Concluding my look at the albums of 1975…
Wrapping up the latest Decades installment, here’s a track from the Parliament album Mothership Connection, the funk band’s fourth. This was their highest-charting album and featured their top-charting single in ‘Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker).’
As somebody who decidedly doesn’t have the funk, I appreciate this album more than I like it. It certainly has infectious grooves but it just isn’t my thing. That said, I enjoyed spending some time with the record and it made me wish it was more up my alley.
I will hand it to Parliament mastermind George Clinton for the wild imagination behind this album. A big Star Trek fan, Clinton envisioned a space opera populated by Black people in which aliens cruise the universe in search of the funk. In concert, he would descend onto the stage in a large spaceship prop. I’m sure those shows were something to behold.
That wraps up my look at 1975, a year chock full of classic releases from all over the musical map. Three-year-old me had no idea what he was missing.
Tear the roof off the sucker
(x4)
You’ve got a real type of thing going down, gettin’ down
There’s a whole lot of rhythm going round
(x2)
Ow, we want the funk
Give up the funk
Ow, we need the funk
We gotta have that funk
(x2)
La la la la la
Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo, owww!
(x2)
You’ve got a real type of thing going down, gettin’ down
There’s a whole lot of rhythm going round
(x2)
Ow, we want the funk
Give up the funk
Ow, we need the funk
We gotta have that funk
(x2)
La la la la la
Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo, owww!
(x2)
We’re gonna turn this mother out (x2)
You’ve got a real type of thing going down, gettin’ down
There’s a whole lot of rhythm going round
(x4)
Ow, we want the funk
Give up the funk
Ow, we need the funk (let us in we’ll tear this mother out {after 2nd & 3rd})
We gotta have that funk
(x7)
Ow, we want the funk (we’re gonna turn this mother out)
Give up the funk
Ow, we need the funk (we’re gonna turn this mother out)
We gotta have that funk
(x2)
Ow, we want the funk
Give up the funk
Ow, we need the funk (let us in we’ll tear this mother out {after 2nd & 3rd})
We gotta have that funk
(x2)
We want the funk
Give up the funk
We need the funk
We gotta have that funk
(x3)
La la la la la
Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo, owww!
(x2)
You’ve got a real type of thing going down, gettin’ down (x2)
There’s a whole lot of rhythm going down
You’ve got a real type of thing going down, gettin’ down
There’s a whole lot of rhythm going down
Ow, we want the funk
Give up the funk
Ow, we need the funk (let us in we’ll tear this mother out {after 2nd & 3rd})
Meet Me In Montauk 
I wonder if George Clinton’s vision was part of the inspiration for Guardians of the Galaxy.
Anyway, thank you for the look back at 1975 – truly a year of some great music!