The Hardest Working Man in Show Business, James Brown, is Leading the Heavenly Choirs Today

It's always a bit of a jolt when an entertainer who has been a part of your life for decades suddenly passes away, but to wake up on Christmas Day to news that James Brown has passed away suddenly from severe pneumonia, was a big shock. I have listened to James Brown's music since the 1960s and I still cringe when I think that my grandmother actually threw my original James Brown 45s out. The only original out of that collection that my brother was able to salvage was by Mr. Brown's sideman and co-vocalist, Bobby Byrd.

Yeah, white kids liked James Brown in the early 60s. My brother and I used to play our records and our father would tell us which songs he liked. I remember he liked "My Girl" by the Temps and Otis Redding's "Dock of the Bay". None of the parents liked James Brown at first, though eventually "I Got You (I Feel Good)" grew on them.

My brother was a big practical joker, so a couple of times, he put the record player's volume up to the max volume and put our favorite James Brown's record "I Got The Feeling" on there and said, "Listen to this one, Dad." James Brown's trademark "Eeeeowwwwwww!" jumped out at our father and scared him out of his wits. He only got away with that one twice. While the one record they play the most nowadays is "I Got You (I Feel Good)", I remember "I Got The Feeling" most from the 60s because of that incident, but also because other parents in the building used to yell at us for playing that record. The chorus "Baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby" apparently irritated them to the point of distraction, and of course, they didn't realize that telling my brother to stop playing it was only going to make him play it more.

I got to see James Brown in person once in the early 70s at a dance club called The Cheetah in New York City and still say nobody could dance like him. He was "Mr. Dynamite" onstage. He performed most of my favorites up to that time, "Please, Please, Please," "Cold Sweat", "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" and "I Feel Good", but didn't do "I Got the Feeling" which was a little bit of a disappointment to me, baby, baby, baby.