Macca's Funkier side
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If you want funky McCartney you can't leave out the songs Roughride and the fast very funky version of No More Lonely Nights.
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When people use the term funky as in the description of that list of tracks Michelley posted I get a bit confused as to what funky is supposed to mean. I always equated funky with 70's - 80' disco/RnB. Music from acts like Earth Wind & Fire, KC and the Sunshine Band, Chic, The Jackson 5, Donna Summer and even going back to James Brown (the father of funk) etc, etc, etc. The list seems to me just a mixture of Paul's many varied forms of music from mainstream pop Coming Up, Goodnight Tonight, Letting Go to the more offbeat electronica like Check My Machine. Secret Friend and Frozen Jap. I would class Goodnight Tonight, Coming Up, What's That You're Doing as funky meaning dance/disco friendly. I know Paul /Linda has even described his early 70's stuff (McCartney album, Ram, Wildlife) as his funky period and I would describe it as anything but ie; disco/dance. So I guess the term has a very loose definition.
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To me it doesn't have a loose definition. Some of those acts you listed like KC, Chic and Donna Summer aren't funky at all, they are strictly disco. Funk is that very heavy drum and thumping bass sound, that's why songs like What's That You're Doing and the fast version of No More Lonely Nights are funky because they rely on that heavy bass and drum sound. Coming Up with it's heavy thumping bass is another.
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left hand man:
To me it doesn't have a loose definition. Some of those acts you listed like KC, Chic and Donna Summer aren't funky at all, they are strictly disco. Funk is that very heavy drum and thumping bass sound, that's why songs like What's That You're Doing and the fast version of No More Lonely Nights are funky because they rely on that heavy bass and drum sound. Coming Up with it's heavy thumping bass is another.
You say KC, Chic, Donna Summer aren't funky just disco but isn't disco music mainly all about bass and beat which is what funk is. Paul in calling his early solo music his funky period, he is obviously giving the word a very different interpretation.
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audi:
Any compilation with "Blue Sway" on it is fine in my book any day o' the week.
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Apollo when McCartney said that I don't think he was even talking about his music, I think he was talking about how they were living at the time. They were living in a lumber yard.
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"Growing Up, Falling Down" would've fit nicely on there.
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3 Legs gets nice and funky as well! I like how Paul changes styles in that tune.
and I love Love Is Strange! could listen to that anytime anyplace. -
kapoo:
3 Legs gets nice and funky as well! I like how Paul changes styles in that tune.
and I love Love Is Strange! could listen to that anytime anyplace.Two very good choices!
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I always think of Funk as a style of soul music with more of a rock beat. James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Sly and the Family Stone. That's Funk to me. Disco is definitely Funk, so is Prince. But that list of McCartney tracks is good stuff!
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left hand man:
To me it doesn't have a loose definition. Some of those acts you listed like KC, Chic and Donna Summer aren't funky at all, they are strictly disco. Funk is that very heavy drum and thumping bass sound, that's why songs like What's That You're Doing and the fast version of No More Lonely Nights are funky because they rely on that heavy bass and drum sound. Coming Up with it's heavy thumping bass is another.
K.C. and Chic were definitely disco/pop acts, but funk is a key ingredient in their best-known songs. Still, there is a fine line between something that's funky -- which can be a broad term -- and something that is pure funk.
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Cant have a Funky Macca list without including Mr. H Atom from McCartney 2!
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And ya can't have funky without including Darkroom. Now where's that supposed 20 minute version McCartney spoke of way back when?
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listening to Wingspan last night, was really digging "Coming Up"--for a long time I considered that 1980 hit rather a "novelty" item--man, was I wrong!!! Course I've known that too for a long time. "Coming Up" even sports elements of cool rockabilly
along with early 80's weirder type techno geeky effects...it's been a while too since I "got" his Fireman "Sing the Changes" ditty, have truly been getting off on that one too although took me a while to grasp or assimilate this into me brain cells
and really recognize its uniqueness and special beauty.
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I like Waterfalls but I'd hardly call it funky.
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Kathryn O:
I like Waterfalls but I'd hardly call it funky.
I was thinking the same thing!
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Paul McCartney doesn't play funk music. There are hints of it in some songs - somewhere hidden in 'Morse Moose' is a great funk song, the intro of 'Soily', Stevie Wonder helped a bit with 'What's That Your Doing'. But part of 'funk music' is the attitude with which it is played, and that's totally lacking in Paul McCartney's pop approach. 'Coming Up' uses a funk basis, but quickly moves away from it. Disco is based on funk, but is way faster. A whole different music mindset too. Funky, in the other sense of the word, meaning 'stinky', or more positively 'quirky', on the other hand, wholly applies to a large part of Paul McCartney's output. And I like it.
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I think some of you are getting too hung up on the old definition of funk music. At any rate, no where does the guy who made this mix call it "funk music." He calls it "McCartney's Left" and says it reflects Paul's "funkier" side -- meaning unconventional, eccentric, offbeat tracks.
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Disco is not funk, just ask any real funkster! George Clinton The Bar-Kays Lakeside Cameo Ohio Players Confunksion Roger and Zapp These are real funksters, and there's no disco anywhere to be found! Paul McCartney has done some funk songs, just like he's done other styles.
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Not thinking too much about the definition of "funk" but what about Girlfriend (written for Michael Jackson I think), Arrow Through Me and Pretty Little Head?