The Authorized P-Funk Song Reference, page 8
Bass Guitar: Lige Curry
Piano: Danny Bedrosian
Guitar: Blackbyrd McKnight
Organ: Jerome Rodgers
“Jolene”
Vocals: George Clinton, Garry Shider, Sidney Barnes, Scarface, Kathryn Griffin, Mary Griffin, Dayonne Rollins, 13teen, Sa’D Ali, Barrence Dupree, Bouvier Richardson
Drums: Savar Martin
Bass: Anthony Nickels
Guitars: Blackbyrd McKnight, Garry Shider, Scarface, Corey Stoops
Trumpet: O.J.
Trombone: Andre Grant
Additional Drum Programming: Barrence Dupree
“Nuclear Dog”
Vocals: Trazae Lewis-Clinton, Tracey Lewis, Howard Mann, Navid Movistavi
Drums, Synth Bass, Synthesizers: David Spradley
Guitars: Blackbyrd McKnight, Trafael Lewis
Didjeridoo: William Thoren
“Nuclear Dog Part II”
(Same personnel minus vocals)
“Dirty Queen”
Vocals: Trafael Lewis, Adam Maloney, Ali Schlick
Drums: Trafael Lewis, Rudge Ravinewood
Bass: Trafael Lewis, Bora Karaca
Guitar: Trafael Lewis, Cliff Miles
Violin: Jay Golden
“You Can’t Unring the Bell”
Vocals: George Clinton, Robert Peanut Johnson, Rey Joven, 13teen, Tonysha Nelson
Bass: Cherokee Bunn
Guitar: Blackbyrd McKnight, G-Koop
Trombone: Fred Wesley
Sax: Maceo Parker
Additional Horns: Lincoln Adler
Trumpets: Richard Griffith, Rick Gardner
Keyboards, Synthesizers: Danny Bedrosian
Music Programming: G-Koop
“Old Fool”
Vocals: George Clinton, Sidney Barnes, Ebony Houston, Brandi Scott, 13teen, G Koop, Ricky Tan, Garrett Shider, Robert Peanut Johnson
Music Programming: G-Koop, Ricky Tan
Synth Bass, Synthesizers: Danny Bedrosian
“Pole Power”
Vocals: George Clinton, Tracey Lewis, Ebony Houston, Rey Joven, 13teen, Sa’D Ali, Sidney Barnes, Paul Hill, Patavian Lewis, Dayonne Rollins, Tonysha Nelson
Music Programming: G Koop
Synthesizers, Piano, Synth Bass: Danny Bedrosian
Guitars: Tracey Lewis, Trafael Lewis, Anthony Caruso
Horns, Additional Keyboards: Anthony Caruso
“Boom There We Go Again”
Vocals: George Clinton, Tonysha Nelson, Danny Bedrosian, Ray Davis, Robert Peanut Johnson, Dayonne Rollins, Rey Joven, G Koop, 13teen, Brandi Scott, Ricky Tan
Bass: Bootsy Collins
Percussion: Bootsy Collins, Larry Fratangelo, Mudbone Cooper
Piano, Synthesizer: Bernie Worrell
Keyboard, Synthesizer: Danny Bedrosian
Music Programming: G Koop
“As in”
Vocals: Jessica Cleaves, George Clinton, Robert Peanut Johnson, Dayonne Rollins, Rey Joven
Drums: Tyrone Lampkin
Bass: Cordell Mosson
Guitar: Michael Hampton
Piano, Keyboards, String Arrangement: Bernie Worrell
Violins: Lili Haydn
Orchestra: Detroit Symphony Orchestra
“Bernadette”
Vocals: Jamie Kaposta Pat Lewis, George Clinton
Drum Programming, Synth Bass, Keyboards: David Spradley
Keyboards, Synthesizer, Melodica: Danny Bedrosian
Orchestra: Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Arranger: Mike Terry
“Meow Meow”
Vocals: Brandi Scott, 13teen, Trazae Lewis-Clinton, Tonysha Nelson, George Clinton, Robert Peanut Johnson, G Koop, Buster the Cat
Bass, Guitar: Bootsy Collins
Synthesizers, Keyboards: Danny Bedrosian
Music Programming: G Koop
“Catchin Boogie Fever”
Vocals: Tracey Lewis
Trombone: Fred Wesley, Dave Richards
Sax: Maceo Parker
Trumpet: Dave Richards
Sound Effects: David Spradley
Guitars: G Koop
Percussion: Larry Fratangelo
Electric Piano, Synthesizers: Danny Bedrosian
Drums: DJ Toure
Additional Keyboards: Graham Richards
“Talking to the Wall”
Vocals: Garrett Shider, Dayonne Rollins
Drum Programming: Sa’D Ali
Bass: Rodney Curtis
Guitar: Garrett Shider
Piano, Strings: Danny Bedrosian
“The Naz”
Vocals: Sly Stone, Rob Manzoli
All Instruments: Rob Manzoli
“Where Would I Go?”
Vocals: George Clinton, Garrett Shider, Sidney Barnes, Robert Peanut Johnson
Guitars: Michael Hampton, Blackbyrd McKnight Garrett Shider
Synthesizer, Piano, Clavinet, Strings: Danny Bedrosian
Bass: Rodney Curtis
Drums: Nestor Mumm Altuve
“Yesterdejavu”
Vocals: George Clinton, Tracey Lewis, Jerome Rogers, Kendra Foster, Rob Manzoli
Guitar: Tracey Lewis, Rob Manzoli
Bass: Rob Manzoli
Piano: Sue Brooks, Bernie Worrell?
Drums: Law
“Zip It”
Vocals: Tracey Lewis, Beobe Jones
Bass Guitar: Jimmy Ali
Guitars: Jerome Ali
Piano: David Spradley
Music Programming, Synthesizers: G Koop
Additional Drum Programming: Barrence Dupree
“The Wall”
Vocals: George Clinton, Sidney Barnes, Trazae Lewis-Clinton, Rey Joven
Guitars: Jerome Rodgers
Music Programming, Keyboards: Ricky Tan
“Snot n’ Booger”
Vocals: George Clinton, Trazae Lewis-Clinton, Sidney Barnes, Robert Peanut Johnson, Ron Ford, Sa’D Ali, 13teen, Dayonne Rollins
Samples, Drum Programming: George Clinton, Sa’D Ali, Ricky Tan
Synthesizers: Jerome Rodgers
“Yellow Light”
Vocals, Keyboards, Man in the Box: Sly Stone
Synth Bass: Sly Stone, Danny Bedrosian
Synthesizers, Sound Effects: Danny Bedrosian
Additional Drum Programming: William Tyler Pelt
“Dipety Dipety Doo Stop the Violence”
Vocals: George Clinton, Garry Shider, Robert Peanut Johnson, Sidney Barnes, Tonysha Nelson, Trazae Lewis-Clinton, Brandi Scott
Keyboards, Synth Bass: David Spradley
Music Programming: G Koop
Guitars: Eddie Hazel
Synthesizers: Danny Bedrosian
“First Ya Gotta Shake the Gate (Samplecopydupeitandloopittostupid Mix)”
Featuring: Soul Clap
Parliafunkadelicment thang in Detroit. Kinley-McCoy / GROOVE MANEUVERS ARCHIVES
Parliament-Funkadelic around 1980 L–R (top): Larry Fratangelo, Jerome Rodgers, Cordell “Boogie” Mosson, Ray Davis, Rodney “Skeet” Curtis, Dewayne “Blackbyrd” McKnight, Greg Boyer, Bennie Cowan, Dennis Chambers, Greg Thomas, Robert “Peanut” Johnson, Larry Hatcher, and David Spradley. L–R (bottom): Michael “Kidd Funkadelic” Hampton, Lige Curry, and Garry “Starchild” Shider. Kinley-McCoy / GROOVE MANEUVERS ARCHIVES
“Peep This”
Featuring: G Koop, Greg Paulus, Nick Monaco
PARLIAMENT: 1970, 1974–1980, 2018–
Parliament evolved out of the vocal group the Parliaments during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Parliament started out with a Beatles-esque penchant for genre bending, something George Clinton would return to again and again in his career. By the mid-1970s, however, Parliament became a massive hit-making machine, showing off more the rhythm-and-blues and dance floor side of P-Funk, drawing a contrast with the more heady Funkadelic. The Clinton–Collins–Worrell writing team penned hit after hit in the heyday of P-Funk, which is evinced most consistently with the Parliament discography. Parliament’s success is a key reason for P-Funk’s continued existence to the present day.
Invictus Records
Osmium
“I Call My Baby Pussycat”
Vocals: Calvin Simon, Fuzzy Haskins, Ray Davis, George Clinton, Grady Thomas
Drums: Tiki Fulwood
Bass: Billy Nelson
Guitars: Eddie Hazel, Tawl Ross
Keyboards: Bernie Worrell
“I Call My Baby Pussycat” featured classic Parliament vocal swapping along with the original Funkadelic rhythm section. Osmium would be the first of many Parliament albums and is by far the most genre bending. The sound of this single was already indicative of what most would consider the Parliafunkadelicment sound.
“Put Love in Your Life”
Lead Vocals: George Clinton, Ray Davis, Fuzzy Haskins
Backup Vocals: Calvin Simon, Grady Thomas, Ruth Copeland, Pat Lewis, Diane Lewis, Rose Williams
Drums: Tiki Fulwood
Bass: Billy Nelson
Guitars: Eddie Hazel, Ray Monette
Organ: Bernie Worrell
“Put Love in Your Life” would be the first of several songs George Clinton would write that would have extremely varied stylistic genre and time changes (another notable one would be “Mixmaster Suite” some 16 years later). The song features some of the Parliaments’ most beautiful vocal swaps and some more psychedelia from the Funkadelics.
“Little Ole Country Boy”
Lead Vocals: Fuzzy Haskins
Backup Vocals: George Clinton, Grady Thomas, Calvin Simon, Ruth Copeland
Drums: Tiki Fulwood
Acoustic Guitar: Tawl Ross
Steel Guitar: Paul Franklin
Juice Harp: James Wesley Jackson
Keyboards: Bernie Worrell
Fiddle: Unknown
“Little Old Country Boy” is considered by many P-Funk fans to be among the strangest songs in the P-Funk canon. A straight country-and-western tune with hilarious lyrics recited by Fuzzy Haskins (with the Parliaments backing him up), “Little Old Country Boy” is one of several songs from both Osmium and other P-Funk albums that showcase P-Funk’s “yokel” side.
“Moonshine Heather (Takin Care of Business)”
Lead Vocals: George Clinton
Backup Vocals: Grady Thomas, Calvin Simon, Fuzzy Haskins, Tawl Ross
Drums: Tiki Fulwood
Organ: Bernie Worrell
Bass: Billy Nelson
Guitars: Eddie Hazel, Tawl Ross
“Oh Lord, Why Lord/Prayer”
Lead Vocals: Calvin Simon
Backup Vocals: Tommy Whitfield Singers
Harpsichord, Organ, Piano: Bernie Worrell
Harp: Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Acoustic Guitar: Eddie Hazel
Timpani: Detroit Symphony Orchestra
“My Automobile”
Lead Vocals: George Clinton, Fuzzy Haskins
Backup Vocals: Calvin Simon, Grady Thomas
Drums: Tiki Fulwood
Bass: Billy Nelson
Guitars: Eddie Hazel, Tawl Ross
Piano, Keyboards: Bernie Worrell
“There Is Nothing before Me but Thang”
Lead Vocals: George Clinton, Calvin Simon, Fuzzy Haskins, Ray Davis, Billy Nelson
Backup Vocals: George Clinton, Grady Thomas, Billy Nelson, Calvin Simon, Ray Davis, Fuzzy Haskins
Drums: Tiki Fulwood
Bass: Billy Nelson
Guitars: Eddie Hazel, Tawl Ross
Keyboards: Bernie Worrell
“Funky Woman”
Lead Vocals: George Clinton
Backup Vocals: Fuzzy Haskins, Grady Thomas, Calvin Simon, Ray Davis
Drums: Tiki Fulwood
Organ: Bernie Worrell
Guitar: Eddie Hazel
Bass: Billy Nelson
“Livin’ the Life”
Lead Vocals: Calvin Simon
Backup Vocals: Ruth Copeland, Grady Thomas, George Clinton, Fuzzy Haskins, Ray Davis, Billy Nelson
Piano: Bernie Worrell
Guitar: Ray Monette
Drums: Tiki Fulwood
Acoustic Guitar: Eddie Hazel
Bass: Billy Nelson
“The Silent Boatman”
Lead Vocals: Jeffery Bowen
Backup Vocals: Calvin Simon, George Clinton, Grady Thomas, Fuzzy Haskins, Ray Davis, Ruth Copeland, Tommy Whitfield Singers
Acoustic Guitar: Ray Monette
Organ: Bernie Worrell
Drums: Tiki Fulwood
Bass: Billy Nelson
Harp: Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Bagpipes: Detroit Symphony Orchestra
“Red Hot Mama”
Lead Vocals: George Clinton
Backup Vocals: Pat Lewis, Diane Lewis, Rose Williams
Guitars: Eddie Hazel
Keyboards: Bernie Worrell
Drums, Percussion: Tiki Fulwood
Bass: Billy Nelson
“Come in Out of the Rain”
Lead Vocals: Clyde Wilson
Backup Vocals: Pat Lewis, Diane Lewis, Rose Williams, Ruth Copeland?
Drums: Tiki Fulwood
Bass: Billy Nelson
Piano: Bernie Worrell
Guitar: Eddie Hazel, Tawl Ross
“Breakdown”
Lead Vocals: Clyde Wilson
Backup Vocals: George Clinton, Calvin Simon, Grady Thomas, Fuzzy Haskins, Ray Davis
Drums: Tiki Fulwood
Bass: Billy Nelson
Guitar: Eddie Hazel, Tawl Ross
Piano: Bernie Worrell
“Fantasy Is Reality”
Lead Vocals: Fuzzy Haskins, Ernie Harris
Backup Vocals: Pat Lewis, Diane Lewis, Rose Williams
Drums: Tiki Fulwood
Bass: Billy Nelson
Guitars: Eddie Hazel, Tawl Ross
Keyboards: Bernie Worrell
“Loose Booty”
Lead Vocals: George Clinton
Drums: Tiki Fulwood
Bass: Billy Nelson
Guitar: Eddie Hazel, Tawl Ross
Organ, Piano, Keyboards, Xylophone: Bernie Worrell
“Unfinished Instrumental”
Drums: Tiki Fulwood
Bass: Billy Nelson
Guitar: Eddie Hazel
Piano: Bernie Worrell
Unreleased (recorded the same time as Osmium)
“Eddie’s Home: There’s a Chariot Coming”
Drums: Tiki Fulwood
Bass: Billy Nelson
Guitars: Eddie Hazel, Tawl Ross
Organ: Bernie Worrell
“I Ain’t Got Nobody”
Drums: Tiki Fulwood
Bass, Lead Vocals: Billy Nelson
Guitars: Eddie Hazel, Tawl Ross
Keyboards: Bernie Worrell
Backup Vocals: Eddie Hazel, Tawl Ross
“As Good As I Think I Can Feel”
Lead Vocals: Billy Nelson
Backup Vocals: Pat Lewis, Diane Lewis, Rose Williams
Drums: Tiki Fulwood
Bass: Billy Nelson
Guitars: Eddie Hazel, Tawl Ross
Piano: Bernie Worrell
“Common Law Wife”
Lead Vocals: George Clinton
Backup Vocals: Grady Thomas, Calvin Simon, Fuzzy Haskins, George Clinton
Drums: Tyrone Lampkin
Bass: Cordell Mosson
Guitar: Garry Shider, Harold Beane
Trumpet: Ronnie Greenaway, Chicken Gunnells
Sax: Randy Wallace
Keyboards: Bernie Worrell
Casablanca Records
Up for the Downstroke
“Up for the Downstroke”
Lead Vocals: George Clinton, Fuzzy Haskins, Eddie Hazel
Backup Vocals: Bootsy Collins, Garry Shider, Mallia Franklin, Ray Davis, Pat Lewis, Sidney Barnes
Drums: Tiki Fulwood
Party Whistle: ?
Bass: Bootsy Collins
Guitar: Eddie Hazel
Clavinet: Bernie Worrell
Trumpet: Detroit Musicians
Sax, Trombone: Detroit Musicians
“Up for the Downstroke” would be the first P-Funk song to chart since “I Wanna Testify.” It firmly places Parliament on the dance floor as a more horn-dominated sound than the grungy rock and thematic, sometimes chaotic sounds of typical Funkadelic of the preceding period.
“Testify”
Lead Vocals: George Clinton
Backup Vocals: Garry Shider, Eddie Hazel, Calvin Simon, Grady Thomas, Ray Davis, Fuzzy Haskins
Clavinet: Bernie Worrell
Guitar: Eddie Hazel
Drums: Tiki Fulwood
Bass: Cordell Mosson
Trumpet, Sax, Trombone: Detroit Musicians
“Testify,” without the “(I Wanna),” was a remake of the Parliaments’ classic single. George Clinton had stated in an interview that he wanted to redo it because so many of the Parliaments’ songs of the Revilot period featured them using a Dylanesque style of vocals, mostly on the endings of vocal phrases, as the idea was in vogue in Detroit at the time. Motown Classics like “Bernadette” by the Four Tops cemented the idea of approaching rhythm and blues with a Dylan vocal inflection added on top. However, it was now seven years later (1974), and musical landscapes had changed; Clinton’s music world itself had changed even more so than the previously mentioned ones, and he wanted to do these songs with possibly more original intentions or evolved ones. The result is a transcendent combination of both; it is part of what makes the remakes of previously existing songs in the canon just as authentic and historically important as the originals themselves.
“The Goose”
Lead Vocals: George Clinton
Backup Vocals: Fuzzy Haskins, Calvin Simon, Grady Thomas, Ray Davis
Drums, Percussion: George Clinton, Bernie Worrell, Man in the Box
Bass: Cordell Mosson
Guitar: Eddie Hazel
Organ: Bernie Worrell
“I Can Move You (If You Let Me)”
Lead Vocals: Garry Shider
Backup Vocals: Calvin Simon, George Clinton, Pat Lewis
Drums: Tiki Fulwood
Bass: Bootsy Collins, Cordell Mosson
Guitar: Garry Shider, Bootsy Collins
Electric Piano: Bernie Worrell
Trumpet, Sax, Trombone: Detroit Musicians
“I Just Got Back”
Lead Vocals: George Clinton
Whistling: Peter Chase
Drums: Frosty
Bass: Jimmy Calhoun
Acoustic Guitar: Peter Chase
Piano: Leon Patillo
“All Your Goodies Are Gone”
Lead Vocals: George Clinton
Backup Vocals: Calvin Simon, Grady Thomas, Fuzzy Haskins
Drums: Tiki Fulwood
