“Sometimes you have to lose your mind to gain your soul.”
–George Clinton
Funkadelic’s fourth album, America Eats Its Young, was released in 1972. George Clinton assembled a formidable musical line-up for these sessions including Gary Shider, Ed Hazel, Bootsy Collins, Bernie Worrell, Prakash John, Tiki Fulwood, Frank Waddy, and Catfish Collins. It’s a potent dose of mayhem…
In the liner notes, George Clinton wrote: “We are all America; all part of the pain and suffering and the agony of America; all feeding the agony and conflict of America–whether we are for or against or indifferent and unconcerned; whether we care or not. America eats its young. But we eat America, pollute it, abuse it, rape it, take from it, destroy it. As we give so do we receive…Christ help us: it’s not easy…The only way is to love our enemies!”
A grooving R&B number, “You Hit The Nail On The Head”, begins this double album. Stand-out tracks include a gospel-laced “Everybody Is Going To Make It This Time” where Clinton sings: “Our mothers and fathers had lives to live/And today is proof that mistakes were made/Our country & cities have been betrayed for money/But the people will make a change.” This song was recorded in 1968 with help from Cream’s Ginger Baker–one of George Clinton’s favorite drummers.
Bernie Worrell arranged strings on “A Joyful Process” that originated from a children’s song “Jesus Loves Me”. The unrestrained sentiment of “Philmore” sneers at a cruel and uncaring woman. “I Call My Baby Pussycat” contends as one of the most lustful songs ever recorded.
Tunes revolving around the environment–“Biological Speculation” and “Balance”–stand true in light of America’s current problems. A wicked number, “Miss Lucifer’s Love”, contains the lines: “She’s The Devil/And I like it.” “Wake Up” delivers a message that seeks hope amid eerie realities in the country. America Eats Its Young brews sex, politics, religion, nature, and soul in one musical cauldron that still resonates on the same gut level it did almost 50 years ago.
Go prepared.
RELATED CONTENT
George Clinton and His Gangsters of Love
The Divine Spark of Sly & The Family Stone