George Clinton (born July 22, 1941) is an American musician, widely conside… Read Full Bio ↴George Clinton (born July 22, 1941) is an American musician, widely considered one of the forefathers of funk. He was the mastermind of the bands Parliament and Funkadelic during the 1970s and early 1980s, and was a solo funk artist as of 1981.

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.

High in my Hello
George Clinton Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Ain´t a day go by that the cry of another mother
Increase the volume and sound the volume and mass of tears
Drowning and drowning out the high in my hello
The sound is clear

Like anything greasy will have you slippin´ and slidin´
Like anything sleazy will have you peepin´ and hidin´
When I saw you at the party I slid over to you right away

Before the fellas could slip a line in I had you out to my place

Only you can hear the high in my hello
You can hear the high in my hello
(x2)

Oh bye, bye, bye, bye go bye
Every shot a scream another one dies
When I saw you at the party I slid over to you right away
Before the fellas got a line in I slid you out to go to my place

Only you can hear the high in my hello
You can hear the high in my hello
(x2)

Do you promise the funk, promise to keep it
Promise you´ll keep the funk
(x3)
Do you promise the funk, promise to keep its promise
You´ll keep the funk

Only you can hear the high in my hello
You can hear the high in my hello
(x2)

Uh, wait a minute
What´s this I hear
The funk is a fake
Never let the icing
Get in the way of your cake
What´s this I hear
Y´all been fakin´ the funk

Vaseline Victory (x3)

Only you can hear the high in my hello
You can hear the high in my hello
(x2)

So it´s said that he who has the gold makes the rules
He who has the perspective choose the news
Genocide in prime time, whose point of view
All the news and all the networks, works against you
One perspective for an entire media is living as one
Who´s the controller

You can hear the high in my hello
He who has the perspective choose the news
Genocide in prime time, whose point of view
He who chooses the new, the network news to describe
Prime time genocide

Hello
Hello

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of "High in my Hello" by George Clinton is cryptic, abstract and poetic but, at the same time, quite insightful. The first lyrics, "Ain´t a day go by that the cry of another mother, Increase the volume and sound the volume and mass of tears, Drowning and drowning out the high in my hello" seem to comment on the increase in violence, conflicts, and wars in the world that make the artist feel overwhelmed and sad. The second verse, "Like anything greasy will have you slippin´ and slidin´, Like anything sleazy will have you peepin´ and hidin´" talks about the consequences of indulgent behavior or living deceitfully, leading one to lose friends and be alone.

The chorus, "Only you can hear the high in my hello," probably alludes to the idea that in a world full of noise and distractions, only a few people can listen to or understand what is essential, beautiful, or enjoyable. The song then contrasts the positive aspects of funk music with a critique of media manipulation and propaganda. He sings, "Genocide in prime time, whose point of view, All the news and all the networks, works against you" implying that the people behind the screens of news have their motives and interests, and we should be careful in interpreting and understanding what they show us.

In summary, the song seems to be a comment on contemporary society, the confusion and distraction it brings, alongside the simple joys of music, and a warning not to be misled by media manipulation.

Line by Line Meaning

Ain´t a day go by that the cry of another mother
Every day brings another mother who is crying.

Increase the volume and sound the volume and mass of tears
Amplify the sound of tears and multiply their quantity.

Drowning and drowning out the high in my hello
The sound of crying is overpowering, drowning out happiness.

The sound is clear
The cries are loud and distinct.

Like anything greasy will have you slippin´ and slidin´
Just like greasy things can make you slide around, certain people and situations can deceive or manipulate you.

Like anything sleazy will have you peepin´ and hidin´
Similar to how sleazy behavior can make you feel suspicious and secretive.

Before the fellas could slip a line in I had you out to my place
I got you away from other guys before they had a chance to flirt with you.

Only you can hear the high in my hello
Only you can see the happiness behind my sad exterior.

Oh bye, bye, bye, bye go bye
People are dying every day, bye bye.

Every shot a scream another one dies
Every gunshot represents another person's death, causing a scream.

Do you promise the funk, promise to keep it
Can you promise to keep the music groovy and fun?

Promise you´ll keep the funk
Make sure to maintain the funky music beat.

Uh, wait a minute
Wait, hold on a moment.

What´s this I hear
What am I hearing?

The funk is a fake
The funky music is not real, it's a facade.

Never let the icing
Don't ever let superficial things get in the way of the important things.

Get in the way of your cake
Don't let least important things obscure the most important things in life.

Y´all been fakin´ the funk
You all have been pretending to enjoy the music when you really do not.

Vaseline Victory (x3)
This is repeated three times and does not have a direct meaning but it underscores the idea of fake objectives and superficial victories.

So it´s said that he who has the gold makes the rules
The one who has the money has control over the situation.

He who has the perspective choose the news
The viewer's perspective can dictate what kind of news they want to see.

Genocide in prime time, whose point of view
Who controls the media's discourse on genocide during prime time?

He who chooses the new, the network news to describe
The media has the power to choose how to present news to the public.

Prime time genocide
The media is choosing to show genocide during prime time news to increase viewership.

Hello
The song's title and the end of the song.

Contributed by Abigail L. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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