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.

Pot Sharing Tots
George Clinton Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

(Baby sounds)

If we were just babies
Sharing a cradle
I'd share a suck on my thumb with you

We wouldn't freak out, like the grown-ups do
If I were one, and you were two

I would do a striptease for you

If we were just tots, sharing a pot
I'd share a do(?) of my do with you
You'd be pink, and I'd be blue
If I should get wet, you'd get wet, too
If I shared my space with you

(Baby sounds)

You in your carriage
Me in my buggy
Strolling down the avenue

One day when they(?) shop(?) for tiny tots
I suck my pacifier in a little sandbox
While you suck your thumb there, too
Til they're through

(Baby sounds)

I would crawl before you walk
You would walk before I'd run
And I'd run away with you

(Baby sounds)

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to George Clinton's "Pot Sharing Tots" seem to be inspired by the innocence of childhood and the idea of sharing without all the adult rules and conventions. The first verse compares two babies sharing a cradle and how they could share something simple like sucking on their thumbs without any fear or judgment. The playful tone continues as the second verse imagines two toddlers sharing a pot (presumably of food or possibly a toy) and how they'd be willing to share everything and get messy together.

The song seems to be a call back to a simpler time when children weren't burdened by the stresses of adulthood and could enjoy the simple pleasures of being together. The idea of "sharing a pot" could also be a metaphor for sharing a joint, which fits in with George Clinton's history as a key figure in the development of funk music, a genre which often celebrates free-spiritedness and hedonism.

Line by Line Meaning

If we were just babies
If we were innocent like babies

Sharing a cradle
Sharing our space and being close to each other

I'd share a suck on my thumb with you
I would share everything I've got with you

We wouldn't freak out, like the grown-ups do
We wouldn't act like grownups and overthink things

If I were one, and you were two
If I were younger than you

I would do a striptease for you
I would do anything to make you happy

If we were just tots, sharing a pot
If we were innocent children sharing a pot

I'd share a do(?) of my do with you
I would share everything I have with you

You'd be pink, and I'd be blue
We are different but it wouldn't matter

If I should get wet, you'd get wet, too
If I get in trouble or hurt, you would experience it with me

If I shared my space with you
If we shared everything with each other