He was born in Kannapolis, North Carolina, grew up in Plainfield, New Jersey, and currently resides in Tallahassee, Florida. In Plainfield, he ran a barber salon, where he straightened hair, and soon formed a doo wop group, inspired by Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers, called The Parliaments. Despite initial commercial failures, The Parliaments eventually found success under the names Parliament and Funkadelic in the seventies (see also P-Funk). This article focuses on Clinton's solo efforts after 1981.
Beginning in the early 1980's, Clinton recorded several nominal "solo" albums, although all of these records featured contributions from P-Funk's core musicians. The primary reason for recording under his own name was legal difficulties, due to the complex copyright and trademark issues surrounding the name "Parliament" (primarily) and Polygram's purchase of his former label (as part of Parliament), Casablanca Records. In 1982, Clinton signed to Capitol Records as a solo artist and as the P-Funk All-Stars, releasing Computer Games that same year. "Loopzilla" hit the Top 20 R&B charts, followed by "Atomic Dog," which reached #1 R&B, but peaked at #101 on the pop chart. In the next four years, Clinton released three more studio albums (You Shouldn't-Nuf Bit Fish, Some of My Best Jokes Are Friends and R&B Skeletons in the Closet) as well as a live album, Mothership Connection (Live from the Summit, Houston, Texas) and charting three singles in the R&B Top 30, "Nubian Nut," "Last Dance," and "Do Fries Go with that Shake." This period of Clinton's career was marred by multiple legal problems (resulting in financial difficulties) due to complex royalty and copyright issues. In 1985 he was recruited by the Red Hot Chili Peppers to produce their album Freaky Styley, because the bandmembers were huge fans of George Clinton and Funk in general. Though Clinton's popularity had waned by the mid 1980s, he experienced something of a resurgence in the early 1990s, as many rappers cited him as an influence and began sampling his songs. Alongside James Brown, George Clinton is considered to be one of the most sampled musicians ever.
In 1989, Clinton released The Cinderella Theory on Paisley Park, Prince's record label. This was followed by Hey Man... Smell my Finger. Clinton then signed with Sony 550 and released T.A.P.O.A.F.O.M. (The Awesome Power Of A Fully Operational Mothership) in 1996, having reunited with several old members of Parliament and Funkadelic.
In the 1990s, Clinton appeared in films such as Graffiti Bridge (1990), Good Burger (1997) and PCU (1994). Most recently he appeared as the voice of The Funktipus, the DJ of the Bounce FM station in the 2004 video game, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Rapper Dr. Dre sampled most of his beats to create his G-Funk music era.
"You're Thinking Right" - the theme song for The Tracey Ullman Show, was written by Clinton.
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This is not the soundtrack composer George S. Clinton who did Mortal Kombat etc.
Mind Games
GEORGE CLINTON Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Pushing the barriers planting seeds
Playing the mind guerrilla
Chanting the Mantra peace on earth
We all been playing those mind games forever
Some kinda druid dudes lifting the veil
Doing the mind guerrilla
Some call it magic the search for the grail
Love is the answer and you know that for sure
Love is a flower
You got to let it, you gotta let it grow
So keep on playing those mind games together
Faith in the future out of the now
You just can't beat on those mind guerrillas
Absolute elsewhere in the stones of your mind
Yeah we're playing those mind games forever
Projecting our images in space and in time
Yes is the answer and you know that for sure
Yes is surrender
You got to let it, you gotta let it go
So keep on playing those mind games together
Doing the ritual dance in the sun
Millions of mind guerrillas
Putting their soul power to the karmic wheel
Keep on playing those mind games forever
Raising the spirit of peace and love
The lyrics to George Clinton's song Mind Games are about the power of the human mind and how we can use it collectively to affect change in the world. The opening lines, "We're playing those mind games together, pushing the barriers planting seeds," suggest that we are all active participants in shaping the world we live in. The use of the phrase "mind guerrilla" reinforces this idea of a collective effort to effect change.
The lyrics go on to suggest that love is the ultimate answer to the problems of the world. "Love is the answer and you know that for sure, love is a flower, you got to let it, you gotta let it grow." This speaks to the idea that love is a powerful force that has the capacity to transform individuals and society as a whole.
The lyrics also touch on the idea that the power of the human mind is limitless. "Projecting our images in space and in time" and "millions of mind guerrillas putting their soul power to the karmic wheel" suggest that our thoughts have the ability to transcend time and space and affect the world on a grand scale.
Overall, the lyrics to Mind Games are an uplifting call to action, encouraging listeners to continue pushing for positive change in the world through the power of their collective minds.
Line by Line Meaning
We're playing those mind games together
We are mentally collaborating
Pushing the barriers planting seeds
We are pushing boundaries and planting ideas
Playing the mind guerrilla
We are engaging in psychological warfare
Chanting the Mantra peace on earth
We are repetitively proclaiming a call for world peace
We all been playing those mind games forever
Humanity has been engaging in mental activities since the beginning of time
Some kinda druid dudes lifting the veil
Some people who practice paganism or other ancient belief systems are revealing hidden knowledge
Doing the mind guerrilla
We are continuing to engage in psychological warfare tactics
Some call it magic the search for the grail
Some people refer to these activities as magical searches for sacred objects
Love is the answer and you know that for sure
Love is the ultimate solution
Love is a flower
Love is a beautiful thing, like a flower
You got to let it, you gotta let it grow
You have to allow love to develop
So keep on playing those mind games together
Let us continue to mentally collaborate
Faith in the future out of the now
Believe in a positive future, starting with the present
You just can't beat on those mind guerrillas
You cannot defeat psychological warriors
Absolute elsewhere in the stones of your mind
Find complete peace within yourself
Yeah we're playing those mind games forever
We will continue to engage in mental activities indefinitely
Projecting our images in space and in time
We are manifesting our ideas both physically and temporally
Yes is the answer and you know that for sure
Agreeing is the ultimate solution
Yes is surrender
Agreement necessitates giving up some control
You got to let it, you gotta let it go
You have to allow things to progress
So keep on playing those mind games together
Let us continue to mentally collaborate
Doing the ritual dance in the sun
Engaging in sacred energetic activities
Millions of mind guerrillas
Countless psychological warriors
Putting their soul power to the karmic wheel
Directing their spiritual energy towards creating good karma
Keep on playing those mind games forever
Let us continue to engage in mental activities indefinitely
Raising the spirit of peace and love
Strengthening the collective consciousness towards goodwill and harmony
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: John Lennon
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Eric Thompson
It's amazing how GC has this Uncanny ability to morph into any song, any genre, and any culture of music is MIND BLOWING!!
chris edwards
GC was a huge Rock.fam he loved the Beatles and Lennon's off the wall.songwriting was a huge influence I wonder what was Lennon's reactions on hearing some of gcs weird catch phrases and raps
mortensen egbert
Love this both for what it says about Lennon's reach and also George's vision of one humanity under a psychedelic groove.
Martin Smith
Heard this years ago, great tribute to John!Happy Birthday, Mr. Lennon!
ushadrons
I was present for this session at United Sound. Good shit.
RVNEΖ Beats
ushadrons that must've been intense
lovevolv
there's a ten minute version w/ more byrd floating around
Eric Thompson
Is this musical composition on COMPACT DISCS?
MY GOD, THIS WOULD MAKE A GREAT ADDITION TO MY P-FUNK COLLECTION. 😊🤘
Henk Kosters
@Eric Thompson it is on the John Lennon tribute album ‘Working class hero.’
Elkee Sandoval
who was on guitar?