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.
----
This is not the soundtrack composer George S. Clinton who did Mortal Kombat etc.
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.
----
This is not the soundtrack composer George S. Clinton who did Mortal Kombat etc.
Tweakin'
George Clinton Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴
Three-way, six-detachable
Speaker system
With soft ejection
Auxiliary output
Extra input
So you can plug into
And make connections
Hi diddle-diddle
This cat on the fiddle
Was killin´ ´em
Recorded him on my tapedeck
Hi diddle-diddle
This cat on the fiddle
Was killin´ ´em
Recorded him on my tapedeck
Just when I reach the point
Where I was peakin´
´Bout that time
Imagination start to peepin´
That´s when my other voices
Start to speakin´
Speakin´ in drum
Drummin´ it into a tweak
Voice so loud
Pinnin´ the needle
Bangin´ in the red
Noone hears
Nothing´s heard ´cause nothing´s said
It´s the chokin´ kind
Remember the livin´
Remember the dead
Speakin´ in drum
Drummin´ it into a tweak
Drowning out the voices
In my head
Follow follow?
(Do you)
Follow follow?
Shot rang out everybody ran for cover
The evening news broke the story of two mothers
One´s son is dead
Killed by the son of the other
Escalatin´ the violence to a peak
Tweak
Hi diddle-diddle
This cat on the fiddle
Was killin´ ´em
Recorded him on my tapedeck
To the curb (x3)
Three-way, six detachable
Speaker systems
With soft ejection
Tweak
Auxiliary output
Extra input
So you can plug into
And make connections
Caught in a land
That pitted the poor man
Against the police
When it´s hard to live
It´s twice as hard
To keep the peace
It´s the chokin´ kind
Remember the livin´
Remember the dead
Poor is the poor man
So is the police
Violence of a tweak
Cue me about
A cool place to start
Attention all radio-stations jocks
I got the beat
Serious-slammin´ on my box
So what I try
My best to do
Is keep the decibels
Up so high
My neighbors call the cops
Now when the thang
Get to tweakin´
You know the groove is peakin´
I mean hard
OK now I know
You know what I mean
I keep a party
On my record machine
Do me a favor
Don´t let so many commercials
Disrupt the playlist
Mr. E. Tiddyock
Is what makes me say this
About groove control
Well there´s no such thang
When I turn on my box
I´m ready to swing
So I can go
Down, down
Get down with it
I be throwin´ down
But you gotta be down
To get it
We tweakin´ on my radio
Serious-slammin´ on my box
Get off my jock!
I take your buns
And turn ´em into the B´s
I take your soul
And turn it into some cheese
I´ll take your radio
And turn it into stereo
Now we livin´ large boy
Break out the Casio
So we can get busy
Show me that you ain´t dizzy
Only Lizzie is fizzy
I´m in my Flavor-mobile
I´m cold-lampin´
I this G upstate
Cold campin´
To the Poconos
We call the Hideaways
With a bag of franks
And a big bag of Frito-Lays
Hey yo, Chuck!
They don´t know
What I´m sayin´
You know what I´m sayin´?
Word up man
And if y´all don´t know
What I´m sayin´
Then act like
You wanna be stayin´
But we ain´t playin´
Know what I´m sayin´?
Yo, Chuck, man
Kick some
Kick some ballistics, man
What´s your beeper
Tellin´ you man?
My beeper´s tellin´ me
They sweatin´ me home
They sweatin´ me, man
Yo, there´s many ways
To kick it round
We gon´ kick it
The same ´round once again
You know what I´m sayin´
But this time in time
Aw right, c´mon let´s go
You know what I´m sayin´?
We ain´t playin´
The P-Funk of the drummer
On the beat box
The band supporter
Go get a quarter
Somethin´ y´all
That spills like water
Can´t lower the volume
Dare to consume
The rhythm y´all
Comin´ through the speaker y´all
Network
Net-a-work-a
Work-connect
Cold slammin´ like the New York Mets
Know what I´m sayin´?
They don´t know what I´m sayin´
They don´t know what we´re screamin´, shoutin´
Yo Flavor
Do you know what I just said?
Do the people know what I´m talkin´ about?
I know what you said
But let me tell you
George Clinton´s got the head
You know what I´m sayin´?
Let me tell you somethin´, yo!
George will tell ya
Hold my jam-e while I go P
You understand what I´m sayin´?
´Cause that´s the way it be
´Cause his name is George
And his last name begins with a C
You understand what I´m sayin´?
Follow, follow
Hey, yo, Butch man
What´s up pop?
Hey, yo, Tracy
With the Panasonic
What´s up man?
Yo man
We gonna rock that
Why B-side ´round man
You wanna rock the B-side
Food for the brain
Beat for the feet
People on the dance floor
Never claiming a receipt
Had a good time
Rock-n-rollin´
On the go behind
The rhythm supplied
By the superior B-side
They had the twist
That turn and shout
Turn the jam out
Get you ready now
C´mon
The situation put you in to where you sweatin´
An hysterical B-side
C´mon inside
Request the best
They give a test
And never gave a rest
Your guess as good
As my guess
And while you´re guessin´
You´re guessin´
Yo listen
This a DJ to play
To give a lesson in
His name is
George Clinton
In the house
Speaker system
With soft ejection
Auxiliary output
Extra input
So you can plug into
And make connections
This cat on the fiddle
Was killin´ ´em
Recorded him on my tapedeck
Hi diddle-diddle
This cat on the fiddle
Was killin´ ´em
Recorded him on my tapedeck
Just when I reach the point
Where I was peakin´
´Bout that time
Imagination start to peepin´
That´s when my other voices
Start to speakin´
Speakin´ in drum
Drummin´ it into a tweak
Voice so loud
Pinnin´ the needle
Bangin´ in the red
Noone hears
Nothing´s heard ´cause nothing´s said
It´s the chokin´ kind
Remember the livin´
Remember the dead
Speakin´ in drum
Drummin´ it into a tweak
Drowning out the voices
In my head
Follow follow?
(Do you)
Follow follow?
Shot rang out everybody ran for cover
The evening news broke the story of two mothers
One´s son is dead
Killed by the son of the other
Escalatin´ the violence to a peak
Tweak
Hi diddle-diddle
This cat on the fiddle
Was killin´ ´em
Recorded him on my tapedeck
To the curb (x3)
Three-way, six detachable
Speaker systems
With soft ejection
Tweak
Auxiliary output
Extra input
So you can plug into
And make connections
Caught in a land
That pitted the poor man
Against the police
When it´s hard to live
It´s twice as hard
To keep the peace
It´s the chokin´ kind
Remember the livin´
Remember the dead
Poor is the poor man
So is the police
Violence of a tweak
Cue me about
A cool place to start
Attention all radio-stations jocks
I got the beat
Serious-slammin´ on my box
So what I try
My best to do
Is keep the decibels
Up so high
My neighbors call the cops
Now when the thang
Get to tweakin´
You know the groove is peakin´
I mean hard
OK now I know
You know what I mean
I keep a party
On my record machine
Do me a favor
Don´t let so many commercials
Disrupt the playlist
Mr. E. Tiddyock
Is what makes me say this
About groove control
Well there´s no such thang
When I turn on my box
I´m ready to swing
So I can go
Down, down
Get down with it
I be throwin´ down
But you gotta be down
To get it
We tweakin´ on my radio
Serious-slammin´ on my box
Get off my jock!
I take your buns
And turn ´em into the B´s
I take your soul
And turn it into some cheese
I´ll take your radio
And turn it into stereo
Now we livin´ large boy
Break out the Casio
So we can get busy
Show me that you ain´t dizzy
Only Lizzie is fizzy
I´m in my Flavor-mobile
I´m cold-lampin´
I this G upstate
Cold campin´
To the Poconos
We call the Hideaways
With a bag of franks
And a big bag of Frito-Lays
Hey yo, Chuck!
They don´t know
What I´m sayin´
You know what I´m sayin´?
Word up man
And if y´all don´t know
What I´m sayin´
Then act like
You wanna be stayin´
But we ain´t playin´
Know what I´m sayin´?
Yo, Chuck, man
Kick some
Kick some ballistics, man
What´s your beeper
Tellin´ you man?
My beeper´s tellin´ me
They sweatin´ me home
They sweatin´ me, man
Yo, there´s many ways
To kick it round
We gon´ kick it
The same ´round once again
You know what I´m sayin´
But this time in time
Aw right, c´mon let´s go
You know what I´m sayin´?
We ain´t playin´
The P-Funk of the drummer
On the beat box
The band supporter
Go get a quarter
Somethin´ y´all
That spills like water
Can´t lower the volume
Dare to consume
The rhythm y´all
Comin´ through the speaker y´all
Network
Net-a-work-a
Work-connect
Cold slammin´ like the New York Mets
Know what I´m sayin´?
They don´t know what I´m sayin´
They don´t know what we´re screamin´, shoutin´
Yo Flavor
Do you know what I just said?
Do the people know what I´m talkin´ about?
I know what you said
But let me tell you
George Clinton´s got the head
You know what I´m sayin´?
Let me tell you somethin´, yo!
George will tell ya
Hold my jam-e while I go P
You understand what I´m sayin´?
´Cause that´s the way it be
´Cause his name is George
And his last name begins with a C
You understand what I´m sayin´?
Follow, follow
Hey, yo, Butch man
What´s up pop?
Hey, yo, Tracy
With the Panasonic
What´s up man?
Yo man
We gonna rock that
Why B-side ´round man
You wanna rock the B-side
Food for the brain
Beat for the feet
People on the dance floor
Never claiming a receipt
Had a good time
Rock-n-rollin´
On the go behind
The rhythm supplied
By the superior B-side
They had the twist
That turn and shout
Turn the jam out
Get you ready now
C´mon
The situation put you in to where you sweatin´
An hysterical B-side
C´mon inside
Request the best
They give a test
And never gave a rest
Your guess as good
As my guess
And while you´re guessin´
You´re guessin´
Yo listen
This a DJ to play
To give a lesson in
His name is
George Clinton
In the house
The lyrics of George Clinton's song Tweakin' seem to be speaking on the idea of electronic manipulation and the concept of tweaking in the music industry. The opening lines refer to a six-detachable speaker system that one can plug into and make connections. The lyrics then shift to discuss the concept of peakin', or reaching a climactic point in the music, and the voices that come afterwards, or the imagination and creativity that follow this point.
The song then takes a darker turn, with the mention of violence escalating to a peak, and the poor man pitted against the police, highlighting the struggles within society. The lyrics then go on to discuss the power of music and the importance of keeping the groove alive, with references to slammin' beats and partying. The combination of these ideas creates a complex and multi-layered interpretation of the lyrics.
Contributed by Zachary P. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
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TERRANCE Ross
This song right here never get old
Dwan
Who can't like this dope beat??? FUNKY
Troy Davis
Still dope in 2020 in the midst of Covid 19. Betcha you won't crank it all the way up!
Pat Foun
George Clinton and Prince Public Enemy bonus
Nuff Said. I am 2nd Generation Pfunk put my Dad on to this when it first came out and he about lost it. Rest In Glory Pops
corraill-sucre
God bless your father and have Mercy on his soul
Míster Funke
Historic collaboration!
Jon Wild
yeaaaaaaaaaaahhhh boooiiii ;-)
R. B.
I've the LP since 1989 ... one of my favorite song of all time. Such energy
Thomas Green
One of the greatest ever.
Dwan
Dope as beat and crazy good lyrics