“Oh, he's a crooner, but the man parties like a rock star.” »read more
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Tower of Power sax players Emilio Castillo and Stephen "Doc" Kupka wrote this. Says Castillo:
"I would give most of the credit for that concept lyrically to Doc. He said he wanted write a song about being hip and I said, 'About being hip?' He said, 'Well, what I mean is being hip is so short lived. You can be hip by wearing your hair a certain way today and then in three months that style's gone and you're as unhip as you could possibly be. I want to write a song about that.' It's saying what's hip today might become passe.
Their drummer, David Garibaldi, helped out with the rhythms. Says Castillo, "It was his idea to get Rocco to play those sixteenth notes on the bass. There was a song out at the time called 'Going Down' by Freddie King and it had that bass line. Girabladi's idea was to hit those sixteenth notes and then rather than hitting a big one, you know one, two, three, four, one... He says, 'We're going to push it one sixteenth in front of the one every time.' So it'd be, one, two, three, four, boom, two, three, four, boom... and that sort of prevailing thing throughout the tune is what made that song drive. And then on top of that we had the classic horn arrangement and Lenny Williams singing it." (Thanks to Emilio for speaking with us. His full interview is available in the Songfacts Interviews. You can learn much more at his website, towerofpower.com.)
Comments:
I had not known much about TOP before I went to their concert with a friend of mine last week in Budapest. I've seen the Cool and the Gang, Jamiroquai, The Brand New Heavies and for example George Benson sevaral times alive, but they all are pretty much nothing compared to these guys. Tower of Power is TOP. Great music, joyful show. I gotta buy their albums.
- Balazs Ori, Budapest, Hungary
Simply a great song.
- Thomas, Stavanger, Norway
What is hip is one bad song man. Several of their songs are happenin. I rember when TOP used to play Georges Pool Hall In San Rafael Ca. I always said they have the best horn section on the planet. Elton Johns Mucsle Shoals horns were all that man. But I do love the SNL band They were awesome. I call TOP THE MOST FAMOUS UNKNOWN BAND IN THE WORLD. Everyone should hear this band play as a matter of fact they should play the Hollywood Bowl just for the hell of it Blow all those upper crust snobs away.
- Bobby, Lagunitas, CA
Saw them at the Greek theater in LA a few years back and they smoked with this song.
It was a great song in high school and it's a great song now.
- Rafael, Pasadena, CA
Agreed! If you like funk, you'll love Tower of Power! Plus, Lenny Pickett, leader of the SNL band, was once in this group.
- Kathryn, Portland , OR
great funk song that is very unknown, just judging by the lack of comments
- Evan, flower mound, TX