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Funky Drummer
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== Recording and composition == "Funky Drummer" was recorded on November 20, 1969, in [[Cincinnati, Ohio]]. It is an extended [[Vamp (music)|vamp]], with individual instruments (mostly the [[guitar]], [[tenor saxophone]]s and [[Organ (music)|organ]]) improvising brief [[lick (music)|licks]] on top. Brown's ad-libbed vocals are sporadic and declamatory, mostly concerned with encouraging the other band members. The song is played in the key of D minor, though the first verse is in C major. As in the full-length version of "[[Cold Sweat]]", Brown announces the upcoming drum break, which comes late in the recording, requesting to "give the drummer some." He tells [[Clyde Stubblefield|Stubblefield]] "You don't have to do no soloing, brother, just keep what you got... Don't turn it loose, 'cause it's a mother." Stubblefield's eight-[[Bar (music)|bar]] unaccompanied "[[Solo (music)|solo]]", a version of the [[riff]] he plays through most of the piece, is the result of Brown's directions; this [[Break (music)#Breakbeat (element of music)|break beat]] is one of the most [[Sampling (music)|sampled]] recordings in music. After the drum break, the band returns to the original [[Vamp (music)|vamp.]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://iomusic.com/|title=Funky Drummer|last=Collins|first=Sam|work=Iomusic News|access-date=2008-11-30|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080116212634/http://iomusic.com/|archive-date=2008-01-16}}</ref> Brown, apparently impressed with what Stubblefield has produced, seems to name the song on the spot as it continues, and repeats it: "The name of this tune is 'The Funky Drummer', 'The Funky Drummer', 'The Funky Drummer'." The recording ends with a [[reprise]] of Stubblefield's solo and a [[Fade (audio engineering)|fade-out]].
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