favorite of mine because of the band’s simplistic, but entirely reasonable, assertion that “if you running the country and you ain’t running it funky, you got to get down.”

4) The Isley Brothers – “Fight the Power (Parts 1 & 2)”

From the guys that sang “Why Can’t We Be Friends?” we move to a duo that prefers to make people shout — in this case, at the powers that be. This song is a great example of how funk bands can craft an angry political song, but make it loose and fun rather than pedantic and dour. Revolution is so much better when you’re partying for the cause.

5) Stevie Wonder – “I Wish”

I initially planned on including “Superstition,” which is arguably funkier, but opted for a slightly less-exposed track (unless you count being sampled by Will Smith for “Wild Wild West,” which was the first thing Aidan mentioned when I previewed the CD for her — excuse me while I go cry). Stevie’s vocals on the chorus get me every time.

6) Macy Gray – “When I See You”

The mix was due for a modern funk song, so pulled the opening track from Gray’s undervalued third album, The Trouble with Being Myself. Great wah-guitar and a killer melody.

7) Sly and the Family Stone – “I Want to Take You Higher”

I felt it was important to represent the heavier side of funk and this is the closest thing to a straight rock song on the collection. The organ-pounding and intense rhythm section drives this song into an intoxicating frenzy.

8) The Legendary J.C.’s – “Luella”

The J.C.’s are an Orlando-based group that I’m sure many Tallahassee locals have seen open for Jacksonville-based Mofro (see song 13) at some point. “Luella” is a sizzling track from their live album The Church of What’s Happenin’ Now, which is appropriate since they put on some of the best concert performances on this or any side of I-10.

9) James Brown – “Make it Funky (Part 1)”

More of a musical work-out than a straight song, but it needed to be included since it is one of the best definitions of funk that you’ll find. Along with Clinton, James Brown is a must have component of any funk mix.

10) Prince – “Chelsea Rodgers”

Much like Stevie Wonder, there were plenty of well-known Prince songs I could have included, but I wanted to keep the mix interesting. This is a song off his most recent album, Planet Earth, and features some great horn work and lead vocals from Shelby J. Its bouncy beat made for a great bridge to…

11) Nikka Costa – “Till I Get to You”

…my girl Nikka! This one has a straight-up nasty guitar- and bass-line accompanied by Costa’s powerful vocals. Considering the dubious lyrical framework (“My lover A was absolutely alright / but my lover B wouldn’t bump my tunes in his ride / … it’s just a matter of time before I get to you,” get it?), it’s a testament to her performance that this song comes off as both engaging and clever.

12) Tower of Power – “What Is Hip?

I’ve listened to this song multiple times while writing this and although I could mention how great the horns sound behind Lenny Williams’ smooth vocals, I’m struck more by the notion that this song might be single-handedly responsible for every bad jam band on the planet.

13) Mofro – “Jookhouse”

The thing I love about this song is that it begins with a fade-up from what sounds like the middle of an intimate jam session and then fades out at the end with no indication that the performance was complete. It feels like you’re getting a brief glimpse of the band playing for a small crowd in some sweaty dive bar or a friend’s basement and that the party is still going on somewhere.

14) Curtis Mayfield – “Superfly”

That voice, that bass-line. ’Nough said.

15) Parliament – “Flash Light”

Come on, ya’ll knew there’d be another George Clinton song, right? I really wanted to include something by Funkadelic, but their best songs are usually longer and often more rock-oriented; Parliament had the better singles. “Flash Light” is case in point — a hand-clapping, arm-waving, head-bopping, booty-shaking, spaced-out, I-wants-to-get-funked-up jam. Make my funk the P-funk.

16) Jamie Lidell – “Figured Me Out”

Since I didn’t pick one of those early Prince songs like “I Wanna Be Your Lover” or “Soft and Wet,” I figured some electro-funk from IDM-geek turned blue-eyed soul man Jamie Lidell would suffice. This is off his new album, Jim, one of the best albums of 2008 that is receiving none of the attention it deserves. John Darnielle summed it up best on his blog, Last Plane to Jakarta: “I was completely knocked over by [Lidell’s] visible, audible, palpable love for his music and the making of it and the communal experience made possible by it.” Slightly off-topic, I realize, but worth mentioning.

17) Musiq (Soulchild) – “Religious”

This song doesn’t have what I usually look for in a closing track and its more neo-soul than funk, but it felt right regardless. One of the less mentioned aspects of funk is its inherent spiritual power. Through their music, Parliament-Funkadelic (for example) created an open-minded community with its fans, striving to find life’s meaning in both inner and outer space. “Free your mind and your ass will follow,” one of their best songs said, and that ideal permeated throughout their music.

Funk music often draws connections between sexuality and spirituality, uniting the mind, body and soul. Love, sex and god are not necessarily — despite what many will tell you — mutually exclusive. Musiq’s lyrics (“I worship the ground that you walk on / live by your every word / ’cause your love is so religious”) illustrates this philosophy and serves as a fitting coda to “Da Funk.”