Mother Popcorn
James Brown, Pee Wee Ellis
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Popcorn, yeah, yeah, yeah popcorn!
Some like ’em fat and some like em tall
Some like ’em short
Skinny legs and all
I like ’em tall
I like ’em proud
And when they walk
You know they draw a crowd!
See, you gotta have a mutha for me
Yeah, yeah, yeah ah come on!
A look-a-here!
There was a time when I was all alone
I had a secret thought I was gone
Somebody done me!
Said now I see
What you are doin’, brother
To stay ahead of me
And when I get burndt ha! I use some salve
And when I want some lovin’
A mother she got to have
See, you got to have a mother for me
Yeah! Popcorn! oh! uh!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah! Eeee yeah!
Do the popcorn hu!
Ooooooooh!
Ooooooooh!
Popcorn! uh!
Yeah-yeah-yeah
Look-a-here! ha! good lord!
Hu! hu!
Look-a-here!
Do the popcorn and do the horse
Show everybody where you at!
You gotta be boss
The way you do your little thing
Step in a small ring
And jump back baby!
James brown gonna do his thing!
Popcorn! yeah! yeah! yeah!
Sometime sometime I’m feelin’ low
Sometime I’m feelin’ low
I call another brother
Talkin about Maceo!
Maceo! blow your horn!
Don’t talk no trash hu!
Play me some popcorn!
Maceo! come on! uh!
Popcorn hu! ah!
Wiki: “Mother Popcorn (You Got to Have a Mother for Me)” is a song recorded by James Brown and released as a two-part single in 1969. A #1 R&B and #11 Pop hit, it was the highest-charting of a series of recordings inspired by the popular dance the Popcorn which Brown made that year, including “The Popcorn”, “Lowdown Popcorn”, and “Let a Man Come In and Do the Popcorn”. (The “mother” of the song’s title was, in the words of biographer RJ Smith, “[Brown’s] honorific for a big butt”.)
“Mother Popcorn” has a beat and structure similar to Brown’s 1967 hit “Cold Sweat”, but a faster tempo and a greater amount of rhythmic activity (including a lot of agitated 16th note movement from the horn section and the three guitars) give it a more frenetic quality than the earlier song. Critic Robert Christgau singled out “Mother Popcorn” as the turning point in Brown’s funk music in which he “began to concern himself more and more exclusively with rhythmic distinctions.” The song features a saxophone solo by Maceo Parker, which starts at the end of Part 1 in the single version of the song.
