Good Thoughts Bad Thoughts by Funkadelic

Album: Standing on the Verge of Getting It On (1974)

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Running 12:20, this is the closing track on Funkadelic's sixth album, Standing on the Verge of Getting It On. It was written by band leader George Clinton and guitarist Eddie Hazel. The first 6:35 is instrumental, at which point Clinton comes in, speaking trippy lines like:

Listen to the inner voice
A higher wisdom is at work for you

It's the kind of uplifting, consciousness-stimulating message Funkadelic was famous for.
Asked during a Reddit AMA what inspired the song's long soliloquy, George Clinton replied: "I read it somewhere, I don't know where. I didn't go to school or nothing to know all that s--t. I read it in a magazine. It was a good thought and I put it in p-funk terminology."
Clinton wrote this song with Eddie Hazel, but his credit goes to Grace Cook, his mother. This was likely done to avoid legal issues, as Hazel was involved with other projects as well.

Comments: 2

TimRay Davis does the vocals to this, he was the bass voice with the Parliments.
Ninjaandrew from Texasthe early 20th century book “As Man Thinketh” by James Allen has some nearly identical lines as George Clintons soliloquy.

Such as the “the oak sleeps in the acorn, the bird waits in the egg”.

The early novel is also referenced in Napoleon Hills “Think and grow rich”. Which could be another text that inspired this song.

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